Ramadan: Then and Now

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Futema: Thanx for your comments, I aggree with you; and if we look at things overall, sure there are good and bad. And the ``mechanical world``, I suggested, might well be welcomed by someone who is without work, and not able to provide for their family... my observation might be of a new immigrant looking back... so the picture is rosy, and with a nostaligia for the place left behind. Still, Ramadan`s observance changes life`s routine; in a way that is presently not possible here, as the wider society of the ``west``, -i.e. San Francisco in the poem, does not quite appreciate.

Altaf,

While I enjoyed your two scenarios of Ramadan, I found it sad that you made Ramadan as well as life in general sound so mechanical and depressing (for lack of a better word) away from home.

I think the crux of the matter is not what Ramadan would have been like in one`s native land, but what can be made of it in one`s new home. Home is a relative term. We attach fond memories in our mind to most things related to home. The reality may not have been so rosy. Every place we live comes with good and bad...a package deal. Over time, the new place becomes home and builds its own memories.

I pray that we are able to find peace and happiness rather than just sobriety wherever we live. After all, life is transient, and we are merely travelers.

Eid Mubarak...Futema

Re: All

Eid Mubarak.

A very nostalgic account. Reminded me of festivities back in India, the sumptuous biriyanis in my Muslim friends` houses and the call for Azan in my neighbourhood mosques. In an aside, it also reminded me of all festivals back in India (hindu, christian, jain, sikh, muslim etc) We do miss all that now. don`t we ?

Rishi

Re: All

Eid Mubarak.

Rishi

Thanks for the flashbacks and Eid Mubarak.

Ras

Good. Eid Mubarak to all and a very safe one in Pakistan.

Happy Eid to all Chowkwallas!

On the approaching Eid, here`s some Shah`s bait:

jaa, umara! tomuli iida, saa saan soa vartii, suumaraa!
veii vechaarani visrii, khushii aen khariida,
sikarna kayaa shahiida, maruu je maliira jaa.
--Shah Latif

That which Umar! Is festivity (eid) for you,
for us mourning is, O Soomro!
The poor people have forgotten,
happiness and material acquisition
Yearning has them martyred,
who are the people of my country.

[The poem makes reference here is to a Sindhi folktale. Umar, a Soomro king, was a tyrant who kept the gypsy woman Maruii of Malir under arrest in Umarkot, keeping her locked up in attempt to get her ``consent`` to marry him. She steadfastly refused, longing for her ancestral land and people..].

afrasiyab:

His daughter`s name was Jahan Ara. I remember her from my school days as a very popular and nice girl. She was also a very accomplished classical dancer.

You are right, it might be time to give up.

afrasiyab: It is sick what is taking place in Pakistan, and in neighboring Iran, no one with an impulse for creativity is safe anymore, be they poets, writers, social workers, artists, or whoever...from the news reports this does not appear to be a death squad type killing, but what kind of a culture is it where arguments are resolved by killings? Not only in Pakistan, but right here in the US of A. But at least, as far as I know there are no targeted killings taking place of creative people as it is in Iran and Pakistan.

I read this article and called home immediately, only to be saddened by the news of the death of another cultural Icon of Pakistan, Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq. He was apparently murdered at his house on the 17th of January, the last day of Ramadhan in Pakistan. His daughter was also shot dead. I had a precious chance of viewing some of his painting in Istanbul and was duly impressed and was proud to have the attention of the Turkish crowd as a Pakistani over there, who asked me all kinds of question about Zahoor and his work.

May Allah bless him and his daughter whose name escapes me at this point.

Hakim Said and now this. I am almost ready to give up.

You spoke for me here.

Eid Mubarak to all the chowkwalas.

Happy Eid to all !

Altaf:

Simple, elegant, reflective.

AND A HAPPY EID TO YOU ALL!

regards