Ramzan musing

By Mohammed Wajihuddin

New Delhi: Seating alone at my study under the whirring ceiling fan on the first night of Ramzan–2020, I can’t believe it is that holy month in the year. The Covid-19 pandemic will be remembered for many restrictions it forced on us. But it will also be remembered for the way it changed Ramzan.

I always knew Ramzan as a time to pray, reflect, recite words that believers believe God sent for humanity through his messenger in dry arid Arabia 1400 years ago. But, to me, prayers, Ramzan or no Ramzan, were mostly outside home, at sacred sanctuaries people built to bow to their creator. Home was to relax, to forget worldly worries and snatch a few hours from the crazily busy life to chat with kids and sleep blissfully.

Both Ramzan and home, the way I knew them, have changed. Mosques are empty just as other places of worship are. So all prayers are being offered at home. I remember how trustees of mosques would fret a few days ahead of the holy month to arrange for extra prayer mats. They would ensure that the mike worked well and all those lights and fans, air-conditioning wherever it is, worked properly. Arrangements would be made to store extra water for wadu or ablutions as the number of worshippers at mosques swelled with the sighting of the new moon. There are no such worries this time.

The other day I did a story about the disheartened huffaz (plural of hafiz) this Ramzan. To the uninitiated, hafiz is someone who has memorised the Quran and recites it from memory. These huffaz are in great demand during Ramzan as it is they who lead the nightly prayers of tarawih exclusively in this month. The poor among the huffaz await the arrival of this month when they are sought after and, at the completion of the tarawih normally towards the month’s end, get awarded handsomely. There is no fixed remuneration for the tough job that this tribe of huffaz render–like other Muslims they too fast from dawn to dusk but also have to practise rigorously lest they forget some verses during recitation session in the night. It is not easy to commit an entire book to memory and remember it. Which is why the huffaz command so much respect. And at least in Ramzan they don’t have reasons to complain of being paid poorly. Sadly, the lockdown has forced most huffaz in the city and elsewhere indoors. No tarawih namaz at the mosques, no need to engage the huffaz. “The huffaz feel dejected and disheartened,” Hafiz Athar Ali who has led the yearly tarawih namaz for over five decades told me.

Mohammed Ali Road

And Ramzan is not just about fasts and prayers alone. It is about feats too. If you happen to be in Mumbai during Ramzan and have not visited Mohammed Ali Road in the evening even once, you certainly don’t belong to this planet. Gone is the raunaq (charm) of the crowded, cacophonous food streets outside the green-domed iconic Minara Masjid at Mohammed Ali Road. The mosques’ soaring minarets may glitter in festive lights, but the streets below look lifeless. I have not checked yet with street food vendors and my friends who own some popular eateries in the locality. They must be sitting glum as gone is their brisk business. Apart from the famously giants like Jafferbhai’s Delhi Darbar and Shalimaar, there are other players like Noor Mohammadi, Jabbari, Almas and Patel who too make fortunes in the blessed month. Nihari at Noor Mohammedi is awesome. Its owner Iqbal Bhai will, if you have time to sit with him, recall how it was a favourite haunt of the irrepressible, incomparable M F Husain who came hunting for the non-veg food, barefoot quintessentially with his brush in hand. As a mark of gratitude to the hotel, Husain did an autographed painting for Iqbal’s father. The painting hangs on the hotel’s wall. A dish here is named Chicken Sanju Baba. The story has that Sanjay Dutt once came here and liked a chicken dish. That day the dish appeared on the menu card.

Film stars, politicians, ministers with their chamchas in tow, diplomats, stationed here and visiting–all make a beeline to the narrow, crowded khau gullies here during Ramzan. Foodies, cutting across caste, creed and gender, await their turn on the tables even as kebabs and kaleji roast over grills while sweet, aromatic malpuas fry inside huge cauldrons. Ramzan nights in Mumbai without its food streets are dark and dreary.

The biggest worry of my kids this Ramzan is whether Eid festival too will be subdued. And what about the new clothes, jewellery, henna and other Eid-related shopping? And even if shops open post-lockdown, will there be enough varieties to choose from? What is charm in doing Eid shopping online? What will happen to wife haggling with the kapdawala over price and quality? I an told she has already booked clothes online. Poor cloth merchant in the nearby market. It is double whammy for him. First, he has incurred heavy loss under the lockdown. Now he is losing regular clients to e-commerce.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for Eid. Will we be allowed to visit mosques and Eidgaahs von Eid? What about inviting friends over sheer khurma and biryani. Did I say biryani? Once I wrote in a piece that wife cook’s best biryani in town. My phone began ringing with friends offering to honour us with their unsolicited visits to us. Wife gave earful for advertising something she thought was secret and known to a few people.

A colleague in TOI heard of this special skill of wife. She landed up at our ghareebkhana (home) once to do a food column. Wife and her sister featured in the story with a pic as a testimony to their artistry. Who doesn’t love to be in TOI, especially when your photograph accompanies the story. Wife never fails to show this “trophy” to special guests.That column, now framed, finds a nice corner in our house.

Iftar parties

Iftar parties, those fabulous feasts, are gone too.So are some great sehri (pre-dawn meal) parties in town. Critics of political iftars must be thanking heaven. My heart also goes out to the poor, especially stranded migrant workers, who don’t have enough to eat even as we talk about food and feasts. Now that I have narrated in some detail how this Ramzan is different from those in the past, it is time to giving this musing a halt. Sehri time is nearing. Ramzan Mubarak.

Mohammed Wajihuddin, Senior Assistant Editor Wajihuddin