What an inspiring or invigorating enlightenment is Eid, “Masha Allah”! It is so very divine and alluring in all its spiritual and traditional ways. Feeling of a devoted “rozedar” is divinely so very inexpressible; thanking Allah for the beloved most; greeting family with love and cheers; caring for the less-privileged with heart, soul, and sanctity.
Thanking ALLAH to enable us fast, pray, and seek HIS acceptance of the good we have endeavored during this month of divine blessings and bounties. Incredible is true soul-searching and real overhauling of the soul in letter and spirit of the young and old devotees including cute little ones blessed with “roza kushai”….first fast, MashaAllah.Reiterating no words describe the real inner feeling of a true “rozedar” and no environment is as pure, divine, and blessed as that of a Ramadan abiding home, especially umra performing ones during the holy month of Ramadan.
So come one, come all: near and dear ones, door-to-door, lane-by-lane, locally and nationally, home and abroad; Eid is ecstatically rejuvenating indeed! How very delightful it is to beautifully, pleasantly and sweetly share joys of the sweet Eid with Covid-driven SOPs by those from man in the street, men of letters and men at the helm of affairs alike.
Eid dresses, “mehndi, etar”, as is suitable, of course, steal the Eid show. “Eidi”, the Eid gift in cash and kind, for the young and old, especially for those whiz kids, is our custom and tradition to truly cherish. Eid highlights do include visiting each others’ homes for enjoying our yummy sweets and “korma, biryani, tikkas, kababs, haleem, nihari, kunne pae” etc.
Combat Covid 19 by very simple and easy logic. Nothing very new about it. So very easy it is.Isn’t it? Wearing a good mask, washing hands too regularly, sanitizing it all very well, physical distancing,drinking water a lot. taking a real good diet, resting and sleeping, enjoying internet, Astaghfurullah. Let Ayatal kursi top it all indeed.
Embracing, hugging, kissing are all parts of customary Eid greetings called “Eid Mubarak”. But given the stringent Covid SOPs of maintaining no-touch distance, such innovative ways of Eid greetings have been devised as the fist bump, elbow bump, hand over heart, blowing or flying kiss, yuhan shake, feet shake, botswana shake, bowing head down, salam and namaste greeting or a big smile, hi / hello.
Media makes our Eid go round. News, music, programs abound.Print, electronic media surround. Smiles, sweets, serenity abound.Media galore goes round around.Food, fun, frolic and fest abound.
Eid is spiritual contenment for many by “Hamd-Naat-Qawwali”, for many others by national or patriotic songs, for yet some others by ghazals-mushairas, for most by filmi songs, pop music, singing, chanting and dancing. Gone are the days when Eid by street entertainment heralded with monkey charmers, snake charmers, acrobatic shows, magic shows, wayside palmists and so on. Had it not been rightly for public covid care, street fun and frolic in our streets would have too dangerously continued.
Meanwhile, sweet Eid is sweet Eid from a wide variety of Cake and “Mithai”…. “sevian, sheer khorma, rus malai, gulab jaman, kalakand, balu shahi, pan pera, amratai”. To beat the heat and add to the treat how about so very cooling and sweetening ice cream flavors choosing one or more from each like lemon, vanila, chocbar, tutti fruiti, kulfa, faluda, all in one and so on.
Stay home, stay safe and enjoy Eid food decor, and delights. But if there is an urge to step outdoors for food, fun, and frolic, let Covid-driven SOPs carry you along. Lots of fun in store all over Pakistan, as for a few examples: Clifton, Karachi, Labe Mehran Sukkar, Changa Manga, Lahore, Shakar Parian, Islamabad, Ayub National Park, Rawalpindi, Garrison Park, Peshawar, Ziarat Hill resort, Quetta, and you really name it.
What Allah likes and what conforms to Sunnah is not mere repetition but a humble assertion of caring for and sharing with the less-privileged the joys of Eid keeping intact their respect, grace, dignity, and honor.
