On last Friday, when I published my piece entitled, Our Elderly and their Eid in GK, I couldn’t fully express myself about how as kids we celebrated our festival with our elders due to space constraints. This article is therefore a subsequent piece of writing to that previous piece with additional insights.
Eid in Kashmir some decades ago was such a lovely festival of celebrating uncomplicated joy. The festival’s simplicity was its greatest charm, with families preparing for the joyful day some days early, sharing traditional delicacies like Kahwa, Nun Chai and Wazwan, etc. Children’s laughter echoed through the air right from the days of Arafah as they played with the homemade toys, while elders exchanged warm greetings and well-wishes with their kith and kin.
The absence of fanfare and commercialization only added to the occasion’s authenticity, allowing the true spirit of Eid –one of compassion, gratitude, and togetherness–to shine through in all its beauty.
No doubt, Eid is now long overdue, yet, there are incredible memories of yesteryears that I don’t simply want to remain unshared with the readers. I fondly recall, days before of Arafah, lot more activities would come into being, to actually make the Eid day, an unforgettable one. Today, when I turn back to the early sixties, I am left with nothing but regret regarding the celebration of the Eid festival. Our Eids nowadays are lacking all that beauty that once was the reason for peace, brotherhood, and togetherness in Kashmir. I am pained to witness the loss of such treasured legacy, purity, simplicity, togetherness, and joyfulness.
I recall, Yarbals would observe a huge rush, having women of the Mohalla on its steps washing clothes that were worn on the Eid day. Those days people didn’t purchase clothes on Eid like nowadays due their fragile financial condition. The women would bring clothes in wicker baskets for washing. The Yarbals would quickly give every on-looker a clue regarding the Eid arrival. Besides washing, women would bathe their kids and kept themselves all free to engage themselves in leisurely different domestic chores on the day of Arafah.
In addition to these activities, they would gather in rural areas and sing dulcet Eid rouf to welcome the festival of Eid. Others used to boom with fun, joking, joggle, dance and mockery, etc. Their humorous presenting of the songs has often been remarkable. The song that still resonates in my ears is unforgettable: Idd ahyee rase rase, Idd gah vasway, Yeme unda Nabi saeb teme unde vasay… (The festival of Eid came up with fervor, bit by bit. Let’s turn over to Eidgah and take the side of our Prophet is present. They would stop their singing of rouf with the Na’nts which were chanted on the Masjid loud speakers to bid painful good-bye to the holy month of Ramadan. Then as they returned home from the rouf singing, they kept themselves busy with cooking for late hours. That traditional way of mincing the meat, those roughly designed Rista and Koftas, etc with unique aroma that filled the entire house is missed.
And when the day of Arafah would truly arrive, a wave of unique happiness would spread across. While men kept themselves busy from the early morning to bring bakery, meat and other items home; women kept their kitchens ready to cook variety of dishes vis-à-vis kept the clothes ironed for their family members. Today, no doubt, we get every thing new, yet, the real peace and joyfulness of the festival is totally missing. However, in those days, peace and happiness was something that was quite evident.
Having told it in my early column about Gani Kandur whose shop witnessed a huge rush of the customers right from the wee hours. He would decorate his shop with balloons and flowers to allure them. Those days, going to Sopore and Baramulla markets for Eid shopping was not a concept at all. People preferred to purchase all essential items from the local markets.
In our Dangiwacha market, Gani Kandur would start selling bakery items right from the Fajr prayers. From kulcha, bakery, tailvoer, bakirkhani etc. he would sell everything. I still can’t forget his Krupp, a type of bakery that people would love to buy from them on Arafah.
And finally, when the special day called Eid dawned, everyone wore the neat and clean clothes. Mothers preferably dressed up their kids who were woken up early on the day. I still recall, it was those Nylon Chappals (slippers) that gave us a feel of Eid.
Eid morning would start with choices in tea, like some in the family preferred Kahwa, some took Lipton tea or some Nun Chai. Then kids were given the Ediyane (Eid-tip). Maximum Eid expenditure as we would get those days was Rs.1, not more than that. Then after having morning tea, elders in the family would visit nearby neighbors and loved ones to spend some time with them. Then we as kid were taken to the Eidgah by them for Eid namaz where all kids were kept in a separate row to offer prayers.
But alas! That all faded into obscurity now. Now Eids have become much superficial, digital, and mere pomp and show and nothing else. Regrettably, that real concept of festivity is missing. It hurts me to mention that the essence of Eid celebrations in Kashmir seems to have shifted, with a greater emphasis on external displays rather than the traditional values and simplicity that once defined our culture. It’s as if the true spirit of Eid–one of community, compassion, and gratitude–has been overshadowed by a more superficial focus on pomp and show.
Dr Rafeeq Masoodi IBS (Rtd) is former Sec. Cultural Academy & ADG, Doordarshan, Srinagar
