13.10.07

Eid...

Heard firecrackers. Which means the moon has been sighted.

Tomorrow will be Eid. I wonder whether I have any right to celebrate at all. The festival is supposed to be a sort of thanksgiving for all that one has denied oneself for one month. If this is the yardstick, I should be celebrating every damn day of my life.

Technically, I have not woken up early in the morning to pray, not fasted through the day, not eaten dates nor been dry-mouthed. Yet, have all those who have tortured themselves in such a manner really been denying themselves anything?

I see a lot of sad lives – and I mean sad as in pathetic, not the deep sorrow that burrows through the arches of an ache and abandon – and I want to tell them that the most potent prayer is the one addressed to oneself. It is called introspection. The most important fast you can keep is the one that gives a little of yourself.

Only then can Eid be mubarak. You can celebrate and congratulate yourself only if you see life beyond what you assume is victory. Why claim victory or defeat when there is no fight at all?

This is not to belittle those who have in fact gone through the process of such denial with the true spirit...I can only wish you the light of moonbeam whenever a dark thought assails you, as it does all of us.

- - -

I am not insensitive. I too have memories. I wrote in The Scent of Eid last year...

For me the festival is associated with scents of all kinds.

- The first thing in the morning would be the whiff of henna being removed, its overnight stay on my hands giving it a deep tinge; I’d cup the palms before my nose and inhale.

- There was the strong ittar, the one day when non-alcohol-based perfume was used; it wasn’t mandatory, of course, and since I hated it I only hoped that heaven was nothing like Jannat-e-Firdaus, the particularly preferred one.

- There was the fragrance of aggarbatis as the fateha was said before one small bowl of sheer khurma, the rest to be distributed was spared any godly intervention.

- The smell of onions and potatoes being browned on a slow fire to be added to the biryani.

- The scent of gajras, strings of jasmine with a rose in the middle, which the women wore in their hair.

Finally, the aroma of gulkand and supari from the paan as they were chewed to pulp in the mouth.

Nostalgia has a very strong whiff…try as I may I cannot wash my hands off it.


7 comments:

  1. If you are censoring free speech here then atleast remove your false fraudulent claim that you have nothing to hide.And do not make readers waste their time.

    There were 2 comments here by secular and anonymous and they were deleted.U claim to be an artist and u censor people because of your political agenda.Why?

    Are others not entitled to their opinion.Is this place only for the muslim brotherhood?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Blog
    Eid mubarak...

    PS:-I am working on eid day.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Manzoor and Cricle:

    Eid Mubarak and wishes for harmony...

    Circle, work is worship :-)
    - - -

    Patriot:

    I am glad you have dropped the armour of a put-on deliberate bad English.

    Now let me answer the points you have raised:

    "If you are censoring free speech here then atleast remove your false fraudulent claim that you have nothing to hide.And do not make readers waste their time."

    I am deleting abusive language and the same old rant. I have already said it and I repeat: I have nothing to hide, but it does not mean I will take anything that is dished out. The readers can see that very clearly...those who do not wish to have a choice of not visiting this blog.

    "There were 2 comments here by secular and anonymous and they were deleted.U claim to be an artist and u censor people because of your political agenda.Why?"

    Those two comments by anonymous and secular, which is you, have been retained in the bomb blast post where they were first put up. I do not see why they have to be repeated on all posts. I do not permit spamming.

    I don't claim to be an artist, but if you insist, then so be it...

    I do have opinions, they do not become agendas. By that token those responding to me also have agendas of their own.

    "Are others not entitled to their opinion.Is this place only for the muslim brotherhood?"

    Of course they are. But I really do not appreciate foul language and terms like jihadi being thrown around carelessly. Also, I do object to others being dragged into such messy comments. Please scroll and look at some of the early comments made and you will understand that no one would permit them, unless such language excites them.

    I have made an attempt earlier, and again this time. Do try and work within these parameters. This is a personal blog, not a huge forum.

    PS: For all your anger against those who did not take up science, it might be of interest to note that to become a pilot to crash into buildings and to make hi-tech bombs you need a science background.

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. I made the huge error of responding to this person, assuming there would be some change in conduct. Too much optimism isn't good. The posts that have been deleted were all the same and a repetition of what has been stated above. I will henceforth delete everything whenever I get online without even looking at the merit of their content. I am going to censor mercilessly, and to hell with whether I am called a hypocrite or some of the worst possible names. In fact they aren't even the worst. I have heard worse than those, so even here it isn't all that great.

    This is special information so that the individual concerned need not "waste time" as was pointed out. I am being open about what I am going to do.

    RIP

    ReplyDelete

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