Adil Najam
I first saw this on Adnan Siddiqui’s blog a couple of days ago. I bookmarked it and planned to do a post of good lookin’ bakras closer to Eid-ul-Azha (or Bakra Eid). Over the last two days, however, I have received more than a dozen emails - including many from readers suggesting a post on this - that makes me wonder if I misread the significance of this phenomenon!
“What do we have for dinner tonight?”
“Laila’s kalaija. Or you can have Billo’s raan.”
I particularly like the ‘Bio Data’, and one day I hope to have one as impressive as this myself. I am especially intrigued by the ‘Menu of the Day,’ which can only be revealed to buyers; alas they do not mention the price, but I suspect it is in the range of Rs. 35,000+.
The website floating around in Pakistani circles right now is about ebakra.com, which is a service provided by Islamabad’s famous Qureshi Frozen Foods (which traditionally serves expatriate customers and others willing to pay premium price for high-quality, cleanliness and variety in meat products). The prices on the website right now are quite exhorbitant (I am told by bakra connoisseurs better versed in the dynamics of the bakra market than myself that the price being asked on this website is more than twice what you would otherwise pay for the best bakras).
As of now, there is no service for overseas Pakistanis or for Eid Qurbani, but they say they are planning something. Right now their service is for delivery in Islamabad and their current product line is limited only to dunbas (goats):
Here you can find animals of your choice, order it online and get the free delivery right at your doorstep. Rest assured that the health and safety standards are not compromised at any cost and we take every possible measure to make sure that our customers are satisfied with our services and products.
However, according to a Reuters report the Eid qurbani (sacrifice) market has now gone digital:
Religious organizations in Pakistan are using the Internet to help Muslims in Western countries buy and sacrifice animals for an annual festival.
… “It is not easy for [Muslims in Western countries] to buy animals and carry out the sacrifice according to our religious rites in those countries,” said Sohail Ahmed, an official at the Al-Khidmat trust Islamic welfare organization. “They are turning to the Internet to complete their religious obligations,” said Ahmed, whose organization offers the service.
In Pakistan, thousands of cows, goats, sheep and camels are sacrificed to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which this years falls in the first week of January.… Buying a sacrificial animal over the Internet is also becoming popular in Pakistan, said Farukh Sheikh of the Sahara trust for life. “It is a matter of convenience. People nowadays don’t have time to go to the markets and haggle over prices,” Sheikh said. “We are offering a service at competitive rates. People trust us to distribute the meat according to religious obligations among the poor and needy,” Sheikh said.
Most interesting, possibly disturbing, is this bit:
The Alamgir welfare trust also offers the option of viewing the sacrifice on its Web site. “We have a dedicated IP address and people can watch the sacrifice no matter which country they are in,” said organization official Shakeel Dehalvi.
The report says that “animals are available on the websites for between $100 (6,000 rupees) for a goat and $450 (27,000 rupees) for a cow.” Oddly, I could not find the websites of the organizations mentioned here; maybe I did not try hard enough.
I do wonder whether the ’sacrifice’ we are making by parting with these large sums could be better spent on more worthy causes (Earthquake rehabilitation, maybe). After all, these enterprises (commercial and other) are buying these animals for less, charging us more, and using the rest as profit/surplus for something else. At what point, I wonder, does the spirit of ’sacrifice’ become secondary to bragging rights of nabbing the best-looking bakra and watching its slaughter live over the Internet!
See last Eid’s posts on ATP Eid Greetings, Eid cards, Eid Poetry, Eid cake, having multiple Eids, Eid in films, and the meaning of Eid.
Thought this photograph deserved mention.
Here is the original caption from Daily Times:
On a serious note, names like “Kashish” and “Mehak” also tells how much Pakistani are getting impressed with Indian stuff. These names are actually two characters of one of the famous star plus drama. I know this I read everytime about them in local papers and offcourse ladies here watch those dramas.
I remember that last year there was a couple[Gayee/Bail] was brought in our area and guess their names; Kashish[Cow] and Sojal[Bell] which are lead characters of an Indian drama. In Hyderi where I live, suits were being sold as “Sojal’s Sherwani” or “Kashish’s Style”.
Whether some patriot Pakistani likes or not, the fact is that India got succeeded to inject their culture in Pakistan. Every drama by Ekta Kapoor talks about Hindu religion,their Mahabahrat and other stuff and they give example of such relgiious stuff in daily life dialogues. This is great,atleast she’s using Meida to promote her religion and not being declared a hindu extreemist. On other hand, Pakistanis get afraid to promote Islamic things via dramas, we re rather promoting their stuff in Pakistani style.
Indians are fortunate that they dont have lame liberals like Pakistan who always ready to declare every Islamic thing Mullah-ish. Guess if some producer try to promote Islamic culture and show offering Azaan or reciting Koran, every Pakistani secularist would come and blame that it’s like imposing Islam over Pakistani minority who also watches TV. Our secularists are more secular than Indians who live in a country which is officially a “Secular state”
I agree fully with those who say that this qurbani thing is a big show for a lot of people. But this internet thing actually makes a lot of sense to me; I know many people in Pakistan use the ’sacrifice’ as an excuse to gorge themselves with even more meat. This online thing is great because it takes your money and converts all of it into what it was intended for: i.e. to help the needy.
Cute … oh I’m so much in love with all the dumbaaas ….but this Laila looks yummmy … :>
[quote post="483"]Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
[/quote]
[quote post="483"]Apache/1.3.37 Server at http://www.ebakra.com Port 80
[/quote]
maybe people are trying to download healthy bakras/gayee via torrent clients? You know, the “e” factor in ebakra.com ;)
No Barkas but this is what I ended up with when I tried to visit the site…
Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
——————————————————————————–
Apache/1.3.37 Server at http://www.ebakra.com Port 80
[quote post="483"]That spirit is probably better fulfilled by giving the same amount of money to a really worthy cause rather than slaughtering an animal.[/quote]
I am afraid you are wrong here. AFAIK, there is no alternative of Qurbani if you can afford it. Yes if you want to help poors then give all gosht to poor families. In this way you would follow the Sunnah of Abraham[AS] as well and help the creatures of Allah.
Thanks for providing the links of actual websites of bakra/gyee selling. There were facilities of creditcard processing,Mobile stalls of McDondals,KFC etc and PCO at Sohrab Goth’s Bakra/Gayee Mandi. I havent visited this year yet but I hope things wouldn’t have changed much.