Adil Najam

After all the trouble we went through to time our Eid posts (here, here, here, here, here, here) so they could be enjoyed by people in different time zones around the world, it turns out that ‘official’ Eid in Pakistan will be on Wednesday. Of course, the ‘unofficial’ Eid’s have already been celebrated on Monday and Tuesday.

Ridiculous, but true.

Some of our readers suggest this is yet another sign of a society divided and forever seeking new ways to become even more divided. Another way to look at it is that we so love having Eid that we want to enjoy it thrice; or that some so like fasting that they want to fast even more. Of course, the idea of a corporate conspiracy about Eid stall vendors paying off the roat-i-hilal-kamaity to rake in a few more nights of Eid customers has not yet surfaced; but I am sure it will.

The funniest and the most thought-provoking posts on this drama comes from the blog ‘Windmills of my Mind’ by Zaheer Kidvai. His blog – amongst the very best written and funniest Pakistani blogs – is a must-read for me and I have been waiting to do a post on Kidvai Sahib himself (he is the force behind the Faiz multimedia project as well as so much more; see here). As much as anything else I love the site for its credo quote – “They laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at them because they are all the same” – if only the rest of us could also appreciate this insight!

Owais Mughal

During the discussion in our Bazm-e-Eid Mehfil, there was an interesting to-and-from inititaed by Mast Qalandar on the following shey’r:

Eid ka din hai, gallay aaj tou mill lay zalim
rasm-i-duniya bhi hai, moqa bhi hai, dastoor bhi hai

I just found this video of a Lollywood film song built around what seems to be a version of the same shey’r. I do not know if the version in the film came first or the one seen at the back of trucks, but it makes for interesting and nostalgic viewing.

Adil Najam, Bilal Zuberi, Owais Mughal

We want all of you to help us write this post for us.

Tell us, please, what Eid in Pakistan means to you by filling in the sentence that starts with “Eid is…” We are particularly interested in how you would complete this sentence in terms of the truly ‘Pakistani’ social norms that have evolved around the event.

You can complete the sentence as many times as you want; in ways that are humorous, thoughtful, philosophical, even cynical; but, please, not spiteful.

Here are a few ways in which we thought we might build the sentence:

• Eid is… when the postman comes to your door and then refuses to give you the mail until ‘Eidee’ is given to him.
• Eid is… Not being able to eat much on Eid day because your body finally got adjusted to the roza routine!
• Eid is… going to Eid prayers in old chappals for fear of losing my new ones.
• Eid is… traffic jams on Chaand Raat and people pour out for last minute shopping… And sight-seeing!
• Eid is… taking my mother and sister to the darzi on a daily basis after the 20th roza.
• Eid is… when people hug each other and forget their differences; at least for a little while.