AFTER
successfully outlasting the holy month of Ramazan, we celebrate Eidul Fitr
today with joy, thanksgiving and relief. Fasting in Ramazan is supposed to
teach Muslims self-discipline, self-control and sacrifice. It also teaches us
the significance of empathy for the poor, and that explains the spirit of
charity during the sacred month.
One of my
earliest memories is my father taking me to a shoe shop on Eid day to buy new
shoes. Yes, such shops used to be open on Eid days in the 1950s. I am reluctant
to say what he paid for the pair, as it would make my grandchildren think that
I need urgent psychiatric treatment.
I would be
delirious with happiness when receiving Eidi from an uncle (usually a rupee
coin). Today’s children tend to think you are a cheapskate even if you give
them a thousand-rupee note.
Sad to say,
the Eid spirit of those days is no longer there. In Ramazan, our shopkeepers go
on a looting spree, raising the prices of edibles and almost every item.
Compare this to the huge discounts offered by shops in Western countries ahead
of Christmas, and even Eid.
Those of us
who were able to survive the holy month without being mugged or blown up should
be grateful. There are at least 80 million Pakistanis who do not have enough to
eat. Then there are those whose incomes are barely enough to help them subsist.
You cannot
blame them for feeling bitter about the huge increase in salaries of our
lawmakers, or for having paid through their noses during Ramazan for eatables,
clothes and everything else just to enable the exploiters to pay for their
annual vacations.
And let us
not forget the 22-year-old Karachi woman who was crushed to death in Ramazan in
a stampede to collect charity ration for the family. The household, like many
others, will spend the day in mourning. Or those whose loved ones were
slaughtered by terrorists during the holy month.
Oh, yes,
there are those who will have much cause to celebrate, like our
parliamentarians who awarded themselves an astronomical increase in salaries,
the unscrupulous importers who managed to loot billions in the recent Customs
scam, and the sugar mafia that exported what it called surplus sugar so that
prices would rise from Rs130 to Rs180 per kg.
So, the
signs pointing to more pain and agony in the coming months, let us hope and
pray that we survive until the next Ramazan. Eid Mubarak to one and all!
Shakir
Lakhani
March 31,
2025
https://www.dawn.com/news/1901432/introspection-is-an-integral-part-of-eid