Virtual meets add flavour to Eid preparations amid COVID-19 restrictions

Last Eid-ul-Fitr, Sakina Ghiya, was away from her home in Bengaluru. She was in Mumbai, where she had been working for the last three years. She celebrated Eid with her cousins and friends.

“I used to take kharekh (dried dates) for my college friends and we used to have a good feast in the office,” recollects Sakina, who is into business development at a research and consulting firm.

Never did she imagine that this time around, it would be a whole different world in which Eid would be celebrated.

With Ramzan being observed at a time when COVID-19 is sweeping the world, everything is low key, including the celebrations planned for Eid, which is right on the threshold.

Bengalureans are breaking the fast and preparing to welcome Eid in a quieter way -- alone, with family or digitally.

Sakina Ghiya

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Maintaining the social distancing norms, some of them are taking part in virtual mosque services and breaking the fast along with family or friends on Zoom. “No generation would have witnessed a Ramzan like this for sure,” says Sakina.

“All prayers are being done at home. Traditionally, each evening (for all 30 days), the evening prayers are offered in the masjid and the fast is broken together with dates and tea or milk,” she says.

“This time around, thanks to technology, to some extent, we have managed to overcome the difficulties as the prayers and reading of the Holy Quran is happening online through an exclusive mobile application for Bohris,” she says.

“We devote our time in fasting and praying on time. There hasn’t been much of a change in this routine, but we surely do miss going to the masjid,’’ says Fatema Jamali, a teacher and homemaker. “The calls are indeed a lifesaver,’’ she adds.

Some of the Iftar gatherings, at least, are happening digitally. “Everything is happening on Zoom calls,” says Sakina. The season definitely has plenty of food for thought and culinary experiments too, lockdown or no lockdown.

Elaborating on the Eid specials, Fatema says,“We usually prepare sheerkurma, a sweet dish made of milk and sevian. We also make stuffed kharak, another sweet dish made of dry dates. Nothing about these dishes is going to change this year.”

For the community, this is a time for introspection or self-reflection and fasting is helping these stressful times bearable, they say. “Fasting has always kept my mind at peace and ease,” says Rashida Dharwala, a homemaker.

“This has been the best remedy for me during these stressful lockdown days,” she adds.

Surumy, an artist and homemaker, usually observes Ramzan and celebrates Eid at her home in Bengaluru. But this year around, she is in Kochi with her kids, parents and sibling.

“I came to Kochi much before Ramzan and it’s good to spend these anxious times with my parents and brother here. I was also able to visit my grandfather who stays close by,” she says.

Since not much physical activity is happening, fasting, she says, has been easy. “Initially we tried to break the fast with healthy food as everybody is health-conscious at home. Now, we are having what we like. We have rolls that are not deep fried, steamed wontons and other snacks. But we try to reduce oil as much as possible,” she says.

Surumy’s family has a proper meal at night that includes pathiri (a Kerala special pancake made of rice flour) and mutton curry, ragi puttu and other specialties.

“On Eid, we will be doing namaz at home -- more like a group get-together. Lunch would be biryani". The traditional food preparations at Sakina’s home would be Biryani and Sheerkhurma.

Pic courtesy Sakina Ghiya

“But people have honed their culinary skills during lockdown, so you never know,” says Sakina. Fatema usually keeps it simple because, after the fast, she says, it is healthier to just eat light food.

“We break our fast with dates, milk or tea, and two biscuits. After a break of one hour, we have our dinner so that all the juices are produced and you don’t feel acidic,” she says.
Meanwhile, the traditions of Eidi and Zakkath have also gone digital.

“Now Zakkath is being done online because people have stopped coming home due to social distancing norms,” says Surumy.

“During my childhood days, my grandfather used to keep a sack of rice and we would measure the rice in a naazhi (measuring vessel) and give it, along with money, to people who came home seeking it,” she recollects

Sharing her thoughts on Eidi (money given by elders of the family to children) this time around, Sakina says, “If anyone is stranded or alone during Eid, I’d be happy to spend it with them, with some Sheerkurma of course.

Once the pandemic is done and dusted, the first thing Sakina wants to do is meet friends.

“The pandemic has unified us more than ever and now, religious differences have become insignificant. However difficult it is, these are times when we need to stay positive,” says Surumy. The traditional embrace of Eid, meanwhile, will just have to wait.