Poor Bangladeshi Muslims wait for Zakat, free food and other gifts which are distributed as charity, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Dhaka, Bangladesh (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)
l Swadesh Roy
(24 July, 2012, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Dhaka club, the most prestigious, and about a century old club of Dhaka, is situated in the heart of Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh. It remains busy all day long, even in night. From seven in the morning, its swimming pool was used to be crowded with swimmers. But now, even at ten in the morning, you will see that water of the swimming pool is calm. No one is swimming in it. In evening, if you go to the bar, nobody is there. It is only for this holy month of Ramadan. You will only get a few numbers of people who are not keeping fast in the whole Dhaka city.
Poet Jalaludin Rumi wrote in his poem that fasting has a hidden beauty. If any body comes to Dhaka now, he can easily be charmed by that hidden beauty. Thousands of people are walking with a burning pain of starving in the roads of this busy city, but they are happy with it. You can easily notice tiredness all over their body, but their face can never lie about the true holiness they are getting from keeping fast.
Fasting is a prayer. Fasting is a religious custom. But fasting is also a festival in this city. Dhaka is now in this festive mood. If you go to the kitchen markets in morning, you will see that the common people are purchasing different types of vegetable, fish and beef. After noon, all the kitchens of the city dwellers are busy to prepare different types of fast food, which will be taken in the evening after completing the whole day of fasting.
This city is also a city of various types of food. It has a long heritage of many delicious dishes. Persian, Arabian, Mongolian, European, and many uncommon civilizations’ food heritages have been mixed up here. The old part of the city, which is called old Dhaka, is upholding that food heritage. In Ramadan, the old Dhaka is a city of fast food, which called `iftari’. All the roadside, makeshift market and the hotel are pleasing to the eye by those attractive foods. Not only the old Dhaka but also the whole Dhaka city becomes an iftari marketplace after noon.
For the holy Ramadan office time of the city has been changed. Office time of Dhaka city is now from nine to three. So after leaving the office, people start buying the iftari from the road side, makeshift market and all types of hotels. All five star hotels and the prestigious clubs like Dhaka club, Gulshan club also prepare expensive and more delicious iftari. Not only the foreigner, but also the upper class of city dwellers also goes there to have the iftari. All over this month, the government of Bangladesh has to import more fruits from foreign countries and obviously has to import a lot of date from Middle East. Date of Sudia Arabia is considered as the holy food at the time of ifter. The embassy of Sudia Arabia also presents date to the important persons of the country and the city.
From 21 July, the city has become a city of fasting; it will remain the same for 29 to 30 days depending on the moon. It starts and ends according to the moon. That is also another part of the city after the end of Ramadan, but now the city is a city of fasting.
Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor, The Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh, he can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com
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