This year in the first day of Ramadan, Dhaka was totally a gloomy city. All the roadsides were abandoned, there were no food shops, no people were in the roads and all the narrow roads of Old Dhaka lay down like a snake. None visited these narrow roads.
by Swadesh Roy
The roads which are always busy in Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh, has become like a calm river now. If anyone observes it from a high rise apartment, he/she will see that only the sunlight is creating waves in the air over the road. It might be poetic if this scenario would be seen in a normal time. But now the roads are the symbols of pathetic times.
Bangladesh is now shivering with coronavirus (Covid-19) attack. With limited test, the country got more than 5,000 Covid-19 infected people. Bangladesh has imposed lockdown like other Covid-19 affected countries. Most of the people are staying home in order to avoid transmission of the virus. They are staying at their homes but all are worried. Because the healthcare system of Bangladesh is unthinkably poor. On the other hand, having highly advanced healthcare system, America has totally failed to keep the strain of Covid-19 affected patients’ treatment. So, as a poor country, having a poor health care infrastructure, the only way of Bangladeshi people is to depend on destiny. They can only think, destiny is all.
In this circumstances, Ramadan, the holy month has started from 25th April. Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country but the Muslims of Bangladesh have a unique character that they are culturally different from all over the Muslims in the world. They maintain their own soil heritage culture. Bangladeshi Muslims are always festival lover. They perform all their rituals and national programs in a festive mood. Though, Ramadan is a month of fasting for sacrificing many things as a devotee. As most of the Bangladeshi Muslims maintain fasting from the very beginning of the Ramadan. On the other hand, from the first day of the Ramadan, not only the capital city of Bangladesh but also other cities, towns, townships and suburbs change their mood. Two sides of the most of the roads are decorated two sides by the makeshift food shops. In all the makeshift shops, people make evening snakes (Iftari) from the very noon, which are taken in the evening after ending the fasting. That’s why, it is the common scenario from afternoon that people gather in front of those shops for buying Iftari. Here to mention, every city and town has many special recipes of Iftari. In the old part of the Dhaka, there are many recipes which have been continuing for four to five hundred years. Though, Calcutta, a nearby city of Dhaka, is very famous and well-known as the capital of former British India. But when Dhaka was called ‘Nagar-E-Jahan’ (the best city of the world) then Calcutta was a remote village. Dhaka became glorious in the era of Mughal Emperors. The Old Dhaka was built by the Mughals. Still, Old Dhaka is maintaining many Mughal heritages. Along with some Iftari items of Old Dhaka is also maintaining that heritage. Mughals came here from Middle East Asia through North India. There are many combinations of Middle East Asian and North Indian recipes still containing by the Old Dhaka people. It is also one kind of custom for the Dhaka dwellers to set at least one day for taking Iftari from Old Dhaka. And in the every Ramadan afternoon, the narrow roads of Old Dhaka become fair of any festivals.
But this year in the first day of Ramadan, Dhaka was totally a gloomy city. All the roadsides were abandoned, there were no food shops, no people were in the roads and all the narrow roads of Old Dhaka lay down like a snake. None visited these narrow roads. Most of the people were maintaining their fasting staying at their homes. They took Iftari only with homemade vegetables and some fruits as prescribed by the doctors. Every year elder persons perform their afternoon and evening prayer in the mosque. The congregational place of the mosque were full of devotees. But this year, none of them went to the mosque.
The reason is to avoid the transmission of Covid-19 and everyone has to maintain physical distance. So, government has forbidden assemble in the congregational place. Rather, the Prime Minister of the country requested to the people pray their prayer (Namaz) inside home. That’s why, from the morning till the evening, the whole country passed an unexpected Ramadan day.
After Covid-19 attack in the whole world, everybody is having a thought that corona will change the social culture of the world. What will happen after corona math and how long corona fair and its strike will continue, nobody knows that yet. But the change that has come in Bangladesh is unexpected for everyone in the country. Rather, all the citizens of Bangladesh are expecting with their whole heart that within very short, scientists will come up to every person of the world with an effective vaccine which will prevent Covid-19 and Bangladesh can get back its own joyful and festive Ramadan.
Swadesh Roy, Senior Journalist, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is a highest state award winning journalist and can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com
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