Daily Times

Do you remember the cleric of the mosque in your vicinity giving special sermons during Ramazan every day on the importance of the holy month after Fajr prayer and how the sins of the sinners will wash away if they could somehow manage to keep fast and offer their prayers regularly with taraweh and of course, caps on their heads? I hope you do. I don’t know about you but Hafiz Abdul Malik, the man who had this amazing ability to make me forget what little verse I would cram from the Holy Quran by just giving me a gaze or two and then making me recall it back by reddening my toes with his exceptionally long stick – the Imam of Jamia Mosque at my village would always end up his sermon by quoting the famous hadith that a fasting man gets two “Khushian” in Ramazan. To add more curiosity among the faith keepers, and looking right into the hawkish eyes of Noora Kumhar,(Noor Muhammad) he would take a long pause and then say, one at the time of breaking one’s fast and the other in the hereafter when one would finally meet the Almighty.

Hafiz sahib is no more and so are the constant reminders of the hadith. May the Almighty keep his soul in eternal abode! As the holy month enters its last phase, what I have observed is that nowadays a fasting Pakistani gets two pleasantries every day in Ramazan but here the sources are different; one at the time of watching “Iftar transmissions” at home and second shopping around in CM Punjab’s “Sasta” Ramazan bazaar. The first one is impersonal, indoor and unpredictable because you never know when any of the holy lads hosting the programme will pull his tongue out, make your ears stand and leave your eyes wide open.

God forbids! In such a situation, if you are a strict type. I mean the lecture man who does not let go any chance to inculcate mannerism and “shaistigi” in younger ones at home. And trust me. There is always one such gentleman in every household. It can be father, elder brother or may be your uncle. Doesn’t really matter whosoever he might be. They all do the same thing; moral policing, but if he is the father himself? Oh boy! Sheer disgrace! You might smile a fake smile by looking at your little son’s face to hide what is burning inside you by watching those ultra-stupid yet religious coated transmissions with him.

That brings us to the second happiness that a rozadaar experiences “before” breaking his fast. This one is personal, outdoor and it gives you the liberty to move around and shop from a variety of stalls from Ramazan bazaar at “not” your doorsteps. I personally like outdoor activities over indoor amusements.

One thing has become clear lately; Iftar transmissions and Ramazan bazaars are hit, both for different reasons. These are the new cultural artifacts of Pakistani society. By looking at the social media trends it becomes even more obvious. Both were the most trending, most discussed topics on Facebook, Whatsapp and twitter for all the good or bad reasons until the Maulana Qavi–Qandeel Baloch episode.

Meanwhile, PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) guys are super busy in doing everything they can possibly do on paper to hold media houses accountable for running indecent transmissions during Ramazan. Things, however, with CM Punjab and his team for holding successful Ramazan bazaars are far better than the previous years. During my recent visit to one such bazaar in a distant tehsil of central Punjab, Jaranwala, I witnessed amazing arrangements by the representatives of the district government. One lives with the hope that CM and his team will continue serving the common man with the same enthusiasm and ace management throughout the province during the holy month.