Sombre Eid in Ballabgarh this year
Sixteenyearold Junaid’s village in Haryana stands by the grieving family, gives up celebrations
NEW DELHI: Men dressed in white kurta payjamas with a black band around their arms proceed to the Idgah in village Khandawali to offer namaz. They are discussing how this Eid is so insipid.
Most people refrained from wearing new clothes in this village in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh, about 70 kilometres from Delhi. The women too did not dress up.
“Eid means a lot of colours around, aroma of biryani emanating from each household, children playing on the streets and all of us cheering, laughing and eating together. Look around, do you find anything of this?” said Mohammad Irfan.
“How could we celebrate when Junaid’s family is mourning. It will be a sin. We stand in solidarity with them,” he added and left for the prayer.
Junaid,16, was stabbed and killed on June 22 when he was returning home with his brothers on a train after shopping for Eid in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar. The boys had an argument with some fellow passengers who called them ‘beef-eaters’, taunted and heckled them before it turned violent. Junaid was killed after two hours on the train while his brothers also received stab wounds.
Another villager, Ashraf, says he has never seen such few people for the Eid prayer.
“There is no place to stand here on the day of Eid. So many people come to offer namaz. Today there is hardly a crowd. Last year we did not get space so we sat outside in the park. The mats are spread out till a kilometre away,” he says.
“There are so many vendors who come and we all go for an outing after the namaz. We eat and celebrate together. This year it is very different,” he added.
As the men left for the prayers, the women gathered at Junaid’s house to make sure that Saira, his mother was not alone. As Saira lay on the bed, the women around tried to convince her to take a bath and offer prayers.
“She has been lying down in the same clothes for the past two days. She has not eaten. I have been telling her to at least offer namaz but she won’t listen,” Shabana said.
“This is the first Eid in 60 years when I have not worn new bangles and not cooked biryani. I tried waking up in the morning to make something sweet as a token but could not. I can’t get the thought of Junaid not being with us,” says Maqsuda, Junaid’s aunt.
She then lifts Saira, gets her the Quran and tells her sternly. “Get up. Wash your face and offer prayers. You can’t not pray on Eid and disrespect Allah. And don’t cry while chanting the sermons,” she tells her.