Ramisa Maliha Bhuiyan
Eid- ul -fitr is a celebration that is carried out on a grand scale every year. It is a privilege indeed for one to live in a multi -racial society where people of different races and the religion have the opportunity to mingle with one another during auspicious occasions like this. This is precious time for Dhakaities that Eid -ul -fitr envelopes the city with a spirit of festivity, and liveliness giving away to soothing days of sunshine and verdant evenings redolent with promise of boundless delight. Everything must commence on the right note – having abundance of food, a set or more of new clothes and a pair of new shoes.Furthermore, Eid -ul-fitr used to rate the highest as festival of the year in our childhood, followed closely by Eid – ul -Azha and Shab -e -Barat.
Well, activities for the celebration of Eid -ul – Fitr would start around the middle of Ramadan when we visit Bishal and shoppers world to pick out special dress for our Eid Attire. Ammu would look up the trends of the day. Her fashion sense was high brow.She had the flair for clothes and fashion. Eid dress was the most special. It was fun as we,kids would accompany our mother’s and khalas in Eid shopping. Once in a while, when it was well past the lunch hour we would get a treat of cream roll from the Olympia Bakery. The fat, chunky, fried farm chicken that is readily available at every corner of the market was so yummy.
Prior to the arrival of Eid – ul -fitr ,all Muslim families busy themselves with a through festivity cleaning of their homes. Moreover, the 
major activity apart from shopping was festival cleaning – curtains and bed covers were washed and ironed, every nook and cranny of our abode was cleaned during the last week of Ramadan. The shemai – “deemer jorda shemai” and the firni was cooked well past midnight. We ran up to the roof to see a silver of “Eid er chand” in the sky. The shouts from neighbouring roofs summoned the Eid of the following day. In our neighbour’s opinion we were the party – pooper.
The morning started with a lot of activity. Everyone had to take a bath before the Eid namaz.After we took our bath and and put on new clothes and we would wait our hair to dry. Later on we headed off to Park which is named by my father’s Rasel Park and all the family member’s and cousins gathered over there to celebrate the Eid. Then we convey greetings by saying Eid Mubarak and in the meantime my brother’s and cousins with our chachu would go for the prayers.
The menu was the usual white polau, chicken korma, beef rezala, koftas and the delicious shami kababs. In similar fashion my ammu, chachi’s and fupi try something new with dishes from a different cuisine like chowmein, pasta or thai papaya salad.
On Eid day, a chachu or mama would have his pocket filled with money. He would offer it to the first one who hit the floor to do the salam. Soon all the cousins would line up to take turns to earn the Eidi. With the prized note, we bought bittersweet milk lollies from the ice – cream man. We were usually not allowed to have those ices – cream, but on this particular occasion, the adults made an exception; they looked the other way.
We were totally exhausted and our tummies were so full of rich food. As we returned home from Dada Bari, I was usually fast alsleep, and the mother carry me on her shoulder. With sleepy eyes, I would crash on the bed. On the night of Eid, I was Cinderalla who was changed back into her worn out clothes when the clock struck 12. In my dreams, I dreamt of the fun I had dancing away the hours away during Eid day. Ah childhood! I still cherish those marvelous moment. Have fun on your Eid special day. Here is wishing everyone that as Allah water his creation, may he also sprinkle his wondrous blessings over you and your beloved ones. It’s a day of rejoicing and bliss, it’s a day of blessing and peace, It’s a day to reflect and ponder and it’s a day to celebrate together. Eid Mubarak to everyone..!!
