Eidul Azha in days gone by

My childhood remembrance of Eidul Azha goes back to the sixties. We lived then in Jacob Lines, which were government barracks. Clean neat with roofs made of red tiles and totally secure. Yes you will not believe it but in hot humid days and nights we would keep the front door open for fresh cool air without fear of robbers, dacoits or even simple thieves.

In houses that had raised platforms called verandahs the males in the family would sleep on these verandahs, which were for all intent and purposes out in the open and without walls or doors. This was in spite of the fact that very close to these barracks, which ranged in names from Jacob Lines, Jutland Lines, behind Jacob Lines, Tunisia Lines, Abyssinia Lines, etc., were what presently are labelled as kutchi abadis or cluster of huts.

In the morning children living in barracks would make their way through these huts to their schools many of which were missionary schools like St. Joseph’s or St. Paul’s and St. Patrick’s. Not that there were no government schools which too, believe me or not, had similar and even better standards.

The Government Girls School Jacob Lines was one of these schools that offered an alternate to schools like St. Joseph’s. The important thing was that no child going to school was harassed or harmed. No kidnapping or rape or falling into open manholes to be fished out days after the incident. Our children were safe and no one dared to harm them because in those days not only were the law enforcers ready and alert but totally unforgiving to the law breakers.

Reverting to the occasion of Eidul Azha, if my memory serves me right the sheep my father bought in the early sixties cost him twenty two rupees. Last night I found out through a TV programme that now such animals are in the range of forty thousand to fifty thousand rupees.

Why did we buy a sheep and not a goat? This in itself is also very interesting. In early days in Pakistan most of the animal sacrifice was of sheep and goat meat was frowned upon. All kinds of allegations were directed at goats like their meat had worms and it starts smelling after a while.

Market was flooded with sheep and goats were hardly to be found. It was after many years that goats finally found acceptance and to the degree that today they are the animal of choice though some people still prefer the sacrifice of sheep which can be attributed in part to the huge tail of sheep popularly known as Chakki which is full of fat which melted and used as a shortening to cook meat that taste buds of some people relish.

Over the years the route of procurement of these animals has almost remained the same. In early years the local butcher usually provided the animals and they were also easily available in nearby all localities in makeshift animal markets.

Residents of Karachi in those days did not enjoy the convenience of ordering sacrificing animals on line to be delivered on the three days of Eid well packaged and every part clearly marked. I doubt that in those days even if this facility was available many would have availed it.

These were old-fashioned people who followed their religion in letter and spirit and one of the key actions was to develop a close relationship with the sacrificial animal. The animal was looked after by whole family with the children feeding it and the elders supervising over them and ensuring the animal was well looked after.

The idea of personally looking after the animal was to develop a close relationship with the animal so when the time comes for sacrifice you feel the anguish of sacrificing something you love and will miss for some time. Not even ever meeting the animal you sacrificed and just receiving different parts in packages would not have been welcomed by that generation.

There are still those who prefer to invest time and money to go look for the animal they would like to offer and most of them go to the centralized market though in days near the event you can also find mini-markets all over the city and even persons with few animals standing on street corners.

Eidul Azha sacrifice is now a whole new ball game. It is a lot more expensive than in the past. A dent in all these hectic arrangements for Eidul Azha is the deteriorating law and order situation especially around the main cattle market. Dacoits are now even attacking police check-posts brazenly and are well armed. Hopefully, they will be dealt with severely and people will be able to indulge in buying animals of their choice without fear and intimidation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024