A Ramzan-time walk

Ramzan-time Triplicane Walk was held recently. Today, it continues to attract comments and is being talked about on social media. I am wondering.

Walks are ideas I toss around through the year. So I suggested to film-maker and historian Kombai S. Anwar that a Walk through the familiar Triplicane at Ramzan Time would be a unique experience.

It would mean something more if we got to know the meaning of Ramzan and got to see and feel the colours and sounds of the season. And if we could be at the mosque at evening prayer and joined the community when it broke its fast, the experience would be special. Anwar worked his contacts and the Walk became a reality.

As our group quickly walked down the ever-busy and chaos-ridden Triplicane High Road, Anwar shared with us nuggets of local history – of the Nawabs and of the Muslims – and we got to sample the snacks and sweets that are made and sold on the roadside, specially at Ramzan time.

As the sun set that evening and pigeons scattered across the pink-hued skies above the sprawling campus of the Wallalajah Mosque, Anwar shared more of local history and sliced it with his take on the meaning of Ramzan, on prayer and the relationship with god, the place of women and on the fault lines and skewed understanding.

We were also witness to the spirit of the season – sharing.

A group of members of the Sufi Dar Community, mostly Sindhis, laid out the goodies they had brought there to be distributed to the fasting community and their guests.

Kanji, and dates, bananas and rose milk, wafers, and water.

Our host took the men and the women in the group to different spaces alongside the prayer hall and at the given hour, we sat on mats and partook of the food served to us.

A few of us who were on this Walk shared their pictures and experience on social media and the response has been flowing ever since. Everybody in that group seems to have had an experience. There was no need to elaborate on it. Perhaps a better understanding.

At Christmas season time, I have often wondered why we do not have people of different faiths inside churches when the choirs host their Christmas carols.

After all, the music of Christmas can be an uplifting experience. Little effort is made by the priests or the parish to invite all the families of the neighbourhood to step inside the church, take a seat and enjoy the music.
The music experience at the San Thome Cathedral or at the Kirk in Egmore or at St. George’s or at St Mary’s in the Fort at Christmas carols time can be special.

What is stopping us?

What can encourage us?

-Vincent D’Souza

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