Residents in town witness charming, delightful and pleasant Chand Raat and Eid

Rawalpindi : The residents here in town celebrated ‘Chand raat’ and Eid-ul-Fitr with great fervour making the festive occasions charming, delightful and pleasant and the population witnessed extraordinary crowds on almost all roads and link roads leading to markets after the announcement of Eid till Fajr prayer on ‘Chand raat’.

Heavy traffic was witnessed on Chand raat not only in the central parts of the city but also in relatively newer markets established in areas like PWD, Scheme 3 extension, Dhoke Chaudrian, Adyala, Chour and various housing societies developed in the last few years. Most of the city and cantonment areas were giving a deserted look but only at day-time during Eid holidays. The roads leading to the public parks in town remained heavily crowded on Eid days.

Almost all markets in city and cantonment areas along with those located along relatively smaller link roads and even in Mohallahs remained open even after Fajr prayer and a significant crowd remained busy in shopping till 6:00 am on Chand raat.

Main Murree Road (Benazir Bhutto Road) particularly from Saddar to Shamsabad, Rawal Road and the roads leading to markets in Raja Bazaar, Saddar area, Tench Bhatta, Commercial Market in Satellite Town, Banni Chowk, Iqbal Road and Tipu Road remained heavily busy till Fajr prayer.

On the first day of Eid, in the morning, the weather in town was extremely pleasant. After Fajr prayer, almost all graveyards in town got crowded with visitors who arrived there to offer ‘fateha’ on the graves of their loved ones on the first day of Eid.

Most of the fast food centres, local restaurants, Bar B Q points and even vendors in main markets of town received a huge number of customers particularly in the nights from Chand raat to the second day of Eid. The bakers, confectionery and sweets shops in town remained filled with customers on ‘Chand raat’ and on the first and second day of Eid.

Also the temperature did not shoot up and the weather could be termed as pleasant particularly in the morning, evening and night. On Eid days, particularly on the second and third day of Eid, the public parks remained heavily crowded while at night, a number of foodstuff outlets in almost all food streets received a great number of customers including families and groups.

For Rawalpindi city, however, it can be said that it witnessed extraordinary crowds on its roads and in markets on ‘Chand Raat’ and at night on the first two days of Eid showing a trend like that of big cities.

Many citizens say that the majority of our population face frustrations throughout the year and most of the residents have been left with little reasons to enjoy life mainly because of financial constraints and socio-economic factors and that is why they spent ‘Chand raat’ and Eid days with delight in an expressive way.