The joy of the month of giving

While for the most part of the year, we all may be deep down in self-oriented activity, utterly oblivious to the needs and sufferings of others around us, the holy month of Ramazan stands out for the love and altruism it preaches. 

This is one month of the year when people set aside all self-interest and in the true spirit of religion, care more for others than for themselves.

A case in point is the way people who themselves may not be all that prosperous, set up wayside Iftar stalls for passers-by to break their fast. 

Hundreds of passers-by, for whom there may be no way out but to be out on the road at this hour, need to have a way of breaking their fast. 

How strangers come to their aid is touching indeed. Locales like Burnes Road, Saddar, environs like the Din Muhammad Wafai Road (formerly Strachan Road), and the Karachi Press Club area are witness to a whole lot of such stalls.

This correspondent met and interviewed three such stalls and their owners.

Abdul Razzaq, a rickshaw driver visibly in the later stage of his life, puts up a stall at Iftar time for those whom circumstances may have forced to be out on the road when actually they should be at home savouring Iftar with their next-of-kin. 

“The number of people who break their fast at my stall oscillates between 150 and 200,” says Razzaq with pride radiating from his tone. “Sometimes even motorists stop by.” 

The goodies he has to offer are biryani, watermelons, melons, apples, dates, and much more.

He says one evening’s Iftar costs him anything between Rs6,000 and Rs7,000. Certainly this must be outstripping his daily earning from rickshaw driving but it is the urge to do good and for a change put others before self, a canon common to all religions.

“This refreshes my soul. I do it for God. I know that The Almighty would be really pleased with my sacrifice. This month provides me an opportunity to serve my master,” he says with a sense of joy.

A little short of the musical fountain on Din Muhammad Wafai Road, Mehmood, a pushcart vendor ostensibly in his 30s, sets up an Iftar stall. Despite his meagre financial position, he caters to passers-by. His menu is modest – haleem and roti. “Everybody is most welcome at my stall,” he says. 

Yet another of such altruistic persons is Yasir, another pushcart vendor. He sets up his stall a little further down on the same thoroughfare as Mehmood. His menu is also very modest – haleem and roti. When asked as to how many passers-by stop at his stall daily, he answered around 150 to 200. 

Asked as to how much each evening’s Iftar cost him, Yasir said around Rs1,500. Burnes Road, Saddar, and their extensions, are dotted with such stalls, which goes to show the innate human urge to care for fellow humans, to give precedence to altruism over self-preservation, to things noble.  Therein lies the beauty of the holy month of Ramazan.