Eid is just about waiting.

For Eid-ul-Fitr, the wait begins on the evening of the 29th of Ramzan, waiting for the moon sighting. Then we wait for announcement from other cities.

If there is no moon sighted, we obviously have Eid after 30th Ramzan. The excitement dulls a bit, as mothers plan more cleaning and decorating.

Chand raat is another round of waiting. My dad and brothers go to the market for enjoying the Chand raat specials. We wait for them so we can lock the house and call it a night. It doesn’t happen until 3 AM. The wait is special because my dad brings kofta and qeema samosa and my brother brings chicken tikka. We devour that before we sleep. Yep, yummy.

The markets are open all night on Chand raat. Women are not far behind and their excuse to visit market is for shopping – matching jewellery and bangles and sandals.

Initially I used to feel bad that only boys get to enjoy Chand raat.  Once or twice, I accompanied them, owing to my curiosity. It is madness, absolute and utter chaos. You can’t walk, you can’t breathe and you run into everybody you’ve ever known. It is less shopping and more socializing.

I am low on patience and it gets worse when I am in crowded places. I have denounced it since. Chand raat shopping is for the brave souls. I am not one of them.

Mom and I stay at home and prepare for the feast next day. From onions and green veggies and meat for Biryani, to sewaiyyan and dry fruits for sheer khurma, everything is readied. I wait for my married sisters to visit. They mandatorily go to market at least once. They visit us before to ask if someone would accompany, if we need anything, and to drop their kids. They visit after, to show their shopping, to hand over what they bought for us as a gift because we are so damn lazy to go to the market, and to pick their devilish kids.

This year my eldest sister was shopping until 2:30 AM. We heard the news from a relative aunty who was also there in market. Kudos to both!

The day of Eid, we wait for the men to leave for masjid for doing one last round of dusting before we bathe and get ready.

After greeting Eid, we wait for relatives to visit and celebrate Eid. I wait for my sister’s because I don’t like other relatives as much. Sisters are okay but their kids looks so adorable in their Eid outfits that I cannot get enough of them.

 I don’t go anywhere. No prizes for guessing.

Eid-ul-adha has slightly different meaning. We need much less preparations. The focus is finding the best goat in the best price, and finding a butcher to do the rituals before we can enjoy all the meat delicacies.

On the day of Eid, we wait for meat.

This Eid was no different. However, the waiting period was much shorter. My brother-in-law brought meat in a big sack around 10L30 AM and we began the most daunting and tiring task ever – cleaning it, packing meat in small and big pouches to distribute amongst relatives and neighbours. It takes only 5-6 hours, no big deal. I took care of non-meat stuff while mom and my sis were on ‘meat duty’.

Eid-ul-fitr and Eid-ul-adha had one common factor – it is freaking hot. Although it is monsoon season, the temperature is still pretty high. It was 31 yesterday. With frequent load shedding, the weather felt worse.

Anyway, that’s how I look at Eid. How was your Eid?

Shabana