Ramazan this year has scripted a new chapter in the ties that go back years between two Kashmiri brothers and their “seasonal” landlady in this Bengal district.
As the Covid-19 lockdown is in force, Manzoor Ahmed, 44, and Fayaz Ahmed, 40, have been breaking their fast with iftaar meals served by a Hindu family.
Roymoni Das, 65, has been making do with whatever she is able to get in the market so that the siblings from Kashmir can break their fast in the evening.
Roymoni’s house — where the brothers stay on rent for a few months every year when they come to sell shawls — had become their second home. The lockdown has now strengthened their bond.
Fayaz and Manzoor pray at Roymoni’s home Picture by Anirban Hazra
“We were a bit less worried (about observing the Ramazan fast) as we have been staying in this house during our visits here for almost a decade. It has become our second home,” Manzoor said.
“We are overwhelmed. The feeling of being away from home is not there. We will continue to fast here till the lockdown is over. The bond with our landlady has only got stronger.”
Whatever little worries the brothers had went away when Roymoni stepped forward. Since April 24, when Ramazan began, Roymoni has served the brothers puffed rice, potato fritters, fruits, juices and sweets to break their fast in the evening.
For Sehri, the early morning meal before beginning the day’s fast, Manzoor and Fayaz have food cooked and kept aside for them by the landlady’s family the previous night.
“I consider them my sons and it doesn’t matter to me that their faith is different from ours. They could not return home because of the lockdown and my duty is to make them feel at home,” Roymoni, a mother of two, said.
Roymoni, whose husband is a retired state government employee, once headed the district unit of the Congress’s women’s wing but is now off active politics. Their younger son, Pallab, 45, is a Trinamul Congress activist.
“We came here in October and were scheduled to return before Ramazan,” said Fayaz, who lives near Hazratbal in Srinagar.
Shawl traders usually stay back beyond the trading season to collect dues from customers. “We had planned to return in March because of the Covid-19 outbreak but had dues of Rs 11 lakh to collect,” Fayaz said.
The outbreak of the pandemic derailed their plans. “We had to stay back because of the lockdown,” he added.
Roymoni’s son Pallab said they too had enjoyed the Ahmeds’ hospitality when they visited Srinagar two years ago. “We had stayed in their house during our Kashmir trip. Every year when they come here, they bring apples and walnuts for us,” said Pallab, who owns a garage in Burdwan town.
When Manzoor and Fayaz lost their mother, Noori, during a trip to Burdwan two years ago, the Das family had helped the brothers take the body back home.
“Religion is a personal belief but humanity is universal,” said Fayaz.
Pallab nodded. His family’s gesture, he said, was not only a reflection of Bengal’s culture but also a statement against the politics of hate.