On April 9 at 5.48pm, around 50 people from the Muslim community broke their day-long fast together at the CC Block community ground in Action Area I of New Town. The iftaar gathering was organised by the CC Block Puja Samity which also holds Durga puja and Saraswati puja in the block.
In another corner of the township, behind City Centre 2, on April 16, another iftaar party had been organised at the Uttara Dwitiya housing complex, where Muslim residents of the complex were invited to sit with non-Muslim neighbours and snack on watermelons, nuts, berries, fries etc.
The fortnight in the run-up to Eid-ul-Fitr was marked by such instances of camaraderie cutting across religious communities.
Biman Samaddar, secretary of the Samity, said: “Most religious festivals in Calcutta are celebrations of culture more than religion and thus the festivities are unique in their own way. Members of the minority communities engage with the majority community on all our festive occasions. This prompted us to extend a reciprocal gesture of harmony in the form of this Iftaar party. Not just residents, shopkeepers and caretakers were invited as well.”
About 50 people broke fast with fruits, nuts, semai, pakodas, fruit juices etc. Later more people joined and it was a gathering of at least a hundred members of the community who attended the Iftaar party. In fact, so unexpectedly high was their number that the event had to be continued till 10pm.
The organizers were touched to receive gifts of fruits from some of the Muslim shopkeepers of the locality. A caretaker brought bottled water while a tea-seller prepared the ghughni and semai served at the party free of labour charge, accepting just the cost of the ingredients from the organisers.
Dr Masum Reza, a pulmonologist, has been staying in CC Block for over a year now. “I have lived in Metiabruz and a few other areas of the city in the recent past, but none was as inclusive,” he said. “Iftaar parties in my previous neighbourhood were sometimes organised with political motive, but the one by the CC Block Puja Samity is straight from the heart.”
Abul Hayat, another resident, hails from a rural background. “In CC Block, I have never felt the gaze I am subjected to elsewhere because of my Muslim name.” He agreed with Samaddar that most of the grand festivals in Calcutta were more about Bengali culture than about the religion.
Uttara Dwitiya had a similar story to share. A small complex in the outskirts of New Town, Uttara has been organising Iftaar parties for a few years now. The number of Muslim guests attending the occasion is not large but there is no dearth in the effort put in by organisers like Samik Aich and Bhaskar Saha to make the religious minorities in the complex feel included.
At the iftaar party in Uttara, Muslim residents of the complex were invited to sit along with non-Muslim neighbours and take watermelons, nuts, berries, fries etc.
“Inclusivity has always been a hallmark of social life in Bengal and there is no harm in sharing the bit of positivity that humankind is left with,” said Aich, who has been living in New Town for over a decade now.
Shenwaz has been attending iftaar parties in Uttara for a few years now. “The residents here have always been liberal in their approach amidst all the communal disharmony across the country. So it does not come across as a surprise to me that they organise such an event here,” he smiled.