Bloody Eid!!

I was just referring to Eid ul Azha which is commonly known as "Bakra Eid", even though the cows seem to have a fair share of all the blood flowing along the roads and bends of the city. Its certainly not fair for the cow not to have a share in the name of the occasion designed to train a spotlight on bakras and cows specifically.I think it should be called "Gaee Bakra Eid" but thats quite a mouthful don't you think? And we are so used to Bakra Eid we might shorten it to GB Eid in order to get past the name which is even worse because.... well its not right..

Anyways! No, I have not gone crazy.Yet. I'm just blabbing away because I'm hungry,its 2am in the night and I simply cannot wait for the 'kaleji' which will be cooked tomorrow morning or rather afternoon,thanks to the qassai and our beloved cow.The 'qassai' is the most important personality on this Eid.We grovel at his feet literally, to give us the honour of sacrificing our animal first.But he is as stubborn as the cow that he kills and he will arrive only when he wants to..*sigh*

Now this Eid is specially characterised by the amount of red meat cooked and eaten by households.I mean there's no end to it.Firstly there are so many parts to be cooked, with so many different ways and methods of cooking them and a huge variety of recipes to to cook them with! It's a never ending business and pretty intimidating, if you ask me! But then what are Mothers for?? They are always up to any challenge and we get to eat the most delicious,mouth watering foods for at least two weeks straight, post Bakra Eid. I'm salivating just thinking about the nihari,haleem,chops and what not! Plus there's nothing to be guilty about because the poor are just as satisfied as the rich in terms of getting a huge supply of meat to relish.

Now theres something about this Eid that I personally just detest! The highlight of this occasion is the enormous amounts of poop,piss and grass strewn all over the streets,roads,pavements,even in front of peoples houses (not inside the house mind you) and AND surprisingly enough nobody seems to be bothered by it.People just ignore it(once its out of their house),step over it or ON it and don't seem to mind the fact that it is disgusting and unhygienic for crying out loud! Once its out of the house, it becomes invisible to people. A rare kind of shit, I must say.As for me, my obsessive compulsive instincts are on high alert during the entire Eid and I'm usually inside the safe and poop-less precincts of my house. Post sacrifice one is faced with another dilemma,that of blood.Everywhere.All over the city.Its like the best place a vampire could be but only if he/she is a 'vegetarian',if you know what I mean..(you would if you have read Twilight :p). People do not even bother to sacrifice their animal near a ground or clearing so that the blood gets soaked in the dirt.No.They will drag the poor animal right in the middle of the road for the benefit of the onlookers and then sacrifice it.What about the blood on the road? Who cares until its out of the house. I mean the road will clean itself probably overnight or the vampires may drink it up.Who knows...

So what else? Other than the fact that people spend most of their time with the animal feeding,cleaning and taking care of it, totally ignoring their daily routine and families, and after the sacrifice distributing the meat, storing it and then eating it,that is pretty much it, right? Do we meet our relatives? No,not really.Only if they have this "dawat" and only if we are "invited" and these are blood relations we are talking about!

What is the point of Eid, people? Eid comes twice a year for us to forget our differences,finish family feuds and truly and sincerely make an effort to be happy and spread happiness.But all we spread nowadays is text messages which are read once and then deleted.However true happiness should not be deleted,CAN not be.We meet because we HAVE to not because we WANT to and that is the saddest part, in my point of view.Personally I have divided my relatives into two groups, those I want to meet and those that I have to...All of us have become so busy in our own lives that we do not see others.We are happy inside a shell,afraid to break out,anxious and apprehensive.Do we ever think,these are the people we played with as kids..Selfishness,miserliness,hatred,jealousy..are these the only traits left in us?? Where is compassion,respect,sincerity? Love? And then whats the use of celebrating Eid, a friend asks me and I say that Eid comes with the prime purpose of dissipating negativity and bring people closer.It comes with a lesson,with a reason which must not be overlooked.If all days were spent like normal days we would become robots.We would never be excited or happy or anxious or sad.Think about it...
So when you are busy washing the blood from your front yard do not forget your own blood relations.When you are busy chewing a juicy piece of meat,do not forget that Eid is a time to reunite and kill all our prejudices,like literally, just like the cow or bakra or camel!!

Have a juicy and spicy Eid!
Cheers!