How Eid Has Changed Over The Years
Eid to me was an occasion I celebrated a bit differently. Most of my relatives were in Dhaka, so I rarely visited my home village. The first memory I have of Eid is holding my father’s hand and going for Jamat. I remember not getting an adequate place to stand but still making it work. As time grew, I started venturing out with my friends. Going place to place and hanging out. My mother cooked various sweet dishes but I rarely was interested in having any.
After a while, Eid Ul Fitr started to become dull. I think this correlates with the rise of social media. As most of my friends would visit their families outside of Dhaka, I started to notice that I had too much free time on my hands. After the Eid Jamat, I would get back home, turn on the TV, and I might spend four or five hours just laying around doing nothing. Eid shopping was always a hectic task, and I never enjoyed it. I’ve seen people fogging up the whole ground floor of Chadni Chok and my glasses would instantly fog up as I would enter that hellish nightmare. My skin u=would start to burn, suffocation would take over. But I did enjoy the rushed lifters on the streets. Now that I’m much older and have the responsibility to do some shopping for others. Now I also travel among the scattered crowd in search of good priced clothing.
In recent years, I feel cynicism has outweighed my joy of Eid. I think all people feel this. Especially as society gets more and more isolated. There was always a festive essence to Eid which is now non-existent. I think the growing trend of social conversations moving online is to be blamed. Though it does not seem that people are getting more isolated. It is just that the mingling has shifted online. Good or bad, that is still to be determined, but it sure does feel different. The neighbours rarely wish Eid Mubarak as most of them probably never talked to each other.
The glaring expectations of Salami and meeting relatives are a thing of the past. As we move towards a more advanced and fast paced life, the concept of Eid is getting reduced to only being a long awaited vacation and nothing else. The religious significance has also dwindled. Shopping, Salamis , and the joy of breaking the fast is now simmered down to a mere formality. But I guess this is the price of adulthood. Nothing lasts forever, even the enthusiasm surrounding the most special day of the year.
