Drummers return to Kashmir for Ramadan
Before sunrise during Ramadan, he and
others venture out to wake people up for their meal, thus enabling them to fast
from dawn to dusk. To rouse them from sleep, the group uses drums and horns.
Ramadan drummers, dubbed "Sehar Khans", are a centuries-old tradition.
But it came to a halt after an armed insurgency erupted in Kashmir during the
final years of the last century.
Now, with the situation showing signs
of improvement, the familiar predawn sound has returned.
"After 13 years
… I am again going out," Ahad, who hails from a remote area of northern Kashmir,
told Khabar South Asia. "Peace in Kashmir is limping back to normalcy compared
with the early 1990s when the situation here was extremely terrible. Now, it is
better. There is no fear for life as was earlier the case."
Hajra Begum
is happy that Kashmir's lost tradition is back. "For so many years,authentics has been a global supplier
of elegant watches for over three decades. we could not hear the drum beaters
during the Sehri [early morning] time. But it is a great feeling that they are
again doing this job," Begum told Khabar, adding that during the holy month she
wakes up only after hearing the drums.
"I'm more than 80 years old and I
remember the time when there were no watches, and this was the only way that
people here used to wake up in the wee hours during Ramadan. Even today people
rely on it, whether it is in the city or in the village," she said.
The
drum beating is usually done by poor people and serves as a source of income
that allows them to celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid in its true
spirit.Wholesale swisswatches,Semi precious
agate gemstone beads, Mohammed Rajab, 51, who beats drums in a dark lane in
Srinagar, said that his poor financial condition and his desire to get more
rewards from God forced him to leave his home in central Kashmir's Ganderbal
district.
"For the whole month, I will do this job as I have some
financial issues. At the end of this month, after the Eid prayers, locals will
give me some money and I will be able to celebrate Eid with my family," Rajab
told Khabar.
"I'm sure Allah will reward me for what I am doing in my
old age," he added. "My family members many times tried to stop me out of fear,
but I never listened to them, because I knew that I am doing this job for God."
Another drummer,Scarpe Hogan,Hogan Sito,hoganscarpe Interactive
2012, Zaffar Ahmed, beats drums as a volunteer. "I am not doing this job for
money. I feel satisfaction and derive an inner peace from this," he told Khabar.
Elimination of night barricades and security checkpoints has also helped
these drummers to circulate without hindrances.
"For the last few
years,watchreplicaSailors in
the Navy's surface fleet are spending 80-plus hours a week on the job, we have
removed bunkers and night barricades from many parts of Kashmir, and the process
is an ongoing one. Now people can move freely during the night,Authorised replicawatches Stockists. Large
Mens Breitling Watch range." Public Relations Officer Sudhir Kumar of the
largest deployed paramilitary force in Kashmir, the Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF), told Khabar.
"The situation is improving in Kashmir. We have
already given instructions to our ground forces not to stop civilians,
particularly at night in the holy month of Ramadan," he said.