By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net
It is three in the morning and I am waiting to listen to the loud echo of the drum mixed with his call “Jagiye bhai jaan. Sehri ka waqt ho gaya hai. (Wake up brothers. It is time for Sehri)”
When every one sleeps, he wakes up so that those who want to fast for the day can do their Sehri (pre-dawn meal in the month of Ramadan)
Meet Ali Raza, (32) the man behind the successful completion of Sehri in the Sultan Ganj locality of Patna. When I told him that I want to do a story on him initially a bit shy though, he was gracious enough to accept my invitation of doing Iftar at my place.
Audio of Sehri drums:
Drum beating is a family tradition and profession for him. For twenty years Mohammad Jalil, his father used to wake people up for Sehri. After his father, he has taken up that responsibility.
Father of four he is a professional drum beater during day time. The occasion of weddings, some times death also (Hindus in the north India complete the funeral of their elders with full celebration for which they take group of drum beaters with the funeral procession) are the opportunities of his earnings.
Indian Politics also provides with some chances of earning at the occasion of campaigning and celebration of winning elections.
But what about waking people for Sehri? Since when did he start doing this?
“It has been past 4 years since I have replaced my father, a Sehri waker when he started having some problems in his eyes.”
I asked him about his routine as at what time exactly he starts his routine.
He has to get up at 1 in the morning much before the last moment of Sehri he informed. He said that he has to cover a vast area which requires him to wake up much earlier. Around 1000 homes are covered by him. He completes the Sehri waking by 4. It is the time when he goes to bed. And again he wakes up at 9.
But doesn’t that hamper his daily work?
“No”, he replied.
Ali Raza and Mohammad Nazir doing their sehri round
When I asked about the benefit that he gets from the Sehri waking he replied.
“Sir, ye hamara khandani kam hai aur hum isko fayde ke liye nahin kerte. Han, bas Alah ki meharbani hai guzare mein asani hoi hai. (Sir, this is what our ancestors have been doing and we don’t do it for profit. But yes, it makes our otherwise difficult life a bit financially comfortable.)”
Ali Raza collects some times iftar from the homes he wakes up in Sehri. Then on the Eid Day he comes to have his “Eidi” Some people also give his children clothe for the Eid.
Who is the other person who accompanies him in Sehri waking?
He introduces himself as Md. Nazir, Ali Raza’s brother in law who is there with torch and a stick to avoid the dogs who might chase them some times.
Mohammad Nazir is a rickshaw puller who helps Ali Raza in Sehri waking. Theirs is a close knit family. They distribute whatever they get among the large family.
I asked Ali Raza, father of four whether his children go to schools or not, he said not schools but it is the nearby madarsa that his children attend.
(L to R) Ali Raza, Mohammad Jalil, and Mohammad Nazir
Ali Raza may not know the ideological complexities of secularism and communalism but to me he represented the secularism of the backward classes. He is very comfortable with the fact that he also earns by beating drums for idols at the time of any Hindu festival like Durga Puja, Sarasswati Puja. In fact as he told me this is how he earns a big chunk of his monthly earnings. He is also there in the music band which accompanies the idol at the time of its immersion.
Then he is also there in the occasions with Islamic association like at the time of Tazia in Muharram when he is there to mourn the death of Imam Hassan the grand son of Prophet Muhammad.
People like Raza Ali make immense contribution in our daily lives; here in the fact that we are able keep fasting. If he doesn’t take pain to wake us up at 1 AM in the morning, probably it will be very difficult for the us to do Sehri on time which will eventually affect the fast itself. Yet he remains at the margins and sort of behind the scene. Behind our successes lies their contribution also. By doing a story on Raza Ali TwoCircles.net wants to acknowledge the contribution and the importance of the subaltern and marginalized like him in our daily lives.