Muhammad Chand’s important position for residents throughout holy month is an inheritance that ‘brings pleasure’
Karachi drummer retains custom alive, wins hearts.
KARACHI:
Because the night time deepens in Ramazan and far of the town falls silent, a gentle beat nonetheless echoes by means of a cluster of streets in Karachi the rhythmic thud of a drum.
From Nipa to Gulshan, residents have come to recognise that sound because the mark of 1 man: Muhammad Chand.
For the previous 10 to 12 years, he has walked these streets earlier than daybreak, waking households for ‘suhoor’, the pre-fast meal.
“I’ve been doing this for the final 10 to 12 years. By the grace of God, it makes me completely happy,” he says. “Once I wake individuals up within the morning, it brings pleasure to my coronary heart.”
Every night time throughout Ramazan, he leaves his dwelling at round 03:00 and spends almost an hour transferring by means of completely different lanes, beating his drum.
“I’m going from Nipa to Gulshan, by means of all of the streets,” he explains. “I simply play the drum, I do not knock on doorways.”
For Mohammad Chand, that is greater than seasonal work. It’s a household custom.
“I’m persevering with this from my father’s facet,” he says with pleasure, suggesting that it’s not merely a supply of revenue, however an inheritance.
Outdoors Ramadan, he works mornings at a manufacturing facility in Sohrab Goth. Sleep is restricted.
“I work right here at night time after which go to the manufacturing facility within the morning. I solely sleep two or three hours,” he says. “Thank God, the whole lot goes nicely.”
The work is demanding, however he frames it as each devotion and repair.
“No matter individuals give fortunately, that’s good,” he says. “On Eid, once they give Eidi, it makes us very completely happy.”
His earnings come primarily on the finish of the holy month. On Eid, residents provide him a collective cost in recognition of his efforts.
“Normally, I obtain between 30,000 and 35,000 rupees. Generally it goes as much as 40,000,” he says with a smile. “Earlier than, it was across the similar. God is the supplier on Eid day we learn the way a lot it involves.”
There may be additionally an unwritten code among the many drummers.
“Everybody has their very own space. Nobody enters another person’s territory,” he explains.
The apply of waking individuals for suhoor predates alarm clocks and cellphones and types a part of a wider Islamic cultural custom.
In Egypt, the Mesaharaty has roamed neighbourhoods for hundreds of years, beating a drum and calling out residents by identify. In Turkey, the Ramazan Davulcusu a customized relationship again to the Ottoman period continues to patrol the streets in the course of the holy month.
Related traditions endure in components of Syria and Jordan, albeit in evolving types.
Though know-how has lowered the sensible want for such wake-up calls, for males like Mohammad Chand the position carries deeper that means.
From the primary quick of Ramadan to the ultimate pre-dawn meal, he steps out every night time with the identical resolve.
“Nobody has ever informed me, ‘Why are you making noise?'” he says. “I come to the identical space yearly. Everybody is aware of me.”
In a metropolis outlined by velocity and alter, the place many customs fade into reminiscence, the sound of a drum earlier than daybreak is a reminder that some traditions usually are not solely about necessity however about connection, continuity and shared blessing.
