Eid away from home: Tales of Karachi's duty-bound heroes

“I wish I had enough money to spend Eid with my family back in the village,” says Safdar Abbas, 30, who drives a rickshaw in Karachi and cannot fathom taking a day off.

Adulthood makes you think the spirit of Eid is dying — and maybe the feeling is mutual to some extent.

Following the same routine every year, we wake up in the morning, offer our Eid namaz, and then flit off to lunch with family or friends, all while devouring sheer khorma (a sweet dish cooked and served in Eid) and tons of other delicacies which make our dining tables seem small.

Sounds like the typical Eid drill, right? However, there are people like Safdar who’d love to spend the festival with the same mundane spirit that you and I take for granted.

“I am busy driving a rickshaw in the city while my family misses me back home, and even that sacrifice doesn’t pay off, considering I have to cut back on my fares. Mehengayi buhat hogayi,” the father of four told Geo.tv with a despondent face.

On the other hand, professional workers from fraternities like hospitals, restaurants and newsrooms don’t rely on daily wages but they too miss out on the customary Eid dawats and quality family time as they have to be of service to us 24/7.

“Eid is different for us because before becoming a journalist, I used to go shopping for new clothes and I’d just be excited about the dawat (feast) invites, but now I just think about the shoots and stories I have lined up for the occasion,” says Shawala Aslam, 23, who works as a health reporter for Geo News.

Nonetheless, she likes to make up for the lost quality family time by seeking the same elation in her work.

Talking to Geo.tv, Shawala said: “It’s true that I feel bad about not spending time with my folks but at the end of the day I go to sleep with this satisfaction and fulfilment that I worked for my people and served them with the daily news they deserve to know about.”

She also pointed out that if a news reporter doesn’t show up to work, then the audience won’t get their dose of timely, crisp information because the cycle doesn’t stop for anyone.

“The nature of my job is different from employees working for other corporate sectors. Even with the workload and pressure mounting on us, people still expect us to show up for every event which is nearly impossible,” Shawala replied when asked if people don’t realise how tough and demanding her job was.

Admitting that she also compromises her social life sometimes, Shawala is still grateful for the challenging job and prefers putting her work before anything else.

However, Dr Atir Ateeq, who works at Ziauddin University as a frontline dentist and lecturer, doesn’t share this similar sentiment.

“Eid is a festival of Muslims which is why I think everyone should get the government-mandated three days off from work,” he told Geo.tv.

Dr Atir graduated from DOW University of Health and Sciences in 2017 and completed his house job in 2018. Moreover, he also worked at Fatima Jinnah Dental College for four and a half years and during that period he completed his MCPS Fellowship in Operative Dentistry.

As proficient as he is in his field, Dr Atir still believes that every individual deserves a break.

“I go to the hospital in morning and rush back to my clinic in the evening so my Eid isn’t the same as other people. In dental, there aren’t much emergencies but we still have to show up for our patients in pain,” he said while speaking with Geo.tv.

Due to this busy schedule, Dr Atir also misses out on the grand breakfast that his family hosts every year on the first day of Eid.

“I miss a lot of dinners, family gatherings and midnight hangouts with my friends, but still the work I do goes unnoticed as my day-and-night services don’t get me any extra incentives or even a certificate of appreciation,” he added.

On the other hand, Rida, 22, is also snowed under by the bustling café she works for but still wouldn’t give up the burnout that comes with being a pastry chef.

“A chef's life is very difficult but I decided to transform my passion into profession which is why the fatigue doesn’t bug me that much, but I do have to excuse myself from family dinners, even in Ramadan I’d break my fast every day at the café only,” Rida told Geo.tv.

“The Muslim staff gets a single day off on Eid and I spend that too at home only,” she shared further.

Rida also explained how her job is different from the '9 to 5' dynamics as bank and office employees’ getting weekends off just means more work for her.

“Besides Eid and other public holidays, we have to show up in the kitchen on Saturdays and Sundays too because that’s when the café gets most of its customers. We have to work thrice as hard during rush hours,” Rida said.

However, she emphasised that she likes to have her hands full and this has been the case for five years now.

All these four people provided us with a mixed bag of feelings about spending Eid away from home.

While they wait for the day, they finally get to spend this auspicious occasion with their loved ones like us, it’s time to realise that the day is only vapid and boring if you choose to spend it lazily with a zillion naps rather than having a laugh with your cousins or fighting over who got the most Eidi this year — it’s your pick.