Celebration is a part of human conduct. And in our part of the world Eid is the biggest celebration. This is the time when the markets of Kashmir would remain open till late, and the rush on the roads would tell us that Eid was here. But covid has put a dark blanket on this all. Besides killing people, snatching livelihoods, and making hundreds of thousands sick, this tiny creature has sent all forms of joy to exile. That is very depressing. True, this is an unusual Eid, like the ones in the last year, but we have to gracefully accept this and restrict our ways of celebrating the occasion. The force of habit would compel us to move out into the markets and buy the usual things, but this the time to apply restraint on ourselves and stay indoors. We know how difficult it is to tell children not to move out on Eid. We know how suffocating it is to tell the relatives not to visit on this occasion. We know how painful it is to limit the day within family, and within the confines of home. But this is desperately needed as the covid wave is still surging. So these few days we need to apply some sobering reality check on ourselves. If we move out, crowd at some baker’s shop, and contract the disease there, what will happen to us and our families. What would happen to the celebrations later. Isn’t it better to save yourself, and the family, by limiting the occasion to indoors than moving out and getting infected. For the sake of our lives, the lives of our children, we must exercise this control over ourselves. This is certainly not the end of life. We will, with God’s help, defeat this crisis. One day we will again be part of gatherings. One day we will again celebrate the occasions with relatives and friends. There are many more Eid occasions for us to celebrate in the years ahead. But that is only when we save ourselves, and our families, from this deadly virus. So an earnest request to all, from all: stay indoors.
Run up to Eid
