| November 16, 2003 | Sunday | Ramazan 20, 1424 |
Work culture and Ramazan
A learned discourse
THE sole Darul Amaan of the defunct Gujranwala division is deprived of basic civic facilities, and women are not safe in it due to lack of security and incomplete building of the institution.
It is stated that the girls who take shelter through court at Darul Amaan and women residing in it are not safe. Transport is lacking and sufficient security is not provided to them when they are taken to the court. Some women have to be transported to Lahore and other cities for recording their statements in court in connection with cases registered against them, but they have no security for their lives. Moreover, the building of this institution is still incomplete, and the front wall poses a risk due to its low height and lack of security measures. Women living in it are also facing a lot of problems due to non-availability of beds, clothes and furniture.
The Darul Amaan superintendent revealed at a briefing here the other day that only 14 beds were available for women as against the requirement of 40. She admitted that the front wall was not high enough, and there was no fence on it either. Doors inside the building were urgently required. She said women could not be given Islamic education as there was no teaching arrangement for them.
She said security guards were not available for women when they were taken to other cities or courts. She said a naib court should be appointed for escorting women from court to Darul Amaan in accordance with the law.
She suggested that security measures should be taken for women, besides reconstruction of the building and installation of a fence around it. She demanded that the number of teachers and staff should be increased, besides the provision of furniture and beds. Women would face a lot of problems in winter if these facilities were not provided to them instantly. However, she expressed satisfaction over the food arrangement.
TRAFFIC police claim to have issued 23,501 challan tickets, besides impounding 4,113 vehicles and arresting 3,640 drivers for violating traffic laws, during the month of October.
This was stated by the SP traffic the other day. He said nearly 9,292 challan tickets were issued in Gujranwala, 3,966 in Gujrat, 4,876 in Sialkot, 1,104 in Narowal, 1,534 in Mandi Bahauddin and 2,357 in Hafizabad.
He said route permits of about 50 vehicles were cancelled and 191 cases registered against the crew for reckless driving. He claimed the traffic system in the division had improved and accidents decreased due to traffic police’s patrolling.
A SURVEY report regarding enforcement of fixed prices of commodities by the district administration revealed that price lists were not being displayed on shops by traders and shopkeepers at Ramazan and Sunday bazaars. Instead, shopkeepers were receiving excess prices.
Shopkeepers raised prices arbitrarily disregarding the government directive and rate lists issued by the administration.
It is stated that the Punjab government took serious note of the price-hike during Ramazan and directed the district government to take action against hoarders and profiteers.
District coordination officer Fazeel Asghar asked the district officer and the deputy district officer (revenue) to conduct raids and arrest shopkeepers resorting to overcharging. DO Najam Ahmad started an operation against hoarders and profiteers and arrested and fined many of them.
One must confess that it no more is a matter of any surprise or disappointment to find just the person that you are looking for with reference to vital work is absent from his office, or his work station that very day in Ramazan. Of course, the reasons for his absence could vary. Before one goes into this in any measure of detail, one must also concede that attitudes to work in Ramazan as demonstrated generally do make one wonder why the so-called human resource pundits and trainers never bother to focus on this aspect of our work and life. More on this later, sometime.
Now the reasons for the absence could be that the concerned person has taken leave (of one kind or another) and chosen to focus most of his time on the month of Ramazan. He wishes to concentrate on what many believers call the spiritual side of our lives good.
The other reason could be that someone elderly in his family has fallen sick in this month due to the fasting that he or she had undertaken, and that this has upset the domestic rhythm of that household. So the employee (forget the cadres for a while) is off work. And of course happily, and without any regret or feelings of unease, or guilt that his work suffers, which in turn affects others in the system. But then let us remember that as a people we do not rate the concept of the work system as a very high, in our priority scheme, and, in fact, it is the lack of system, and more the personal touch or influence that makes things work fast. I have consciously not used the work efficiency, because as there is an oft-heard view that our cultural values do not really encourage the concept of good governance on a sustained basis. Recently, a former Vice President of the World Bank also made this observation about good governance in our lives and how our cultural values frustrate the change.
Yet another reason why the employee is absent from his work is that he has (or she for that matter) an upset stomach! Now that is easy to comprehend, and is no laughing matter. It can lead to serious complications, often because of the junk food that is voraciously consumed, in particular by office workers, and is invariably hazardous to health: long-term and short-term. Both the popularity and the affordability of that junk food being quite another matter.
A dear colleague of mine was absent from work for a couple of days this Ramazan after he had enjoyed for consecutive days the traditional Iftar — a menu of pakoras, haleem, samosas, mithai, fruit chaat, and so on — for a full week. It is very hard for those who fast regularly to realise that they ought to stay away from this kind of Iftar menu on a consecutive day basis. Some sensible and cautious Karachiites contend that it is best to have light Iftari and a regular dinner, fairly early in the evening so as to remain within the bounds of reliable health, (read stable stomach). Advice varies, and is in abundance.
Of course, sleep patterns and timings are also affected in this month, whether one is fasting or not. It is basically the household, the family that is made to undergo that lifestyle change, and so those who cannot fast for certain reasons find themselves somewhat derailed in a sense. A Karachiite who believes in sleeping early as a matter of routine, says that it is in Ramazan that he has to sleep late because everyone in his family fasts, and prays, and sleeps late! And this brings in the point about those who go visiting friends, and family or even neighbours after Taraveeh. Little is it realised that this disturbs the routine of the hosts, even though Karachi’s late nights are well-known, countrywide, as against the early to bed lifestyles of cities, like Islamabad, Quetta, or Peshawar among the cities.
A Karachiite who did not wish to be identified felt that as residents of the largest urban centre of Pakistan, Karachiites have begun doing what he described as “emotional eating”. Interesting expression, I remarked as we discussed work and overeating in the month of Ramazan, on a late Thursday afternoon. What is this expression that he had used? He referred to what a dietitian at the University of Maryland had said recently, and he quoted “instead of physical symptom of hunger initiating the eating, an emotion triggers the eating.” In other words, he elaborated to say that “eating to feed a feeling and not a growing stomach, is emotional eating”. Think, citizen.
Now how does this relate to Ramazan, to Sehri and Iftari we wondered as the conversation proceeded, inching towards what would eventually be Iftar time. Of course, like Iftar parties there are Sehri get-togethers that families and friends initiate, organise, and make a feast of the morning meal in Ramazan.
The explanation that another colleague who argues that in Ramazan, in fact, people work more as working hours stand reduced officially, and otherwise, gave was that to eat well and substantially is also good for the individual when he is fasting. Not just wholesome, nutritious eating, but some overeating is necessary. It is part of our culture. In Karachi, for a city as large as ours and with so little to do as recreation the most popular form of entertainment is eating. And overeating to make you feel that you are entertaining yourself! Of course, it hurts your health, which in turn affects your work, and attitudes to it.
That there are other reasons why attitudes to work, and efficiency and good governance are lacking, in such values as dedication, and consistency is well known. The debate on this could be endless we said as each one chipped in his bit and we tried to analyse why Ramazan is used by some employees at all levels to make it an excuse to work less. Or make the employer pay for the prayer, remarked one woman who said there should be no leniency shown towards those who let work suffer in this month. She was bitter.
She is a housewife now having worked for many years as a professional. She has in a way seen both sides of the coin, and referred to yet another reason why people in offices do not put in their best as the month of Ramazan progresses. It is not the prayer and the fasting that takes the energy away from the individual or even the students. It is the poor time management, in the name of culture, and it is the shopping, and window-shopping that increases as the month progresses, and climaxes towards Eidul Fitr. This is what is happening at the moment, with Eidul Fitr due within 10 days. The bazaars and the shopping centres and plazas that have begun drawing crowds, and see the merry-making that has grown enormously over the years. Good. But it is having its negative effect on getting the right mood in the office the next day.
In fact, even now work has begun slowing down and soon, before the holidays begin, it will actually stop. And the last week of November is going to be one big dead end when it comes to work. People have begun putting off things to after Ramazan, unless it means writing Eid cards, said one gentleman who is so keen to send out Eid cards to all his friends and colleagues. Nothing can stop him, it seems.
As far as attitudes to work are concerned, there are two types of people: those who fast and those who don’t. What is the difference? Not much say some people who explain that those who fast are in a majority and those who don’t being out-numbered are outdone; and put in a sort of no work lane that is if there is such a lane in this period. No work culture there is.
Funnily newspaper reports indicate that robberies have risen in Ramazan, and that’s partly enigmatic.
THE Chishti order of sufism was founded in South Asia by Khwaja Moinuddin who lies buried in Ajmer (India). He had migrated from Central Asia because of the devastation caused there by the Tartars. Second in line of the Chishti order in India is Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki, while the third happens to be Faridudin Masud, popularly known as Baba Faridudin Ganjshakar. His ancestors migrated to the sub-continent from Afghanistan and settled in a village near Multan. Born in AD 1173, he lost his father at a very early age, and it was his mother who sent him to Multan for education. There he came across Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki who took him in his fold because of the youngster’s interest in mysticism. Later, Farid joined his mentor in Delhi who nominated him as his successor. As such, he became the third head of the Chishti order in the sub-continent.
The Chishti saints took great interest not only in the languages of the country, but also adopted many of the local traditions. They even favoured music and dance in a state of ecstasy. That is how they succeeded in converting millions to Islam.
After the death of his spiritual leader, Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki, Baba Farid came down from Delhi and set himself up at Ajodhan on the banks of the river Sutlej. It was the Mughal emperor, Babar, who renamed Ajodhan as Pakpattan, the first usage of the prefix, Pak, for any place in India.
Having travelled extensively in Central Asia and Arabia, Baba Farid was proficient in Arabic, Persian and Turkish. However, he decided to apply himself to the real-life situation, adopting the folkloric media of oral poetry in the local dialect. It was through these that he spread his message. He established a Jamaat-khana at Ajodhan where people of different sects and religions met and freely exchanged ideas. Very soon, Farid came to be recognized as Sufi saint of the masses. His fame reached Delhi, and a young student, Nizamuddin, whose family had migrated from Bukhara, was attracted towards him. He came down to Ajodhan with the intention of leading a quiet, spiritual life. Farid accepted him as a pupil and advised him to carry on both with his studies and prayers. Finally, Farid pronounced him as his spiritual descendant. Simultaneously, he told him to go back to Delhi and “take the kingdom of Hindustan”. He is today revered in the sub-continent as Khwaja Nizamuddin Aulia (RA).
It was in the Model Town Library auditorium last week that the senior advocate and a member of the Islamic Ideology Council, Syed Afzal Haider, was there as an invitee of the Lahore Arts Forum to deliver a talk on Farid. He is more than qualified to speak on the subject, having already written no less than seven books on the oldest poet of the Indus Valley and the first in Urdu and Punjab-cum-Seraiki. However, the learned speaker dwelt more on Islam and its commandments and less on the Baba himself. But he had a good reason for that. His contention was that Baba Farid was an incarnation of all that was laid down in the Holy Quran. All his thoughts, therefore, were based on the Book.
Farid died in AD 1265, but even today millions of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs pay homage at his shrine. It is said that Amir Taimur, known for his massacres, put away his sword and presented himself respectfully at the shrine.
HAKIM Waliur Rahman Nasir’s posthumous collection of poetry Ehsas ki Parchaein was published this year by his brother, Hakim Abdur Rahman Nasir. Going through it, I found his ghazals of high merit. Some verses were even quotable:
Sara hi shehr uske janazey mein tha shareek
Tanhaion ke khauf se jo shakhs mar gaya
It seems that Hakim Abdur Rahman has a special corner in his heart for his late brother for he has come up with another collection of his poetry, Khat ke Neechey Naam na Likhna. The title has again been culled from one of his verses:
Khat likhna aur khat ke neechey naam na likhna
Dil likhna aur dil ka koi paigham na likhna
The book has been produced as elegantly as the first one. To celebrate its publication, Hakim Sahib gave an Iftar dinner. It was heartening to see so many known figures responding to his invitation. The senior advocate, Abid Hasan Minto, was there together with his short story writer wife, Tasneem. I also got the opportunity of meeting many old friends: Ataul Haq Qasmi, the heavyweight AG Josh, the lightweight Zaman Kunjahi, the medium weight Kanwal Feroz, besides Aizaz Ahmad Azar, Abdul Ali Shaukat, Raja Rasulu and a host of TV comperes and programme producers, including Afzaal Shahid, who was once very close to me. It was an extremely pleasant gathering where Aizaz Ahmad Azar and Iftikhar Majaz had many interesting stories to relate.
WHAT I wrote about Nisar Akbarabadi has had the desired effect. If not the government, at least a private person has sent him a cheque for a substantial amount. I cannot disclose the identity of this retired professor without permission.—ASHFAQUE NAQVI