KARACHI: While women are going to beauty parlours and taking care of their last-minute Eid shopping, men also have some final details to take care of, one of which is buying caps to wear for Eid prayers.

“Prayers can also be said without a cap, my child, but it’s always better to have your head covered. It’s the tradition of the Prophet [peace be upon him]. It makes men look dignified and respectable,” said Muneer Abdul Razzak, a customer at a roadside shop selling a variety of caps near Memon Masjid.

“My cheapest caps cost Rs50 and the most expensive one is for Rs800,” said the shopkeeper, Hameedullah, while pointing at a yellow Sindhi cap with all kinds of glittering crystals encrusted on it.

Nice, but “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”. What if someone slips it from off your head? “So buy the cheaper ones if you are afraid of losing the cap,” said the shopkeeper. “I have cheaper Sindhi caps, too, for Rs150 each. I also have prayer caps made in China, Thailand, Turkey and Bangladesh,” he said.

Asked if he also sold the pretty and decorated Bohra caps, the shopkeeper shook his head. “No, those are made at home by the Bohra community. We don’t have them here,” he said.

Another customer, Sulaiman Shahid, was asking for a cap that he could keep folded in his pocket at all times. “I once went to the mosque without a cap and borrowed one from outside it. But I don’t want to do that again as those caps are worn by various people and I ended up with dandruff and lice in my hair as a result of wearing the borrowed cap,” he pointed out.

Another little shop on the same footpath had open boxes full of white crochet prayer caps. “The ones made by hand are the best sellers and cost Rs100 each. They are imported from Bangladesh,” said Mohammad Nazeer, the shopkeeper.

There crochet caps were also available in many colours but the coloured caps cost Rs80 each. “The coloured caps are imported from Turkey but as they are machine-made, they cost less,” he explained.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014