While for those comfortably settled abroad for many years, Eid is an opportunity to indulge in the splendour with gusto, but for new immigrants the experience is half nostalgic and half imitation

The Muslims of Toronto should be happy that this year’s Eid celebrations are complimented by the hottest fall season recorded to date.

Where usually temperatures start going into single figures in the evenings and gusts of wind compel you to hold on to poles at bus stands, the weather has been hot and balmy, hovering in the mid and late 20s — perfect for Canadians. And that is also great news for all the damsels who have prepared their chiffon shararas and heavily worked silk shalwar/capris suits for Eid as no thick jacket will be hiding their glamour (and neither will they be freezing to death by braving the cold!).

Eid away from ‘home’ is a strange experience. While for those comfortably settled for many years it is an opportunity to indulge in the splendour with gusto, for new immigrants the experience is half nostalgic and half imitation as it seems like something created, not natural to the environment. But then a lot of the desi ‘goings on’ seem strange to newcomers who expect a more foreign setting and instead get an overdose of the desi taste in Toronto. And Eid/Ramazan time is one of those times when all things cultural come to life in a big way, especially within the Pakistani community. Statistics say that Muslims in Canada are estimated to be over 800,000 of which Ontario reportedly contains 61per cent. Furthermore, five per cent of Toronto’s population is Muslim, giving it the highest concentration of Muslims in any city in the US or Canada.

With almost every neighbourhood having a nearby mosque, there is activity throughout Ramazan as Tarawih congregations and free iftar distributed in mosques on weekends keep the crowds awake and out of their houses till late, bringing in extra business for the neighbourhood coffee shops and keeping the otherwise quiet streets abuzz with activity.

The all night food binges on weekends culminate in a grand gathering on Gerard Street on chand raat which ends up as jammed as Zamzama in Karachi or upper M.M Alam Road in Lahore. There is nothing ‘left out’ here that doesn’t happen ‘back home’. From mehndi being applied (it used to be in sub zero temperatures till a couple of years ago) and ‘chooris’ being bought ($20 and above!) to bargains being sought on men’s shalwar kameez and women’s ghararas (yes, they DO still wear ghararas here!). And, of course, there is the backdrop of Lahori Chargha and Karachi Kebab House, leaving nothing to crave for.

Call me a spoilt sport, but the view as a silent bystander appears like a scene from Alice in Wonderland -- soon to disappear if one were to wake up; simulated and forced. That is the feeling experienced by almost all newcomers who have left their heart in jalebis from Delawalla in Clifton and gulab jamun and fry fish from Karachi’s Burns Road.

And especially when you see prices ranging from $200 (Rs12,000) for a suit you know you will get for Rs1,200, you almost choke up on the festivities.

But, as my friend and voice of reason keeps telling me, when you are new in an alien land, you remember even the open drains on your neighbourhood road ‘back home’ with fondness! But since this is the only aspect of their own roots the ‘early settlers’ will ever have, they have a right to enjoy it without the disparaging remarks of us newly immigrated spoilt brats.

So happily because of the weather this Eid, there are a number of barbecues planned for community gatherings (another ‘must’ at Eid time) and good luck to all the chicks with flicks wearing $300+ dresses and the gelled-up men wearing even more expensive shalwar suits (available at Kurta Corner for 1/10th the price).

One thing, however, truly unites all Pakistanis/Muslims from Toronto to Pakistan and that is the dispute that takes place every year on the sighting of the moon. With different communities following different fatwas -- there have been times when Eid has been celebrated on three different days within the Muslim community of Toronto. Aah, at last something which ‘genuinely’ resembles home!