SAHIWAL: Ali Ahmed with his wife Hafeezain Bibi and their three children arrives from village 79/4-R to Mai Shah graveyard for the repair of graves in the first 10 days of Muharram.

The people visiting the graves of their near and dear ones hire the couple to give a makeover to the resting places with a fresh layer of clay mixed with straws.

Ali is not alone to offer his services at the cemetery. More than 100 labourers from surrounding villages camp at the site during Ashura on Jamia Rasheedia Road for mud paste of graves.

They say that each family earns Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 daily.

There is a tradition among families to visit graveyards and throw flowers on the graves of their family members during Muharram and Eid days. This is the occasion when they get graves repaired, which are damaged due to rains.

Mai Shah’s graveyard is a house to both Shia and Sunni people’s graves.

Chaudhry Latif said most of the families visit the graves of their dear ones during Muharram and on Eid days and get them repaired annually.

Saima Ahmed along with her nine-year-old daughter Ramsha arrived from Farid Town at the grave of her parents, aunt and uncle to pay them respect on Muharram 9.

She said she bought flowers to place on graves. Later, many labourers surrounded her, offering their services for mud pasting of graves.

Labourer Ali told Dawn that for the last 15 years, he has regularly been camping at the graveyard during Muharram and repairing graves.

His wife Hafeezain Bibi said it was difficult to stay at makeshift places on the road in humid weather but they would earn more than Rs20,000 in these 10 days.

Their day starts with a humble breakfast of tea and biscuits. Later on, they feed the family on the charity food which is dished out by visitors.

Ali said he and his wife actually are road labourers and are employed in Mirpurkhas and Muzaffarabad with different road contractors.

He charges Rs300 to Rs500 for one grave’s paste. They have a plastic bag, a plastic cane and a bag of dry straw. Once the deal is struck, Ali fetches water while Hafeezan prepares clay. The couple pastes the clay on graves while their children watch them work.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2022