¡°The month of Ramzan shows us how to be graceful, thankful and have the patience to find contentment in our circumstances,¡± said Bashir Ahmed. Incredible that the Rohingya Muslim refugee should express such optimism when all that he had in his claustrophobic shack as the iftar meal were slices of water melon for himself, his wife and three children to quench their thirst, and afterward a humble meal of rice and vegetables and a cucumber and onion salad.
AP
At iftar on the first Friday of the holy month of Ramzan, the family ate in silence under the glow of the white light that highlighted the claustrophobic interiors of their plastic and bamboo shelter. As the sun went down, the same scene played out in the other tents at Kalindi Kunj, where 48 Rohingya families were trying to come to terms with their already burdened lives facing, on April 15, another trial by fire, literally, when their huts were destroyed by a blaze.
Some time earlier, around 6pm, men, women and children had all gathered at the new camp's lone tap near the entrance, some to wash pots and pans, others to freshen up after a hot, harsh day of fasting. Mohammad Salimullah, who used to run a small shop at the camp that was lost to fire, surveyed the crowd. ¡°We have just one water tap for so many families. There always are queues here and the water is not enough for everyone's use,¡± he said.
AP
On Friday, TOI could sense during its visit to the new camp that amid the trauma of the fire and the financial losses, the families were stoically forgetting their overwhelming challenges and injecting some degree of normalcy in their lives through fasting and praying as if life was routine. The dismal camp site with its wild growth of shrubs and muddy ditches seemed to reflect their fate, but then the refugees seem to have accepted that uncertainty has become a part of their life since they fled Myanmar to escape persecution.
There are 25-odd tents in the camp now, each home to three-four families and there is a constant fight for space. The recent storms have added to the misery of the families, leaving them holding dearly on to their possession in their tented home ¡ª perhaps wondering how much more they would have to suffer.
AP
Their most precious possession appeared to be their refugee document. Ahmed, who works at a graveyard in the vicinity, told TOI that when the fire burnt his shack to the ground, his biggest anxiety was the loss of the UNHCR document establishing his refugee identity. But relief showing on his face, he flashed a brand new card given by the UN body for refugees, and said he hoped to get back on his feet soon. A few houses away, Saida Begum remembered her home in Rakhine in Myanmar, of how they were forced to flee to Bangladesh first and then travel to India.
After their simple iftar meals, the men headed for the makeshift mosque ¡ª a bamboo, tarpaulin and tin structure where the only relief came from a single desert cooler in the corner ¡ª while the women began preparing dinner. As night fell, the air grew thick with mosquitoes. The families would eat and sleep early to wake up before dawn in preparation of another day of fasting ¡ª and another day of struggle.