It is the first shop for Ramzan shoppers. Just outside the Afzalgunj Masjid on this side of the Musi river is Aslam Perfumes Center. Come Ramzan, the shop turns into a one-stop shop for all the ingredients required for Ed celebrations. “I have run out of stocks as there is big demand. If you come tomorrow, we will have fresh stuff,” says Aslam about vermicelli that’s used for creating sheer qorma, the favoured dish on Id. In a place where heaps of vermicelli could be spotted before Ramzan, there are half-empty boxes of the brown and white varieties. The big glass bottles of dry fruits are similarly empty, the mehendi cones are hard to spot in the other shops.
Ramzan shopping which lights up Hyderabad is likely to be a sombre and sedate affair as all the shops have to be shut by 7 p.m. “We lost a lot of goods during the lockdown. It took us hours to clean the floor and some goods which we can put on display,” said Khalid who runs a bangles shop in Lad Bazaar. “The main business season is over. We missed both Ramzan and summer wedding season,” he said.
Even with the easing of rules for business, customers and businessmen had a tough choice as the lockdown has been replaced with night curfew in Telangana.
The masjids near Charminar, including the main Mecca Masjid, remained closed except for the prayer leaders. “We have been given permission to allow five members to pray. The rule continues to remain in place and it has not been changed under the new rules,” said Syed Ibrahim of the Jama Masjid near Charminar. The area remained quiet except for the azan and the evening peal of bells from temples as a few strollers walked around posing for photographs or clicking their selfies. But without the lights, the hawkers, the shoppers and tourists, the city got a glimpse of the ‘new normal’.