People in flood-ravaged Kashmir Valley are celebrating the saddest and most austere Eid-ul-Azha on Monday as the life has not returned to normalcy after the floods of international disaster magnitude hit the Valley in first week of September. An estimated population of 800,000 has been internally displaced by the devastating floods.
The Eid festival commemorating the act of willingness of offering sacrifice of his son Ishmael by Prophet Abraham, is one of the biggest Muslim festivals in the world. Contrary to the past when Kashmir’s marketplaces were bustling with activity and people were engaged with preparations related to the Eid celebrations including the purchase of cattle for offering sacrifices, the atmosphere is gloomy as if the festival is nowhere in sight.
The business nerve center of lal Chowk where every shop on the ground flood remained inundated for three weeks offers a gloomy look. The heaps of stinking garbage and surroundings filled with dust are the only sight. The shop-owners who were engaging extra salesmen to meet cater to customers have either locked down their shops or are busy removing the water-soaked merchandise.
Some street vendors started selling flood-affected merchandise on throwaway prices but there were very few buyers.
There were no queues outside ATM machines, which used to break records of currency withdrawals on days closer to the festival. Almost all the known departmental stores and confectionery shops, which used to be the busiest places on Eid occasion, remained out of business. “It was not possible for us to restart work after the shop and factory was completely destroyed by the floods. We cleaned up our shop in the last week of September after the water was drained out. The new sticks could not be filled. We lost the biggest Eid season as well”, lamented Ghulam Muhammad Waza, a senior confectioner at lal Chowk.