Eid, Islamabad and Ghost Towns

Eid, Islamabad and Ghost Towns

Islamabad is known for being many, many things from the city that always sleeps to the land of peace and tranquillity. Yet, there are a few days in every calendar year where the capital of the country takes on the look and feel of a ghost town.

One of those occasions is Eid, whether it be the choti (small)
Eid, Eid-ul-Fitr or the Bari (big) Eid, Eid-ul-Azha, it seems that half the city’s population departs leaving nearly empty streets and often empty neighbourhoods.

This is not to say that all of the people who live in Islamabad leave the city, as there are an increasing number of people who find the city a perfect place to celebrate the sacred occasion, yet the majority of the population can be found returning to their
hometowns and villages in the days leading up to the holiday.

There are logical reasons for this and it is not something Islamabad or its residents should feel goes against them. To be fair, Islamabad is a fairly new city and still has not found its own unique persona. True, it has an identity of its own as being the
home of the leaders of the country among other things, yet it the lack of history and an unclear culture means that it does share the same status as Karachi, Lahore or Peshawar.

The reason the city ‘empties up’ is not because Islamabad is not the place to be on Eid, but rather because the people leaving have their roots belonging to other regions. Half the population makes its way to Punjab and the other half to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and the villages found within.

There may come a day where Islamabad will give a majority of its residents a sense of belonging but for the time being, for a majority of the people living here it is more of a house than a home. The difference being that a house is simply where one lives,
but home is where the heart is.

To those people celebrating Eid in their hometowns and villages outside Islamabad, Newspaksitan.pk wishes you a very happy Eid in advance and for those who will still be here for Eid in Islamabad, we will be coming by to collect Eidi and wish you personally.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=2467

Posted by Musa Afridi on Nov 2 2011. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry