Chand Raat in the city of lights

If you haven’t seen Karachi on chand raat, you are missing out on one of the wonders of life. Chand Mubarak everyone!

In Karachi, chand raat is one of those nights that you just do not want to miss. The city of lights turns in to the most joyous, bustling and happy cities. From Zamzama to Nazimabad, shopping centers are inundated with excited families, all preparing for Eid.

In fact, Karachites are so adamant on celebrating Eid in their typical fashion, that they do not let anything get in their way. I remember a couple of days ago when about 15 people were killed here. Despite this, the city was bursting with life and shopaholic women.

When it comes to shopping in the auspicious month of Ramazan chand raat is indeed the most thrilling time to go shopping. This delightful night is a night of wonders for most women and a night of trouble to most men. Something about chand raat truly awakens the spirit of shopping (or window shopping) in the most unwilling of shoppers. It is indeed, a blissful night that provides many blisters to one’s feet.

We are all glued to our TV sets soon as our favorite chand announcing moulvi appears, and we anxiously hang on to his every word. Everyone wants Eid to come fast; it’s what we all fast for. It’s our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So without digressing further lets come back to chand and the raat associated with it. As soon as the fact is well established that it is indeed chand raat, people of all ages, races, gender and sizes rush to the streets to witness this chand themselves.

It is a magical time.

Now this chand holds different meanings to different people. For the sleazy bystanders, the sight of the chand portrays an opportunity for them to ogle at every maiden in her 20s; for hopeless romantics it means getting to see, or spend time with loved ones; for impatient fathers and husbands it means traffic and crowds that make them claustrophobic and finally, for some  women chand raat is synonymous with shopping till they drop.

These ladies save all their zeal and verve for the last minute. The twilight of the Eid ka chand can really transform the meekest of women into maniac shopaholics. Also if you are women and you don’t get your hands laden with mendhi in the late hours of the night for the much awaited and auspicious occasion, than you probably aren’t living in Karachi. Getting mendhi and choorian on chand raat is a strongly upheld tradition, and most women obediently adhere it. Various food outlets and thaila walas are also open during the long hours of the night to please the gluttonous ones amongst us.

So if you want to see the city of lights in full swings and enjoy the festivities then just head out on chand raat and make it an enjoyable night for yourselves and others. If you haven’t seen Karachi on chand raat, you are truly missing out on one of the wonders of life.

Chand Mubarak everyone!