Special prayers mark Bakrid celebrations
Eid-Ul-Adha was observed in the major mosques and pallivasals by Muslims. The people wore new dresses and participated in the prayers. Later, the people presented gifts and special dishes to the needy people.
People divide the meat into three portions and share it with their family, relatives and friends and the poor and the needy people. People share meat with their friends and the poor as per customs to maintain the spirit of togetherness.
In Dindigul district, special prayers were held at Begumpur Mosque in Dindigul. Muslims gathered in large numbers for the prayers and greeted each other. The importance of the festival was explained at the event. Food and gifts were distributed to the needy people. Special prayers were held in other places in the district like Palani, Natham, Oddanchatram. Kodaikanal, Vedasandur and Athoor.
In Ramanathapuram district, special prayers were held in mosques. People gathered in large numbers for the prayers. They wished and greeted each other following the special prayers. Special prayers were held in Keelakarai, Rameswaram, Mandapam, Sayalgudi, Kamudi, Pamban, Erwadi, Mudukulathur, Devipattinam, Paramakudi and other places.
In Theni district, special prayers were held in Uthamapalayam and other places. Following the prayers, people distributed food and gifts to the needy people. In Sivaganga district, special prayers marked the Bakrid celebrations in Sivaganga, Devakottai, Karaikudi, Kalayarkoil, Manamadurai and other places.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Indian Express
At 92, she still remembers dhol beats: ‘…meant the mob is here'
'This is my truth,' begins 92-year-old Bebe Bhupinder Kaur, her voice trembling under the weight of memories carried for nearly eight decades. She was 14 in 1947 when Partition tore Punjab apart — and her life with it. She remembers the fear spreading like fire in the days before the actual violence reached them. All the young girls of her extended family were locked in a large room at her Massi's (aunt's) sprawling farm. 'We didn't know why,' she says quietly. 'We were told it was for our safety. Later, I learned the unspoken reason — if anything went wrong, we were to be burned alive to protect our honour.' At the time, she lived in Chak No. 141, District Montgomery, in what is now Pakistan. Her Massi, Basant Kaur — originally from Patiala — had moved there years earlier, buying land and building an estate with flour mills, juice factories, and hundreds of acres of cultivation. Life had been peaceful: days of chores and school at the gurdwara, nights of folk songs, poetry, and the warmth of a close-knit community. 'But 1947 changed everything,' she says. 'The beat of the dhol turned into the drum of danger.' In her village, Muslims and Sikhs had lived in harmony, but fanatic groups from surrounding areas began to form. 'We used to hear the drums first… and then the attacks.' When the riots began, her Massi sent tongas to fetch her father, Jagir Singh, her mother, Amar Kaur, and the rest of their family from their home 5–6 kilometres away. Her father resisted, unwilling to abandon his land and cattle. But her Massi arrived herself and insisted. Within hours, Sikh families from 12 nearby villages — neither large nor small — had gathered at her fortified farm for safety. 'The Muslims of our own villages were very nice. They risked their lives to save us,' she recalls. Friends hid them in sugarcane fields and thick bushes as they moved to her aunt's farm. 'They cried as we left. We cried too. We didn't know if we would ever meet again.' The estate had over two dozen licensed rifles, but danger still loomed. Her Massi's son, Satwant, rode to East Punjab to meet Defence Minister Baldev Singh Dumna, pleading for army protection for the 12 villages sheltering there. The answer came: The military is on its way. Be ready. Take only what you can carry. Then began the exodus — a caravan 6–7 kilometres long. Bullock carts, tongas, bicycles… mothers clutching children so tightly it seemed they were anchoring them to life itself. Some hid babies in grain sacks to protect them from being snatched. One cousin was born in a cart during the journey. Six army vehicles arrived, along with a special bus for her Massi — but she refused to leave her people, sending the elderly and infants instead and returning to travel with the kafila. It took them a month to reach their ancestral village in Ludhiana, despite repeated attacks on the road. She still remembers the night an aunt gave birth during a heavy downpour, her mother covering the new mother with a soaked cotton blanket, squeezing out the water at intervals. Along the way, parents hid children in bushes during attacks; some disappeared, others slipped into canals and were swept away. Not everyone survived. 'Passing through Muktsar, I saw massacred Muslims,' she says softly. 'Partition spared no one. It was cruelty on both sides.' After a week of hunger, thirst, and fear, they crossed into Indian territory via Ferozepur. But there was no warm welcome. 'People looked at us like we were aliens,' she recalls. 'They called us bahrle (outsiders).' Her family had left behind wealth and dignity, arriving in poverty. They were allotted some land by the government, and relatives returned the land they had been tending in their absence. With hard work, they rebuilt their lives, eventually cultivating 60–70 bigha in Punjab. She married into a family of transporters and agriculturalists in Gharuan, Mohali, and raised two children — a son, now an agriculturalist, and a daughter settled in Canada. Today, she lives with her son, Gurdeep Singh Dhanya, and his family. 'Scattered across India, Canada, and the US, my family still carries those wounds,' she says. 'But we also remember a land where poetry, music, and faith bound people together, regardless of religion.' Her eyes glisten. 'I don't know who gained from Partition. For me, it was a loss for everyone. We were happy the country got freedom, but that happiness was ruined forever. Whenever I'm alone, the memories play before my eyes like a film.' She pauses, her voice steady now. 'We lost our home,' she breathes, 'but not our story.'
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Indian Express
A YouTube video… & a man's mission: to reunite partition-separated families
It began with a chance YouTube video. On the other side of the border in Pakistan, a family had made an emotional appeal through a local channel, seeking help to locate the grave of an ancestor in a Punjab village. Watching it from his home in Fatehgarh Sahib, Sudagar Singh instantly recognised the place—he had relatives there. Guided by instinct, he travelled to Khanpur in Kharar, Mohali, searched the old Hindu cremation ground, and found the grave. Using the contact shared in the video, he informed the family. Days later, they crossed into India to pay their respects. Not long after, another story from the Partition years found him. A Muslim boy, separated from his family in the chaos of 1947, had been rescued and raised by a Sikh villager, then sent to Pakistan under the official exchange policy. That boy, Mehndi Hasan, is no more, but his son Zafar Iqbal recounted the story: during violent attacks in Sirhind, his grandmother had asked Mehndi to jump into a well with her. She died; he survived, staying in the well for two days before being rescued by Sikhs of Timber Pur and adopted by Gulab Singh, who renamed him Sudama. After four years, he was sent to Pakistan, where he built a successful life. Iqbal always wanted to thank Gulab Singh for saving and raising his father. These encounters lit a spark in Sudagar Singh. Seven years ago, he began a quiet but relentless mission—to reconnect families torn apart by the Partition. Sometimes it was just a phone call; other times, it meant travelling in person. Since then, he has reunited around 150 families, in some cases within just five to twenty-four hours. He even located Zafar Iqbal 70 years after Partition and connected him to Gulab Singh through a phone call, where the long-awaited words of gratitude finally crossed the border. For the past seven years, 57-year-old Sudagar Singh 'Chunni' of Chunni village in Fatehgarh Sahib has devoted his life to this work. He launched a YouTube channel—first under his own name, later renamed Yadaan 1947 Diyan—to share survivor interviews, reunion stories, and accounts of Muslims who stayed back in Punjab after Partition. What began as personal curiosity grew into a humanitarian mission. Over the years, he has traced relatives for 150 families, identified ancestral villages and homes for around 250 more, and located cemeteries where loved ones were laid to rest. Many have since visited their native places—journeys filled with tears, embraces, and memories pulled back from the shadows. 'Every family I help feels like my own,' he says, his voice steady but his eyes glistening. 'Partition didn't just divide land—it tore apart hearts.' His own life is rooted in a community where coexistence is not a slogan but a way of life. Chunni village has around 4,300 voters, including 300 Muslims from UP and Bihar. A mosque and gurdwara share the same premises. He once worked as a technician at the Central Government's Semi-Conductor Complex in Mohali for 16 years, until a fire gutted the unit. After voluntary retirement, he worked as an MGNREGA mate. Now, his daily work brings no salary—only the quiet satisfaction of service. He spends hours at his small internet setup, combing through online records, social media posts, old maps, and oral histories. A lead might come from a half-forgotten name, a pond in a story, or a mosque that was once a gurdwara. Among his many stories is that of Sardar Ali, separated from his Hindu Punjabi family during migration, who embraced Islam in Pakistan. His family settled in old Sirhind. Seventy-five years later, a heartfelt appeal led to a reunion in just five hours. Another time, he reconnected brothers Muhammad Suleman and Niaz Muhammad after 78 years, their first video call brimming with memories and tears. He also reunited Bashir Khan, 95, from Bhatian in Ludhiana, with an old friend after 77 years—through just a phone call. In Sirhind, a Muslim girl left behind in 1947 and married into a Sikh family was traced to her nephew in Pakistan within 24 hours. In Himatpura, Moga, he connected family members who spoke for the first time in over 70 years. 'The happiness, excitement, and tears on the faces of these families encourage me to work more in this direction,' he says. His mission has a spiritual side, too. He visits and documents old Sikh and Muslim religious sites—gurdwaras, mosques, cemeteries—ensuring their stories are not forgotten. 'In my own village, a mosque and gurdwara share the same space,' he says, 'a rare symbol of co-existence.' For him, the reward is simple yet profound—watching people cross the Radcliffe Line not as strangers, but as family. 'Borders can divide nations,' he says, 'but not the love between brothers and sisters.'
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Over 18,000 from UP selected for Hajj 2026
As many as 18,659 people from Uttar Pradesh have completed their forms and provisionally been selected for the Hajj 2026 pilgrimage. The state had received 20,969 registrations against an approved quota of 30,000 pilgrims before the August 7 deadline. For the first time, 1,147 applicants have opted for the 20-day 'Mini' or 'Short' Hajj instead of the 40-45 day trip. Moradabad district recorded the highest number of applications at 2,090. (Sourced) Moradabad district recorded the highest number of applications at 2,090, followed by Meerut with 1,343 and Rampur with 1,084. Lucknow saw 811 applications. UP Hajj committee chairman and minister of state for Minority welfare, Muslim Waqf and Hajj, Danish Azad Ansari said, 'There is an increase of more than 5,000 applicants this time after the efforts of the state government and state Hajj committee to increase participation. The initial registration was 20,969, out of which 18,596 have completed their forms.' Explaining the new 20-day option, Ansari said it would involve a two-to-three-day stay in Madina, with the remaining days spent in Mina and Mecca. Those not selected for the Mini Hajj will be placed in the general category but will retain the same flight plan. Applicants must submit their first installment by August 20, 2025. Notably, Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is obligatory for Muslims who meet the necessary conditions.
