An illuminated mosque in Coimbatore
| Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M
A Fathima takes measured steps towards her home at Saramedu in Karumbukkadai. It is almost 6pm, and the main road is chock-a-block with people rushing to the mosque, packing iftar snacks on the way to break the Ramzan fast. The 85-year-old takes a narrow side road away from all the action, reminiscing about the festivities when she was a little girl. “Ours was a big family,” she recalls. “My sister would make vadais and bondas at 4pm every day during this month. Now, these snacks are readily available on the streets. People prefer to buy them these days.”
Chicken balls on sale at Saramedu main road
| Photo Credit:
PERIASAMY M
After a stroll through Saramedu main road, we understand why. Here, there are iftar snacks sold on bicycles, scooters, pushcarts, and rickety benches on the roadside. They are piping hot and fresh, not to mention easy on the pocket. There is not much variety: there are potato and onion samosas, masala and ulundha vadais, egg and vegetable bondas. But the sheer volume is staggering.
“This will get sold out in 30 minutes,” says K Inayath, who has neatly arranged chicken rolls and cutlets inside a glass box placed on his scooter’s seat. A recording plays the phrase ‘Hot tasty chicken cutlets and chicken balls, three for ₹20’ on loop on a portable loudspeaker placed atop the box. “You can find around 50 stalls selling iftar snacks along this stretch. Over half of them are here just for the month of Ramzan,” explains the 32-year-old.
On Podanur main road, Street Arabiya has put up a live kebabs and cold drinks counter serving malai and seekh kebabs
| Photo Credit:
PERIASAMY M
Nombu kanji is offered for free throughout the month at mosques in the locality. “There are 15 of them at Karumbukkadai, and all of them give away the kanji to anyone who asks for it, irrespective of religion,” points out Inayath. Masjidul Hudha, located a few blocks away, has just wrapped up distribution for the evening, and people walk away with steel containers filled with the piping hot kanji that will be had at iftar.
Cold drinks such as nungu milk, tender coconut milk, rosemilk, badam milk and watermelon juice
| Photo Credit:
PERIASAMY M
“Most people prefer to have their kanji with a side of vadai or samosa,” says 60-year-old M Mehaboob, who sells the snacks on a pushcart. Across the road from Inayath, is N Ansar and team who are frying onion samosas in hot oil. The samosas are crispy, with a mildly-spiced filling of boiled potatoes and chopped onions. One can demolish a piece in less than 30 seconds, and as the popular tagline goes, no one can eat just one: you buy them in multiples of five, and eat them in multiples of five.
Cold drinks form an important part of iftar and Saramedu offers a range of colourful options to choose from. They are displayed in takeaway plastic covers; tempting in pink, red, orange, and white. There is watermelon juice, nannari sherbet, rosemilk, and the most popular nungu milk. Made with palm fruit and sweetened milk, this drink is a festival specialty.
Cold drinks form an important part of iftar and Saramedu offers a range of colourful options to choose from
| Photo Credit:
PERIASAMY M
J Navas of Rasi Cold Drinks explains that for every ten litres of milk, they add 500 peeled palm fruits. “We blend the two together such that the drink has small bitable particles of nungu in them,” explains the 23-year-old, in between handing the drinks to a steady stream of customers. We try a glass of the sweet concoction that has a mild flavour of palm fruit; on that hot day, it is pure bliss.
A stall selling iftar delicacies such as masala vadais, bondas, and potato samosas
| Photo Credit:
PERIASAMY M
Meat-lovers can head to Podanur for kebabs from a live counter in front of Street Arabiya, the shawarma place. There are malai, hariyali, and seekh kebabs fresh off skewers. There also is the refreshing Mohabbat sherbet: rosemilk flavoured with watermelon chunks.
Samosas being readied for iftar
| Photo Credit:
PERIASAMY M
After 6.30pm, when it is time for maghrib prayer, the mood at Karumbukkadai is relaxed. People selling the snacks give away what is left of the day’s lot for free. Mohammad Noor hands us a chicken samosa, as he sits down to drink rosemilk at his stall. Mehaboob offers us a warm potato bonda. It is ironic that they sold at cutthroat speed only minutes before. “That’s the thing with Ramzan,” says Mehaboob. “We do want to make the most of this month, business-wise. But there is no point in it if we don’t take joy in the spirit of giving, that defines this festival.”
#Coimbatores #Karumbukkadai #alive #iftar
