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Showing posts from November, 2011

Eid and Bargaining for Bakrah!

I visited Hyderabad, India for the Eid (Nov 2011) and it was a surreal experience. After many years I was able to feel the excitement of interacting with people, bargaining with vendors, and with a bit of  chaos traffic and awesomeness of festival atmosphere. The Eid celebration in Hyderabad felt obviously different than the suburban life in U.S. Instead of just sending the money for sacrifice through western union, I was actually able go through the entire experience myself after many years. Starting with leaving the house to purchase the animal for sacrifice, I first have to adjust to crossing the fast traffic roads, than walking on those roads while avoiding bumping into pedestrians, animals, bikes, and autos. For a moment it felt overwhelming as if I just want to stand on the side of the road and just watch it all from afar. Trying to negotiate a price of the animal is as much art as anything, and people there seems to have a sixth sense finding out if you are a foreigner or not. O