Ahmedabad: A Ramzan week mantra for city residents — eat, pray and walk

The 3-km walk will be led by academic associate from Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad Nayan Jaiswal (26) who has partnered with Sahapedia.

Jaiswal had conducted the first such walk last year independently, highlighting the iftaari tradition or what signifies the break of daylong fast by Islam-practitioners.

“Every year during Ramzan, two to three walks are organised around sehri or iftaar in the city. There are people who may not be aware of the cultural importance of this festival. A lot of people feel iftaar is a huge party, propagated by Bollywood’s projection. The food Muslims have upon breaking the fast around 7-7.30 pm is very light. The sehri (the meal before they start the fast) is had at the wee hours. We will tell people its importance and how this small practice helps them bring purity to their lives. Also I feel there is a lot of communal harmony that exists, but is not always communicated, which I want to do through my walks”, says Jaiswal.

Around 25 people have registered for the walk so far. “The message is relayed further even through a small group of people, which is my main motive,” he said.

While the walk is free, it promises savouring the ‘choicest kebabs, fried chicken, haleem and perhaps some faluda to cool down,’ for participants. The walk will cover a fry centre (kebab vendor) in Jamalpur and tandoor and falooda place in Chhipawad.

While the iftaar walk conducted by Jaiswal last year did not include a mosque in its itinerary, this year the walk starts from Jama Masjid, where participants will spend a considerable amount of time to understand the culture of offering prayers before breaking the fast, followed by the iftaari meal at the courtyard. “I felt it’s important to include the celebrations that take place at Jama Masjid. While we won’t be having the meal at the mosque, the group will have a free-wheeling discussion on the importance of it. No one is barred from having the food at the mosque, but personally I believe, we’re not the ones breaking the fast. We need to be mindful and respect their space when we are there. I have made it a point to visit the mosque at least once during iftaar and they’re very welcoming as long as you don’t disturb the practitioners,” added Jaiswal.

“Then we will take our participants to stalls such as khajoor shops – an important aspect of iftaar.”

The walk will begin around 6.15 pm and finish in two hours.

On his partnership with Sahapedia, Jaiswal said he used to attend other walks in the city. “At one such walk, I interacted with a leader who then recommended my name to Sahapedia. Sahapedia has one walk every week in every city (where they have their presence),” said Jaiswal who will be remunerated by Sahapedia that has funding partners such as TCS, Infosys, ONGC, Petronet LNG.

The India Heritage Walks by Sahapedia, however, is partnering Jaiswal for fourth time. The two had earlier partnered in three walks at Sarkhej Roza, Gandhi Ashram and Adalaj stepwell

Jaiswal, who has travelled to 20 different countries and lived in three countries, apart from India, is also the founder of The One With A Plan, a start-up incubated by EDII, Ahmedabad, that curates similar walks.

“I’ve also lived in Mumbai and Bengaluru and used to partake in such food walks there. That fascinated me and I thought why not have a start-up to conduct similar walks here and facilitate exchange of information,” said Jaiswal who conducts a food walk once in two or three months. The iftaar walk is the only one at present that’s associated with a festival.

A Ramzan sehri walk was organised on May 26 by another city-based organisation Caravane. A Ramzan Iftaar walk will be conducted by Caravane on Saturday.