When cannons from Idgah once signalled Sehri & Iftar timings

Bhopal: Ramzan in Bhopal is synonymous with reminiscences. The famed Old City, which exudes festive vibes through buzzing markets, food lanes and ancient decor, still carries bits and parts of celebrations and customs tied to the holy fasting month from the era of the Nawabs.But did you know that cannons once roared at Idgah to announce the beginning of the fasting month, once the moon was sighted, and also Iftar and Sehri each day? For the better part of 240 years — starting from approximately 1707-08 to 1949 , the Nawabs and Begums gave the city an identity and character that remains undiminished even to this day. For SM Hussain, a prominent conservation architect and historian, who embodies the city's character and wears his proud royal lineage on his sleeves, those days when booming cannons would call Muslim devotees to prayer sites seems to play out like it was only yesterday. "Back in the day when the Nawabs ruled Bhopal, cannonballs, fired from the ramps of the Idgah, would announce the beginning of Ramzan. Thereafter, the deafening roar of cannons filled the air every time they were fired to announce Sehri and Iftar prayers. They boomed again at the end of the fasting month, announcing Eid. While the cannons aren't there anymore, the ramps from where they were fired still exist. The custom, these days, is to announce Eid through gunfire," Hussain told TOI.Today, cannon fire has been replaced with the bursting of a firecracker. But the tradition remains so deep-rooted that even today people say "tope chal gayi" (cannon has been fired) when they hear the firecracker go kaboom art Sehri and Iftar.