A quiet Ramzan, no iftaar with friends and family for these Covid warriors

For Muslims on the frontlines of the Covid war, iftaar (evening meal to end daily fast) is usually in hospitals and there are no ritual meetings with families and friends. For Rukshana Parveen, a cop on duty at a containment zone, her neighbours are taking care of her three kids. Mohsin Khan — a ward boy — said though his father wants him home, it’s the hospital that needs him more. “It’s the toughest Ramzan in 11 years,” said Dr Rafeeque Farooqui, while Dr Faraaz Anwar Siddiqui saw this as his greatest chance to work for fellow humans. For cop-mom, duty at containment zone means neighbours take care of her kids Rukhsana Parveen — posted as a head constable in Mathura — says home is a distant memory. But the worry for her children is constant. Iram, Iqra and Bilal, all under the age of 14, are alone in their house in Agra. Parveen’s husband, also a cop, is posted at a training centre in Sultanpur. With duty keeping both parents away, neighbours have stepped up to help the young ones with day-to-day activities. Parveen, 42, last met her husband and children on March 25, just when the first phase of lockdown began.medium nocaption75672904“I miss them every day, especially since it hurts that we are not together as a family during Ramzan, but duty is important, especially in these times,” she told TOI last week while manning the barricades at a chowk in Mathura which is part of a containment zone. “My duty hours are from 8am to 8pm. This area is sealed I have to make sure everyone follows rules. Since the area is sealed, no food is available here so I do iftaar only after I reach my hostel. Sometimes it gets late, but I keep reminding myself this is temporary…and I’m serving the nation.”Covid-19 ward boy says home is important, but hospital needs him more Mohsin Khan’s dedication to his work almost landed his family in a soup when due to an error, some accredited social health activist (Asha) workers put up a home-quarantined sticker outside his house in Dehradun.“I had just joined the Government Doon Medical College and was working in the Covid-19 ward. I was quarantined in a hotel for some time as a precautionary measure but when I went home to visit my family, some Asha workers pasted a home-quarantined sticker outside my house. Someone had misled them into thinking I was to be home-quarantined. The hospital had to intervene and after multiple assurances, they left.” medium nocaption75670997The 23-year-old added, “But those few hours were very hard for my family. They feared boycott from neighbours too. But they didn’t stop me from rejoining duty, even though they would have liked everyone to be together for Ramzan,” he said.Advising people not to hold public prayers during Ramzan, says copIn another part of the city, 40-year-old Faizan Ali has become the bridge between the administration and marginalised communities living in ghettos. “So many times, information doesn’t reach these people, unless someone physically goes to them and explains things. I’m trying to do that,” he said. Ali has also been advising members of his community to not hold public prayers. medium nocaption75672913“Community gatherings for namaaz are an important component of Ramzan. The other day, some people came to me requesting permission from the police station to hold namaaz in their building while maintaining social distancing. I counselled them not to do so, explaining the risks and eventually they understood.”‘Toughest Ramzan in 11 yrs,’ says medical officer screening migrants for Covid-19It’s not just the long duty hours that keep Dr Rafeeque Farooqui at the community health centre in Macchlishahar (Jaunpur) till late, it’s also the need to ensure migrant labourers, forced to walk home, get timely health checkups. Over 4,000 people have been screened for Covid-19 at the CHC, 1,200 of them since Ramzan. The 47-year-old senior medical officer has been screening migrants traveling on the Lucknow-Prayagraj-Pratapgarh-Jaunpur route towards Varanasi. medium75671040“My team members are very supportive. Sometimes I get to rest for a bit since fasting for long hours can make one dehydrated. Sometimes when I’m unable to go to the campus for iftaar, my colleagues bring packaged meals for me so I can break my fast. In 11 years that I have been posted here, this is definitely the toughest Ramzan for me.”Iftaar in hospital fine, but such chance to work for humanity doesn't always come, says docSince the month of Ramzan started on April 25, iftaar for Dr Faraaz Anwar Siddiqui has been at the hospital where he works. But rather than lament his situation, Siddiqui takes pride in it. “It’s not every day that you get such an opportunity to help mankind,” said the 29-year-old. medium nocaption75671025Siddiqui finished a 15-day shift at a hospital in Bareilly which is treating Covid-19 patients on Wednesday. He is currently quarantined in a hotel, but itching to go back. “I want to contribute in any which way I can,” he said. “ About 18 patients were under treatment when I was at the hospital, of them 12 were discharged. I used to make rounds of isolation wards to check up on patients and ask them if they needed anything. I wonder how the remaining ones are doing…”