The second day of Eidul Azha always brought happiness and excitement in Alyana’s household. It wasn’t that the first day was not exciting. It just wasn’t ‘that’ exciting. Most of it was usually spent making meat packets for family, friends and the needy, and cleaning the said meat.
The second day was the best part of the holidays — the family barbecue. Alyana and her cousins had earlier in the day set up the backyard with small lights and tried to make it as aesthetic as possible within their budget. It was a blessing that a little breeze was blowing, or else the hot weather would have ruined the mood.
The backyard smelt like smoke and spices long before the food was ready, making everyone feel famished. In the kitchen, Alyana, her few cousins and aunts were working fast. They chatted along as they did their work. Trays were piled high with fresh beef that had been marinated in spices. All of them stood side by side, their hands slightly yellow from the turmeric. Alyana could now, in fact, feel a little burning on her hands due to the chillies, but the excitement of eating the BBQ was more.
They carefully pushed the juicy meat pieces onto long skewers, making sure not to crowd them. Right next to them, they rolled minced meat into long seekh kebabs, squeezing them tightly onto flat skewers so they wouldn’t drop off into the fire.
Out on the grass, the men were standing around a long iron grill. Uncle Tariq was in charge of the fire; nobody knew who appointed him, but he took his job very seriously. He waved a big piece of cardboard back and forth, blowing on the black chunks of coal until a shower of bright orange sparks flew up into the sky. The other uncles stood around him with cold drinks in their hands, laughing and arguing about whether the fire was hot enough for the kebabs yet. Now and then, the meat on the skewers made a loud sound as the fat dripped onto the coals.
And the rest of the cousins were everywhere. Some were delivering the skewers back and forth from the kitchen to the grill. And some of the younger ones sat playing cards a little away from the fire. Every now and then, laughter echoed from their side as somebody won, lost or cheated.
“Arrange the tables, it’s almost time!” Uncle Tariq shouted, his face shiny from the heat of the red-hot coals.
Suddenly everyone started moving at once; some went to arrange the tables, some went to bring the naans. Alyana and her aunts came out of the kitchen carrying big metal tongs and bowls of green chutney that they had made earlier in the day.
For the rest of the night, plates were passed around, fingers got messy and then everyone kept eating until they could eat no more. It was when the night was almost over, one of the uncles asked, “Where is the tea?”
Published in Dawn, Young World, June 6th, 2026
