GUNTUR: The calm and quiet environment past midnight suddenly turns breezy when the shutters of the Basha Biryani hotel located near Chuttugunta centre in Guntur city opens to prepare special food for Muslim devotees observing fast during Ramzan.
The workers stayover overnight in the hotel and start preparing food right at 2am. They would ready the food by 3.30am in order to supply it to the ‘Rozedars.’ Undeterred by the losses incurred due to the closure of the hotel for almost two years following the outbreak of the Covid-19, the management has decided to revive its past glory of serving free food to the devotees on fast during Ramzan. The food offered to the ‘rozedars’ is completely free.
The practice was started by the founder of the hotel,
Haaji Shaik Basha
about a decade ago and continued by his son
Khasim
. After seeing some of his relatives observing their fast without having their ‘Sahr’ meal in the early hours of the day due to the health issues of women in the family, Basha decided to offer food for
Sahr
(to start fasting). My father started this facility to help people to continue their fast without facing any trouble,” said Khasim.
Many youth staying in bachelor hostels would also struggle to get food in the early hours as eateries would not be available in the odd-hours.
Similarly, the devotees on travel to different locations on religious work would also find it difficult to get some food to commence their fast in the early hours as they have to complete their intake before 4.30am.
According to information, Basha hotel is serving food to about 300-400 people each day. They were serving rice, dal, veg curry and butter milk to the devotees. “Everything is cooked in the early hours and served hot. They do not serve any leftover food of the previous night,” said Khizar Ahmed, a devotee. The hotel owners would personally present while serving food to the devotees and go home to get ready for the rest of the day’s work only after devotees leave the place with complete satisfaction. The organisers spend close to Rs 10,000-12,000 per day and Rs 3.5-4 lakh during Ramzan.
Similarly, a young advocate from the city,
Pathan Ali Khan
started a kitchen to serve tasty
Ganji
to the Rozedars. The devotees would take special Ganji (porridge) to break their fast in the Iftar. The special Ganji is prepared with wheat rava, vegetables and garlic-ginger paste.
Ali Khan is spending close to Rs 5,000 per day to serve the special ganji to about 2000 devotees in Sangadigunta area.
“There are hundreds of poor in our colony who would go on fast despite having nothing to break their fast in the evening. Ganji offered by Ali Khan is a big relief for many of us,” said Saleema, a local devotee. Alikhan, who had already opened a free clinic for the poor, said that he was planning big things to bail out the poor in the area.
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