Eid Mubarak!

Indian men and women who are not related keep their distance from each other.

So imagine my surprise when an older man I had never seen before comes up to me, throws his arms around me, and then kisses me three times on alternate cheeks. He keeps saying, joyfully, "Eid Mubarak! Eid Mubarak!"

It's Arabic for "Blessed Celebration!"

This weekend was Eid al-Fitr, the important Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Most of Little Flower's residents are Hindu, with Muslim and Christian minorities. Both of the cooks are Muslim, and they invited me to come over to their homes. They live directly next to each other, in the same apartment block.


Here is Sakiran, wearing her new sari. Her sons are Salman and Irman. Everyone is in their new clothes. The boys are both at Little Flower school.

The family has exactly two rooms. The front door opens into the parents' bedroom. This is Sakiran's husband, Hasmullah. Two neighbors fascinated with my picture-taking are standing at the front door.

This is the second small room in the house, where the boys sleep.

They keep a hen next to the bed! Irman is holding a freshly-laid egg in his hand.

I was trying to wrap my mind around the teeny tiny living space (with bathroom down the road) when I went next door.

Here I learn that the other cook, Nagibunesa, lives in two rooms with her husband, five children, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and brother-in-law. All of these people share two beds, like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

There are also two little beds by the front doorway.

The apartment is all decked out for Eid.

Here is Nagibunesa with her daughter. Both are wearing new saris for Eid.

Besides the two rooms, the apartment has a little closet kitchen. She is making a specialty everyone eats on Eid, with noodles and coconut.

Father-in-law and two daughters, with little kitchen at left.

Nagibunesa and husband at lunch.

Daughter doing laundry. This is how everyone at Little Flower washes clothes, including me!