Festival Of EidFestival Of Eid by Munshi Premchand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Possibly the best short story for kids by any writer of the world. Its a heart touching story of a small muslim boy Hamid and his Grandmother Ameena. His parents are dead due to disease. On the day of Eid, he is all set to visit the idgah to offer special prayers. Orphaned as he is, his only centre of love is his grandmother. Oblivious to the suffering around him, his misfortune of being parent-less, Hamid is innocence personified.

Despite the grinding poverty he lives in, he sees the beauty around: the smiling fields, the sun-kissed earth, his grand mom’s warm lap in which he so lovingly cuddled himself…

His unfortunate grandmother is worried that her little grandson will not be able to enjoy his Eid the way other boys will. She bemoans her lot for being without a support; her miserable existence but Hamid couldn’t care less.

Hamid with his small Idi goes with the other boys to the village fair. While all the other boys buy themselves toys, sweets, knick knacks, Hamid picks up a tong. A chimka for his grandmother… whose finger get burnt every time he turns the roti.

The beauty of the story lay in its simplicity, in its dignity, its humanity and its innocence. Idgah alongwith kafan is, and will remain one of the most widely read stories of Premchand, contributing, yet again, towards making him one of the greatest writers of all times.

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