New Year, Same Prayer: How Afghans in India brought in Nowruz

The kishmish tastes different in India For Nowruz Shabnam Haidarirsquos family usually shops at Khari Baoli in Old Dilli where many Punjabi traders stock fruits and spices from Afghanistan yet the raisins are nothing like the plump diabetically saccharine ones she remembers savouring back in Kabul Kishmish is often the only sweetener required for haft mewa mdash a medley of seven dried fruits and nuts including apricots sultanas walnuts almonds pistachios and Persian olives that are rehydrated in a vat of water mdash which forms the centrepiece of the Afghan New Year celebration ldquoWe have to add extra sugar now It is a bit bland otherwiserdquo says the 23yearold who moved here in 2015Away from home for refugees like Haidari festivals can seem less flavourful ldquoWe are physically here but emotionally in Afghanistanrdquo says Jamil Batoor who completed his Masters in Public Administration from a Pune university last year He has not been able to return to his family after the Taliban seized power as US troops withdrew in August 2021 Festivities were muted even in Afghanistan this year as the new regime cancelled the public holiday but said it would not stop people from observing the occasionNowruz usually falling on March 21 marks the start of spring and the beginning of the Solar Hijri calendar An ancient festival with Zoroastrian origins it is celebrated by much of the Persianspeaking world including Iran Central Asia and parts of South Asia Afghanistan is no exception Although conservative clerics express objections to the tradition calling it unIslamic that has rarely prevented Afghans from buying new clothes sharing sweets with relatives and setting off on customary picnicsNature and nourishmentBy all accounts Mazari Sharif in Balkh the birthplace of Jalaluddin Rumi is the destination many Afghans head to on Nowruz For its famous Blue Mosque decorated with blue balloons on the day and for its plains and hills covered in tulips this time of year In India visits to local sites with family and friends are common Hamed Atayi an MBA student from Pune travelled to Pawna lake and Mahabaleshwar hills last New Year but had to defer the vacation this time because of exams ldquoIt is difficult I am thinking of home but I have to study In student life it is also hard to access things so I have to go without a sofreh traditional table settingrdquo he saysHis family must be busy making the samanak Atayi guesses speaking on the eve of Nowruz That rich brown pudding is cooked out of flour and wheat sprouts sown in drums 10 days earlier which are stirred patiently over a flame late into the night by the women of the house ldquoThe men help toordquoWheat sprouts are grown for 710 days and cooked down with flour to make the Nowruz special samanak Photo courtesy Nasir AhmedHaidari used her Holi day off to tidy the house scrub the carpet and dust the furniture No matter how small the celebration haft mewa is a must ldquoIt is nazr commitment On Nowruz day no one drinks chai Only thisrdquo she says of the dried fruit steeped in a tightlycovered bowl only to be opened on the morning of the festival She picked up all her Hindi from watching Bollywood movies in Pakistan where her family moved for some years in the early 2000s during the previous Taliban rule After arriving in India at 17 she worked in a beauty parlour before joining lsquoSilawalirsquo a social enterprise that sells upcycled handicrafts to support Afghan women in 2019The young woman indulged in two new outfits this year a heavy Afghan kuchi dress with sixmetresoffabric pyjamas and a lighter salwar kameez for going out in the hot weatherOn Nowruz a prayer for AfghanistanSome estimates released by the head of the Afghan asylumseeking community in August 2021 said there were 21000 Afghan refugees in India During the same time there were about 14000 Afghan students in the country India is an intermediate point for many until they can get to work or study in Europe or North America While there is relative safety here there is not yet a sense of belonging or openness Both Batoor and Atayi cautiously requested that we use changed namesldquoI wish for my country to have a type of government that works for the people and not one that restricts basic human rightsrdquo notes Batoor who is aspiring to do his PhD in India He spent Nowruz with fellow revellers from Iran and Tajikistan sharing food over poetry and making a video for his YouTube channel He states his hopes simply ldquoI want it to be like other countries Peaceful rich and happy Without electricity and internet problemsrdquoSaving enough for further education a house and a car is the dream she hopes to inch closer to every year ldquoWe are always hanging in the middle Work pay rent work pay bills Life has not startedrdquo says Haidari who would like to move to Canada someday if not back to Afghanistan As she spoke the night before Nowruz Haidarirsquos father a chef who is between jobs now was marinating meat for kebabs These were to be enjoyed in a picnic lunch with rice Afghani roti salad fruits and soft drinks ldquoWe will do gupshup at the park and post Insta StoriesrdquoEvery Nowruz the Afghan immigrant community is put in mind of the people and places they left behind But the festival also provides moments that help them forget