The spirit was of celebration at Nazrul Park on Wednesday morning as residents from across the twin townships and beyond converged to offer their Id prayer.

Around 600 devotees gathered at the park to offer namaaz in the meet organised by Harmony Association. Maulana Khurshid Alam of Baruipur conducted the prayer with instructions on how to perform namaaz and imparted details on the festival. The namaaz ended with people greeting and hugging each other.

“This is my first time here and I am enjoying it. The place is peaceful. Previously we used to offer our prayers on a road in New Town which was a problem. Luckily my friend informed me of this place and now we plan to come here every time,” said Javed Alam, resident of Rajarhat. “Today our plan is fixed. We will be having all the delicacies prepared at home and then plant ourselves in front of the TV set for India’s World Cup match,” he added.

But Syed Javed Ahmed, a New Town resident, said he would be giving the match a miss. His plan was to watch not one but two movies. “Today is about celebrating with family, so we have planned to watch movies together as it is not always possible to do so. We will be watching two Bengali movies, Kantho and Durgeshgorer Guptadhan, as both the stories are interesting and we wanted to watch them ever since they released.”

“We will be having siwaiyaan after returning home, followed by lunch which we have prepared since yesterday. There is Murgh Mussalam, Pulao, Paneer Tikka, Hariyali Kebab, Chicken Kasa, Mutton Korma and Saahi Tukda. It is a pleasure for us to cook for everyone on this day,” said Nirupa Begum, Ahmed’s mother.

Praying areas for men and women were separated with a partition at the park. “At our village, men offer their prayers at the mosque while women do it back home. But it is nice that here they have kept a separate area for us where everything else is same,” said Albela Khatoon of FB Block.

“My father organised the first prayer meet with only 40 people so the residents here do not feel left out while others celebrate in different parts of the city. Now it is very satisfying to see so many people coming here to offer their prayers,” said Imran Wali, resident of CL Block.

“We are happy that people are coming here every year to offer their namaaz and with time the number is increasing. But at the same time we would like to see more youngsters coming in and helping us to organise the event,” said Irfan Asad, secretary Harmony Association.