Eid Festival

Hassan Rasool

To escape the paint smells wafting throughout the house I went out to London yesterday.  Being the inquisitive person I am I wanted to take a look at the Eid Festival at Trafalgar Square.  I like to learn about other religions and their celebrations. I'd read that there were food stalls and entertainment and the festival was free.  I got there early but already there was lots of people.  I had a look around the food stalls but I wasn't hungry enough to buy then.  I sat on the steps because it looked like there would be some entertainment soon.  In fact they were doing sound checks which went on for ages and eventually I got bored and wandered off to the food stalls again.  There were queues starting to form at these.  In the end I bought a Malaysian Pancake with peanuts, sweetcorn and melted butter - yum.

I went and stood further back leaning on the wall and finally something was happening.  Hassan Rasool was invited on stage to recite prayers.  It was like a call to prayer, that chanting style.  It was quite atmospheric. Then a singer who I believe was Tariq Khan came on.  He sang in Punjabi and English.  I liked his music.  I was hoping for some other group as I'd seen them all doing sound checks but instead people from the audience were invited on stage to be asked about their Ramadan and Eid.  It was fun to start with but it dragged on and on and I decided to go and look at the BP Portrait Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery round the corner.  It was busy and as usual there was a contrast of really good portraits and some that a kid could do!  At least this exhibition is free.

Tariq Khan

By the time I got back to Trafalgar Square it was heaving with people, the food queues were even longer and they were still chatting to people on stage!  It was starting to spit with rain - time to head home. Conclusion?  A bit disappointing.