The holy month of Ramazan has started. Everyone was in preparation for this month, which impacts lives in different ways in different areas of our existence.

Office workers get mentally prepared for the change in their working hours, as also workers from other fields and areas get prepared to adjust in their respective areas. This is perhaps the only religious activity that has such a forceful impact on all lives.

Children learn to observe new school timings and of course their parents adjust to the new timings, with mothers and fathers having to adjust to a whole new lifestyle.

Nowadays, life has a lot of convenience to offer in terms of electric gadgets that make the tasks from Sehri to Iftar much simpler and easier than in the past. Take the example of just getting up for Sehri.

In earlier days of Pakistan, there would be a person beating a drum at your doorstep that would wake you up. It was good, and the guy was punctual, but there was the problem that people specially housewives who would want to wake up at different hours due to their needs were bound by that one time in which this Sehri Awakener would pass by. This person could not cater to individual needs so you had to wake up at his chosen time.

This was also a sight to behold as the loud noise of the drums awoke the residents and moments of darkness turned into lights as one by one everyone switched on their lights, and it was like the night turning into day.

Now why would a person go from house to house beating a drum in the early hours of morning is a pertinent question to ask. It is very simple. These were self-appointed alarm clocks of the human variety that would wake up whole neighbourhoods so that they could arrive at your doorsteps beating the same drum immediately after Eid prayers to identify themselves and collect what was offered voluntarily for their services which believe me was not a meagre amount as their services were greatly admired by the public at large.

I noticed that presently too there were attempts by some drum beaters to duplicate the service in modern days, but they were not very successful, and I think they have ceased to exist except in low-lying areas and those where power is not available, so alarm clocks are not in use.

Drum beaters the Sehri awakeners are not the only species related to this month, which have become extinct with the passage of time.

Today we are all addicts of online buying, and you will be surprised to know that at one time in early days of Pakistan such service did exist, but it was all manual.

Each locality had its own door-to-door salesman and women who would come with different goods perched on their heads in big straw containers, popularly known as chabhri.

The girls in the house waited for the vendor of bangles or chooris as even as today they are known. The chooriwali as this vendor was known would bring down the chabhri filled with glittering bangles of different colours and sizes and the selection and buying of chooris would begin in full force.

The boys were more interested in shoes and their time would also come when the shoe salesman with his chabhri full of shoes would arrive and the selections would begin.

The buying and selling scene has altogether changed dramatically as most of the shopping has shifted to the markets which are busy during the entire month with the peek time a week or ten days before Eid.

Buying lifestyle of having the sellers visit your homes has changed to the consumer visiting the websites of the buyers and sitting in the comfort of their homes select and pay and receive the selected material by delivery within a few days.

It is difficult to decide which system was better. The early years of Pakistan lifestyle, or the one in vogue right now? The present system allows ample time to not only indulge in prayers but shop at leisure in the comfort of your home.

Yes, like in every other facet of life modern day shopping in many cases misses the human touch but offers larger varieties and ease of selection.

For those who love crowds and personal interaction there is always the whole month awaiting your visit to the various shopping centres well decorated and well stocked. For the more adventurous the last week before Eid is highly recommended.

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