Azam Garh: It is 3 in the morning and everyone in Uttar Pradesh’s Mubarakpur, a village famous for its Banarasi sari weavers, is sleeping.
One man is awake, though, and so is his 12-year-old son.
These two start their work at 1 am and spend two hours waking all Muslim families in the village for their morning Sehri meal and Azaan before the start of their daylong fast in the month of Ramzan.
Gulab Yadav, 45, and his son Abhishek knock at each door and do not leave before the families are awake.
Mr Yadav’s father Chirkit Yadav started the unusual tradition in 1975.
Gulab Yadav says he was too young then to figure out why, NDTV reported.
“I guess it gives you peace. That’s about it. After my father, my older brother did it for a few years, then I started this and now I come back here every Ramzan,” he says.
Gulab Yadav is a daily wager who spends most of his time in Delhi but returns to his village in Azamgarh district in eastern Uttar Pradesh for Ramzan.
Shafiq, Mr Yadav’s neighbour, says he was four when the tradition started.
“You see, it is a very commendable thing. He takes a whole round of the village, it takes 90 minutes. He comes back for a second round too. He ensures no one is left without the sehri before the Azaan and what can be more pure than this,” says Mr Shafiq.
State elections are due in Uttar Pradesh next year and in the last few days there has been a controversy over a BJP lawmaker’s allegation that Hindu families have left Kairana, a Muslim-dominated town.
In Azamgarh though, small examples like Mr Yadav’s provide a strong counterpoint.