IT was an amazing sight. Several hundred Dawoodi Bohras, a white sea of humanity, squeezed into the narrow gulley outside Saifee Masjid in Bhendi Bazar waiting for their spiritual leader to step out. His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was inside delivering a passionate Moharram sermon. His voice, even at 92, was bursting with emotion as he recalled the martyrdom of the Prophet Imam Husain and his 72 faithful companions in the fields of Karbala in 680 A.D. The Dawoodi Bohras came from all over India, from the Far and Middle East, from Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Africa, staunch in their devotion to the Syedna. To hear his sermon, to see him personally, to be blessed by him, constitutes their lives� ambition. Now several hundred of them congregated outside Saifee Masjid for such a moment to happen. There was a restless surge of movement and a buzz in the air. The atmosphere was contagious.

Farzana Contractor and I had got invited to cover the Moharram sermons and the Dawoodi Bohra jaman (the community lunch, organised by the Syedna for his faithful) after that. Now I was crouched camera in hand on the road besides His Holiness� green Cadillac, a gift from the King of Saudi Arabia, while Farzana took up a precarious position on a water talk some eight, ten feet above the white capped heads of the Dawoodi Bohras outside the masjid.

The Cadillac�s driver Rashid, unmoved by the scene, lazily dusted the car. He told me that the Syedna had another old automobile, a Buick, that was also green. Whenever he drove His Holiness around in Bombay, he was given a police escort and flanked by six motorcycle riders. �That�s because huzoor saheb is accorded state guest status,� Rashid said chattily. When he got behind the left-hand steering wheel, I knew the Syedna was about to step outside the mosque.

I cannot describe the next two minutes. Look at these pictures and visualise what happened. Absolute frenzy! But very moving. A 92-year-old holy man stooped in his simple but pious ways, gingerly making his way through the faithful, like Moses cutting through the Red Sea. And all about him people crying, tears streaming down their faces, calling out �Mullah!� �Mullah!� to draw his attention, to get a look from him, holding out their babies and reaching out in vain and hope.

Two minutes, that�s all it took. Then Rashid was steering the Cadillac through the mob. A police jeep, lights flashing and siren wailing, opened up the way for the holy convoy. And Farzana and I got into our transport and proceeded to do the next part of our story: the Dawoodi Bohra Moharram jaman. Our host was Qureish Raghib, media coordinator for the Anjuman-E-Shiate Ali, which manages the affairs of the community in Bombay. He led us to the Atlas Mills Compound in Reay Road. This is where the largest jaman is held.

Here, again, an amazing sight. Dawoodi Bohra caterers in an open space cooking in large degs for 10,000 people at a time. And in a hall by the side, the members of the community, split up into two large sitting areas reserved for men and women, enjoying the meal. The Dawoodi Bohras eat out of one large steel plate called the thal. Eight people can sit around it comfortably. The food is served course by course, sweet dish, salty dish, sweet dish, salty dish, that is the order. They start with the desert and end with the soup! Everybody helps themselves to the food placed in the centre of the thal. This is truly community dining because most often a thal is made up of eight strangers.

Janab Joone Bhaisaheb, the Dawoodi Bohra in charge of the entire catering of the jamans for Bombay, stood watching the faithful eat. �Everywhere in Bombay, at all the places where Syedna�s sermon is relayed, and where jamans are held, the same menu is served.� And these menus had been decided for the entire period of Moharram well in advance. Nothing is ever repeated. In one-and-half hour, all the Dawoodi Bohras in Bombay are fed. That is some 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 people. The same food is also sent to Saifee Mahal, where the Syedna, no longer a hearty trencherman at 92, gently tastes everything and eats the ice-cream!

The meals are totally free to the members of the community. This is the Syedna�s gift to them. And for the Dawoodi Bohras who have come from overseas, there is also breakfast and dinner every day. It is a phenomenal operation. And it goes smoothly, the jamans, the transportation of meals from Atlas Mills Compound to halls where the faithful waited for lunch, the very preparation of the food. �Everything fresh, cooked hygienically, not one upset stomach at the end of Moharram,� said Janab Joone Bhaisaheb.