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| Hideously diverse Britain: life and death in the Olympics zone | Hideously diverse Britain: life and death in the Olympics zone |
| (30 days later) | |
| So come on, I say, gently challenging Moona Taslim, respected pillar of the east London Muslim communities, director of the funeral home Haji Taslim. Did you really tell the Daily Star that the Olympics could wreak havoc on your services, rendering them "completely buggered"? | So come on, I say, gently challenging Moona Taslim, respected pillar of the east London Muslim communities, director of the funeral home Haji Taslim. Did you really tell the Daily Star that the Olympics could wreak havoc on your services, rendering them "completely buggered"? |
| A throaty laugh. "Well, it was one of those days," she replies. "So I think I probably did." I was a little surprised at the vocabulary, and as it was the Star, I thought I had better double-check. Moona says she has been under the cosh a bit. It has not been easy. | A throaty laugh. "Well, it was one of those days," she replies. "So I think I probably did." I was a little surprised at the vocabulary, and as it was the Star, I thought I had better double-check. Moona says she has been under the cosh a bit. It has not been easy. |
| Everyone is inconvenienced by the Olympics. I don't mind that. I think the Games will be a boon for East London. But in a place where people have different needs and traditions and myriad practices, what is mildly irritating for me can be catastrophic for others. Try running a Muslim funeral service with road space restricted, public transport heaving and customers who expect that everything in a wretched time in their lives should be familiar and comforting. No wonder the vocab strays into the industrial. | Everyone is inconvenienced by the Olympics. I don't mind that. I think the Games will be a boon for East London. But in a place where people have different needs and traditions and myriad practices, what is mildly irritating for me can be catastrophic for others. Try running a Muslim funeral service with road space restricted, public transport heaving and customers who expect that everything in a wretched time in their lives should be familiar and comforting. No wonder the vocab strays into the industrial. |
| When a death occurs, Moona tells me, everyone rushes to the home of the deceased. "There might be hundreds there with the family. That can go on for ever. My driver will turn up and they'll say: 'No wait, there are more people coming.' Add in the Olympics. Nowhere for mourners to park, difficult for them to get there. Everything has to happen very quickly and we have to know that everything will happen to plan. We have to tell a family at 8am whether they will be able to have a funeral at lunchtime. People will be coming from all over; from Manchester, from Birmingham." | When a death occurs, Moona tells me, everyone rushes to the home of the deceased. "There might be hundreds there with the family. That can go on for ever. My driver will turn up and they'll say: 'No wait, there are more people coming.' Add in the Olympics. Nowhere for mourners to park, difficult for them to get there. Everything has to happen very quickly and we have to know that everything will happen to plan. We have to tell a family at 8am whether they will be able to have a funeral at lunchtime. People will be coming from all over; from Manchester, from Birmingham." |
| She changed the rulebook, suggesting that prayers at the house or the mosque happen without the immediate family, leaving them free to rush to the cemetery. Time is of the essence. But traditions are traditions. "When I was young," says Moona, 40, "I was really passionate and would argue with them. Now I realise that people don't always listen." | She changed the rulebook, suggesting that prayers at the house or the mosque happen without the immediate family, leaving them free to rush to the cemetery. Time is of the essence. But traditions are traditions. "When I was young," says Moona, 40, "I was really passionate and would argue with them. Now I realise that people don't always listen." |
| All this, and Ramadan. "That means fasting, being up from 3am and not being able to have a Starbucks. Not good. But we do what we can. If things take longer or don't happen, it's God's will." | All this, and Ramadan. "That means fasting, being up from 3am and not being able to have a Starbucks. Not good. But we do what we can. If things take longer or don't happen, it's God's will." |
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