Published on 04:50 PM, March 18, 2024

Satire

Guy sells ancestral property to afford restaurant’s iftar platter

Ramadan in Bangladesh is defined by two traditions in particular, which are deeply rooted in Bangali culture – price hikes and unreasonably expensive Ramadan iftar platters at restaurants. Unfortunately, the youth of this country are gullible enough to pay a ridiculous sum of money to restaurants during Ramadan for food their mothers can cook better in their sleep. 

This Ramadan, a man in Dhaka reportedly sold his ancestral property to afford an iftar platter at a high-end restaurant in Gulshan. 

"Ancestral properties are all about maintaining social status," said Shadman Sakib, while munching on a lean piece of malnourished chicken bone which came with the iftar platter worth his ancestral property. "My great-grandfather worked all his life during the British rule and tolerated lifelong humiliation and torture from his British overseers so that he could afford to buy this piece of land. My grandfather, a poor farmer, relied upon this land to take care of his entire family and educate his sons. Much like this piece of land had served my forefathers when they needed it the most, it also fulfilled my necessity, which was to afford an exorbitantly expensive iftar platter and post pictures of consuming it on social media."

The platter Shadman ordered included three-day-old rice, bland vegetables, undercooked chicken, and sliced semi-rotten fruits among six other underwhelming items. However, the meticulously captured pictures posted on social media deceived Shadman along with a restaurant full of customers which was packed during iftar.

"Our restaurant has been infamous for scamming customers for years now," explained the manager of ScamChef. "Every year we post deceiving pictures, customers come in, get scammed, and become surprised about something that's been happening to them every year. Be it the national cricket team letting the fans down or restaurants offering deceiving platters, Bangali people just never lose hope. Sure, there's going to be immense criticism about it on social media for a few days but next Ramadan, they'll keep running back in." 

"If that doesn't work, we'll just include jilapis worth Tk 20,000 in our menu and get all the social media attention we need for free," smirked the manager. "That'll at least make the food vloggers keep coming in."

Ifti is a university student and has no ancestral property to sell and afford iftar platters.