PESHAWAR: Despite modern devices from wall clock to mobile sirens, the residents of Peshawar city still wait for a drum beater to wake them up for Sehri and many would even annoy if he doesn`t turn up.

A large number of city dwellers just want to keep the old tradition alive as a symbol of cultural identity spread over centuries. They say that drumbeaters had carried on a cultural tradition still cherished by old and young alike.

With the beginning of the holy month of Ramzan, drumbeaters are given places of their choice for waking up people for Sehri. Around 20 drumbeaters walk into different streets of old Peshawar city while a few also wake up f ast keepers in Peshawar Saddar.

Amir Shehzad, a resident of Faqirabad local-ity, told this scribe that people in his street didn`t need drumbeat wakeup call any longer since most residents didn`t sleep during Ramzan. He said that still people loved drumbeaters as they had long associations with city dwellers.

`My 70-year-old father wakes up for Sehri only with drumbeat. Being old, he cannot keep waking up till Sehri. He sleeps after Taraveeh and gets up with sound of drum,` said Mr Shehzad.

Ramzan Ali alias Ramzan Chacha has been doing the job for the last several decades without any break in different parts of Peshawar city where local residents love his wake up call and award him his Eidee on Eid day just after prayer.

`I have been trumpeting Dhol in the streets of old Peshawar city for the last many years. I very know that people don`t need drumbeat call for waking up for doing Sehri but still they love me. If I don`t show up because of some reason, they take ill of it,` he said.

Mr Ali and around 20 of his colleagues live in ChangharabadlocalityinPeshawarto perform the duty of drumbeating in various parts of the city. He said that he along with his son Shahbaz,cousins Asif, Arshad and Zaid every day in the wee hours walked into the streets of Gharibabad, Faqirabad, Yousafabad and Corporation Colony and woke up residents with the sounds of their drums.

He said that earlier he also used to make a loud cry along with drumbeat but six years ago local residents stopped him f rom making a loud mouth call and asked him to limit only to drumbeat.

Mr Ali said that his team approached hundreds of residents for drumbeat wake call and it fetched him Rs30,000 at the end of Ramzan.

He said that people paid him money out of their own sweet will, but some people gave him new clothes for his family.

Allah Rakha, another drumbeater, said that it took him and his colleagues half an hour to complete a round of Peshawar Saddar where residents liked his drumbeat call. He said that in fact people didn`t depend on their Dhols any longer but respected them for keeping an old tradition alive.

`People of Peshawar city not only love old tradition of drumbeat wakeup call but also get excited over celebrating Eid with drumbeat, he added.