Waking up in time for a pre-dawn meal is vital for Muslims who wish to fast, as their faith demands, during the daylight hours of Ramadan.
But the faithful in Lucknow in northern India have no need for alarm clocks during the holy month.
They have Barati Lal, a 55-year-old Hindu government clerk.
For 16 years, Mr Lal has functioned as a walking wake-up call for the city’s fasting Muslims, having fended off early criticism from fellow Hindus.
Dressed in a monkey cap and a long woollen gown, he bangs a cane along the road and calls out through his loud-hailer: “Get up, my dears. It is time to take your meal.”
Mr Lal has been waking up Muslims for Ramadan for 16 years
Along the narrow lanes of the Muslim quarter, Mr Lal’s arrival is greeted with cries of “salaam”.
At the mosque of Chaudhuri Tola, Imam Rafi Ullah and his friends are full of praise for Mr Lal.
In the past, groups of Muslims went from door to door chanting prayers to wake the faithful.
But the arrival of loudspeakers in the mosques put a stop to that.
Mr Lal says he took it upon himself to give the wake-up call after hearing Muslim friends of his complain that they had failed to keep their fast because they couldn’t get out of bed on time
Hindu helps faithful Muslims fast
Nice story to end ramadan with 