HAJ - MY JOURNEY AND MORE

This year I was fortunate enough to go through an important life event. I was privileged to perform Haj.
My journey started exactly one month back. We put the Ehram on from home as is the norm for an Umrah. All went well till we reached the Jeddah airport and were made to sit at the airport from 10am (landing time) till 4pm. The reasons for being detained were withheld as usual. We were kept waiting at the airport and not allowed to cross immigration and when I say we I mean the whole group of almost 100+ hajjis.. I would assume that when a person travels on Haj the people surrounding them would be nicer and more courteous and more accomodating. But from the get go what I realised was that it's in all my head. Courtesy was a foreign concept. I wonder why a country would give out a visa and then hold people like this and harass them. Especially when on the journey of Haj.
It was midnight by the time we reached Mecca and 5am by the time we finished our umrah and reached the hotel to finally rest.
The next week was for all intents and purposes peaceful. Of course there are always things and people beyond our control and help... So I learnt a lot of patience and the art of letting go.

The day of putting on the Ehram was Haj arrived. And with it came excitement and nerves.. Once we left for mina the troubles started.. Im not sure where to begin.. The tents in mina were pretty much like the Labour camps in gulf.. The very first morning I cut my hand on the sharp edges of the bunk beds that were part of our humble abode. Oh I forgot the part where I slept for hardly 2 hrs because everyone in the tent decided to wake up at 4:30am to pray Fajr. I tried to explain that the azaan would not come for another 1 hour but No one heard and the ones who did didn't care.. It was all about the bathroom lines and more nonsense.
That was the day of Arafa and I tried the whole "we have to stand in the sun and pray all day" plea also.. But even that dint deter people from switching on lights and calling out good morning at 4am. At 9am (felt like it was mid day by then) we boarded the buses for the camp at Namera from where we would walk to Arafa and believe me when I say that the camp at Namera was worse than Mina. Mina felt like 5 star Accomodation in comparison.. We had lunch at the camp in Namera and I thought I might give the bathroom a try. But one look at the small contraption they called a bathroom I turned right back. We began our walk to Arafa. The day passed by in prayer and devotion.. The sun dint make it easy.. The water felt like it was boiled I mean that was room temperature I guess..but this was the most important day.. This was the place where all wishes were granted and all sins erased.. And we prayed.. To the extent where we ran out of things to ask from God.. Of course, since i dint want to put God out too much with very many heavy duty demands I added a few light hearted requests as well.. We awaited the sunset and at the same time did not want the day to end.. But like all things come to an end.. So did this important day of our lifes.. We made our way back to Namera and then onwards to Muzdalefa..

Upon reaching Muzdalefa we had the most peaceful sleep of our life right under the open sky.. The next morning we we're up at 5am and moving again..

Then came the day for the zabihat.. To say that Haj was tough till now would be utterly stupid because the wall for zabihat that began at 6am ended at 10am and the distance we had to cover was a mere 4.7kms.. But instead we walked close to 11kms because of barricaded roads and unnecessary diversions.. And the whole idea of courtesy was an illusion in our minds.. The sun kept draining out energy and the walking just would not end... It was the first time in my life that I waiting to smell the fragance of a lamb as oppose to the odour. The sight of the slaughter house sent my heart fluttering and my happiness knew no bounds.. We finished the zabihat in 20 mins and were on our way to the hotel.. But fate was not done testing us.. The bus we took dropped us off quite a distance away from our hotel.. We walked another 45 mins weaving our walk in and out of the haram and finally reached the hotel.. Walking into the hotel room and looking at the bed sent pleasure running through my body.. But of course the pleasure of sleeping on that bad wasn't to be ours just yet.. We took ghusl and immediately left for the haram again to complete our Haj tawaaf around 1:30pm.. We were back from the Haram around 5pm and then it was a quick shower, a change of clothes, a longing look at the bed which I dint have time to sleep on and we were back on our way to Mina.. Here again we walked another 4-5 kms because the roads were closed to vehicles and walking back to the camp was our only option. We reached the camp had a quick lunch of lentils again and left to stone the Jamrah. That was another 4kms walked.. The only motivation That allowed us to make the journey back from the jamrah was the promise that this day has come to an end and we would have a mattress to sleep on once we reached the tent.. That night every one slept fitfully because we were all tired and we all felt clean and has clean clothes on.. That night we had finished the important or strenuous bits of Haj.. We were Hajjis for all intents and purposes..
The next day was all about sitting in Mina and doing nothing.. A lot of people want back to Mecca for various reasons and were charged a bomb for transport.. We sat it out and just spent the day sleeping and relaxing as much as we could in the heat and dusty environment of the tent..
The end of the day bought with it relief and the happiness of going back to Mecca and the hotel..
Now is when the whole world tilted on it's axis and people when nuts.. The 13th day of zilhaj arrived and we finished stoning the Jamrah and made our way back to the Mecca.. Our Haj was complete and humanity was lost.. We had started our 60 days period where non of our sins were taken into account and people took that to mean that you could lose all your humanity and do whatever you wanted.. The answer to anything done wrong was simply "your on Haj so don't mind anything". What no one realised was that dint only mean that no one should take offence but no one should give offence. Giving offence whether deliberately or unintentionally had to be avoided at all costs.. The attitude of people around me had me wanting to get home as soon as possible.. I dint leave my room for the next day because I was so mortified by everyone's behaviour..

We then made our way to Madina and ended our Haj. I was more than happy to be back home away from the throngs of people with no humanity left..

SPEAKING MY MIND

It's been a long long time since I've felt like blogging.. So much has happened in the past 3 years now .. Life has changed drastically.. I got married.. I relocated.. I changed my job again due to the relocation and in the process changed the field of work also.. Since the change my life has been a roller coaster.. So many lows and highs..

Anyway.. I had started this blog to be able to speak my mind about Life and everyday things.. And I guess I just stopped doing that for a while so I could fit into the mould that was required of me in my new life.. But it's been 2 years and fitting into a mould was never my thing so I'm back with my quirks and mindless chatter and oh so important inputs that don't make any difference in the bigger scheme of things like global warming but are very very important to me and if even one person reads it and that puts a smile on their face then it's a good day and a good post for me.

As of now I'm recovering from the infections I caught on when I went for Haj. Yes, I had the good fortunate of full filling one of the biggest responsibility and duty of being a muslim. I will post soon about all my thoughts, the good and bad, on my journey of Haj and how people lost the very thing after haj that God wants every human to have most- HUMANITY.

P.S I've been told I'm in the 60 days  post Haj period where non of my sins are taken into account. So all you people beware I can be a badass and get away with it..

FEELINGS: RIGHT OR WRONG???

Sometimes one wonders if they have a right to feel a certain way about something when it was their choice that sort of led to the something happening that is making one feel this way... I know that sounds a little confusing but this week, actually the past two days have kind of left me feeling things that i should not be feeling and not in a good way. The feelings are mostly negative and condemning others for things that aren't entirely their fault.

Yesterday, I, for some unknown reason, went trapezing through my past and it made me angry towards people who are long gone from my life for things that wasn't entirely their fault. i blamed them for our falling apart, and i'm not sure if that's entirely right.

Today, I felt hurt about something that i had willingly stepped out of. I just felt like i was being cheated out of something, because it was partly my idea. Just because I'm not a part of something anymore does that mean that it becomes solely someone else's?? The ideas and hard work that was mine is not of consequence now?? I have recently stepped away, and the time i was away isn't even close to quarter of the time i spent working for it. If i year later i was brushed away as being not a part then i would understand it because that is a consequential amount of time.. but already? makes me feel like that was the plan all along. and everyone was just waiting for me to move away. See all these negative feelings... not sure if they are right or i'm just over thinking.. 

ANyway so that's about feeling what i shouldn't be feeling.. don't know if i make any sense.

WORK-FILLED WEEKEND AND CRAPPY MONDAY MORNING

So last weekend was crazy busy. We had a birthday party order. So after the whole week of working on my laptop, i worked the weekend on cakes and cake pops. but that wasn't what screwed up my weekend.

It started with the courier company, who promised to deliver my package within 48 hours and when I called them on Saturday asking about the package that was to be delivered that evening I was informed that the flight got delayed and hence the package would be delayed but would still be delivered that same day.

Now see that was very very important, because it was T.S's birthday on that day. and I wanted my gift to reach him on time and surprise him. But alas that wasn't happening. That is how my day began but I was still upbeat because i had a good day planned ahead. I had a movie and then the cake pops.. and then i would also get to rest at home. But again it seemed like the world was conspiring against me. Every Movie at the theater was sold out and the rest had timings that we couldn't do..:( No MOVIE.. NO PARCEL...

Saturday ended on a sore note and I thought to myself its okay, parcel will get there tomorrow, its just a day late no biggie. and then movie we'll watch next weekend. because of course i had caking to do on sunday.. s

So off I went to P's to work on the cake.. it wasn't a disaster thank god. In fact i'm quite proud of what we produced that day. I called the courier idiots many a times only to be assured that the parcel would reach that evening what so ever. and as you can guess that din't happen. At this point i wasn't even sure if they still had the parcel or had missed placed it. Not that it was very expensive but it was important to me and i wanted it to reach the person it was meant for. So ended Sunday and my Weekend.. I thought then that okay weekend over now things will look up for me. How wrong was I...!!!

Monday morning i got dressed and off i went to my kick boxing classes. On the way back people on the road picked a fight with me and tried to squish my car even though i was actually being nice to them...*venting begins*  gaah will India ever be nice to women drivers.. I swear these men think that just because they are men they are better drivers or have learnt traffic rules from the womb.. but of course thats only so that they can teach it to the women folks on the road.. god forbid they follow rules themselves... oh! no... they are above that... hmph...*venting over* Anyway, that pissed me off royally and i came home and made the courier idiots life miserable... after all they promised 48 hours and it was over 96 hours then. I had every right to ask for an answer. Bloody idiots... never using that shitty service again... their answer to my complaint "it doesn't normally happen, this is the first time that its delayed so..blah blah blah " IDIOTS...

Anyway, luckily the parcel finally was delivered at 1 pm. (It was sent on 2nd May,2013 and reached on 6th May, 2013, when it was promised that it would be delivered by 4th May, 2013)  At least it wasn't miss placed. and then when it was well received, my day started to look up :D... in fact i worked faster that day then i did the whole last week.

So that's all about my weekend. hoping to finally catch a movie this weekend.
Good Night and Good Bye.

P.S. I forgot to mention, I attended "fail fest " on friday evening, it was an event organized by a friend's company that goes by Deep Red Ink. Amazing concept and amazing speakers. finally people are embracing the idea that failure isn't the end and doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. Ask me, i Know.. :))