Makkah Diaries: Footsteps on the Holy-Land- Part 1

“Papa is it time already to leave?”

Tip-toeing her feet on the marbled floor of Haram sharif the girl asked anxiously.

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Blue was the sky, cold was the air and merciful was the environment we were witnessing. The post fajr time in Haram sharif looked divine. It was September 2001 (know the significance? You better :p). We were in Makkah sharif to perform ‘umrah. It was my first ever ‘Umrah.

It was a marked moment.

It was the same time when the towers fell.

It was the same time when a plane got hijacked.

And it was the first time my birthday spent in KSA. (Nah, I don’t celebrate anymore. Relax please)

I used to hold Papa’s hands and my granny’s wheel chair as we go to offer our prayers. We were there for two weeks. Such a short period of time.

I still remember my last short visit to masjid Al-Haram with Papa and dadi. It was Fajr and there were, if I am not wrong, three janazas that morning. Lucky souls to die on the sacred land ! The weather was so pretty that morning.

“Papa is it time already to leave?”

I asked again looking at him keenly.

Papa kept looking at Ka’bah praising the magnanimity and divinity of the place. Once over he would drift his attention to the birds circumambulating the Ka’bah.

I kept asking Papa, “Papa is it time already to leave?” and he never wanted to leave the place.

The serenity was overwhelming.

We finally had our breakfast and left for the bus to our abode in Madinah.

13 years later , when I became a young conscious adult, I found the little girl who wanted anxiously to hold Papa’s hand and one kept asking “Papa is it time already to leave?” now had another emotion brewing inside her: To visit Him in His house, Makkah al-Mukarramah.

I would come close to tears for I so wanted to go to Hajj or ‘Umrah with Papa and Ammi. I would make plans with Papa and would look at his face so that someday he might say, “Nim, we are going to Makkah sharif this time beta!” and that time at least did not arrive in the next 1.5 years.