by Ashmin

Created on: May 28, 2008

1991 was the auspicious year in my life when my parents fulfilled their wish to take their only daughter for the Holy pilgrimage of Hajj. We traveled from Qatar on land in a bus with a group of pilgrims from different parts of the world . We had our own group of 4 families , but there was not any body of my age , although there were two little boys of 4 years with us .

Apprehensive, I was , wondering about reciting wrong prayers at the particular times, little unsure about the whole procedures of Hajj. But my mom, reassured me, that they are responsible for me, and would make sure I do all the prayers and rituals with them. I remember a purple color umbrella ,given as a compliment to all of us by our group leader, with the idea of standing out in crowd if we were lost.
Those 25 days proved to give me 25 years worth of lessons in life. The journey in the bus itself was very spiritual , stopping in the middle of the desert for prayers , taking breaks at little villages for food, sleeping on the tarmac at a petrol bunk, and simply gazing at the endless desert knowing what my eyes would eventually see. It took us 2 days and 2 nights to reach The city of Ta-if , where we had our Ihram ( make conscious intention of Hajj ). Till that day, I have always had my shower or bath in warm water. Here I was , standing under ice cold water , thinking " Oh Allah , hope this doesn't trigger my asthma attack". Such was the desire in my heart to circumvent the Holy Kaaba, that my heart and mind had an absolute control on my body and its elements. I was fit as a fiddle , and by the time we reached the City of Mecca, I was clutching ever so tightly to my book of Prayers., reciting " Labaikka Allah humma Labbaik ..
"Here I am O Lord, here I am, Oh Allah, here I am. Here I am. You have no partner. Here I am. Surely all praise, grace and dominion is yours, and you have no partner."

As I walked in to the Holy mosque , my eyes were preparing themselves to behold the sight, and my heart was beating fasting than ever. Here I was , standing in sight of the First Place of worship ever to be built , the Unifying Factor in Islam , just a hollow structure made of bricks, covered with gold embroidered black cloth ..the Holy Kaaba.
The feeling that went in through my whole body is beyond any words my little mind can come up with. It is the feeling of a last tiny drop of water as it finally reaches the its destiny the ocean, it is simple feeling of "Iam home". I donot know what made me cry , but I

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