The Kaba

I grew up, seeing this. Hoping some day I would be able to see it as a person. And when I saw it, it was nothing less than magnificent. It was in the evening, all the lights were on. It felt the whole area was glowing with peace. It was one of those feeling which I cannot define, so freaks me out. I continued starring at it, for not sure how long. The entire place, where the people were doing "tawaf", was the most peaceful yet crowded place I have ever seen.

Coming to Tawaf, it is a mandatory custom to make seven rounds across the Kaba. This is a part of Umrah and Hajj. However you can still do Tawaf irrespective of Hajj or Umrah. The first time when I was supposed to do mine. I was literally scared to see the ground of Tawaf. It looked impossible even to set foot.

The ground for Tawaf was a little lower in altitude as compared to the remaining mosque. Probably that construction was necessary, to avoid chaos. Before I continue, I have to mention one thing here. The marbles of the ground was one to rarest one. Since the temperature was not high in the evening, so I did  not understand it then. Next morning when I came for Tawaf, the temperature was around 40 degrees. It was impossible to walk without shoes outside the mosque. But when I set foot on the Tawaf ground, the floor was absolutely cool. The entire city was burning, except for the floor of Tawaf. Its one of those things which you cannot experiance in too many places.

Coming back to Tawaf. Inspite of the fear of getting stampeded by the crowd, every one has to do it. But when I started doing the same, it took less than 10 seconds for my fear to go away. No matter how crowded it looked, it always had space for one more Haji. I was completely exhausted after my 7 circulations was over. Then it is a customary to drink Zamzam (which I will discuss in future posts). The water tasted so clean and chilled, I felt the water was worth 7 circles.