Diary of a Hajji 1: True Germophobia

Health they say is wealth. You know how some people have an innate fear of germs or disease or how others have OCD… I personally cannot make a whole meal without washing the spoon I am using to cook after every entry into my pot. Sometimes I wash my hand after adding every spice even when am adding all the spices at once. Hey! I am not a psycho. Just my own compulsion. We all have it in varying degrees.

As a Haji, these privileges do not extend to you. You would have to learn to overlook and live with certain things. I hate to see spit or hear someone cough up sputum and spit *scratches head*. So imagine the sound of someone cough up spit and using his mouth as a cannon, launches it through the vacuum of a metal bin *hugs self*, and because of it travelling through space in the bin, it echoes. It is indeed horrible… as the sound reaches the depth of your soul. Some decide to take it up a notch and first drag the phlegm from their lungs to their throat and it is apparently a deed that cannot be done quietly. And you might be lucky one of these culprits extends a hand to you with a smug smile and says “salaam”. Loads of hand sanitising but even the sanitizers have their limits.

Do you hate the smell of dampness? Whether room or clothes or air? Well, Some people wash their clothes and hang them over their beds where they drip till they dry. Not sure which is worse a damp cloth or a damp bed. Cannot live down the smell of either. Sometimes because of the heat, people pour cold bottles of water over their fully clothed bodies including their hair. This one I did a lot of the time, but I never smelt damp. The mercy of Allah in the form of the sun dries you up completely.

Then the compulsory flu was another test. It is so hot but everyone seems to have a cold. I took a daily dose of vitamin C and even though I did have a cold, it was not as bad as others had it. You know in the masjid, during salat the period of Tashahud is usually quiet, till one person coughs and then it seems to activate everyone’s cough and then it’s just the sound of coughing till salaam. Most of the people do not cover their mouths. Coughing is reactive, so not your fault quite all right, but courtesy demands you cover your mouth.

The saying, there is no place like home. The home not just your family, the building in itself and how particular you want everything in it to be arranged. How people live in mansions and call an exterminator at the site of a cockroach. Oh yeah! Some accommodations were filled with so many rats that some rooms had to be closed down. Oh! The stinging smell of rat pee.

Disclaimer: I had an amazing, uplifting and awe-inspiring hajj journey. I would do it again in a heartbeat if giving the chance again In Sha Allah. I pray every one of you gets a chance and for those that have performed hajj may Allah accept it. Ameen.

Thank you for reading and do let me know what you think in the comments section.