25th January, 2020 We toured two nearby markets for a new travel bag and abayas etc. Zilch! We liked one bag but the shopkeeper was too arrogant and he started to shout at us for no reason. I walked out of the shop, vowing to not buy a bag instead. As for abaya and prayer…

24th January 2020 Juma Mubarak! I haven’t been posting daily as I had hoped, thanks to lack of time and internet. However, there are a few things you must bring if you’re planning for Umrah in January 2020 or next couple of months. I will post separately about “things to pack” but please, oh, please,…

23rd January, 2020 Sainji isn’t keeping well. We had quite a blast today. Post lunch we spent ten minutes and 220 riyals to buy 10 kilogrammes of Ajwa Khajoor. For those who want to say they got it for less, fret not. Quality matters when it comes to Ajwa and prices are always subjective. Shabana…

22th January 2020 Today is Ziyarat day… But I am least excited. I like all the historical places we watch but that wait is just not worth it. The more the number of people going, the more we have to wait and coordinate. And people shamelessly stop got shopping and go missing only to return…

21st January 2020 We arrived at 9:15 PM yesterday. We ate, prayed and slept. That’s pretty much the entire routine of every single day. Isn’t it amazing? Life’s become so easy. Being unaware about namaaz timings caused us one Jamaat in Al Masjid Al Nabawi. I got up at 5:31 AM, confident that we missed…

20th January 2020 Painful, was the beginning. I have an infection in middle finger of my left hand. The finger hurts again, so much that I had to take a painkiller early in the morning, like 6:30 AM. All for good though, because I was up for Fajr, which otherwise is still a tough task. …

19th January 2020 This was our day – the young ones. Wait, I should not call myself young. Alright, the not so old ones’ day out. After yesterday’s Umrah, even though dad was on a wheelchair, he is feeling too tired. Shakeeb and I were free to do what we felt like. We did two…

18th January 2020 As we boarded the bus for second ziyarat, a good news awaited us. We found out that the tickets are changed and now the entire Nagpur group will fly to Mumbai, the layover will be for eight hours. It isn’t less, but compared to the 20 hours and 35 minutes in Delhi…

17th January 2020 Juma Mubarak! This is our first and last Juma in Mecca. Shakeeb and I had devised a plan to minimize our efforts maximize the time we spend inside Haram. During that planning, Shakeeb said twice – “Juma, we will keep free.” I wondered why he said so, but didn’t question him. I…

16th January 2019 Nothing doing. I am down with flu and fever and body ache. I haven’t even been Haram Shareef, not even once.  Prayers and love for all ummah. Shabana Mukhtar