Escalating The Problem

Found myself thinking of escalators today, on the way back from Friday Prayers. Not just any escalators either. The ones rising vividly to my consciousness were those in the Masjid al Haram in Makkah, specifically a sequence of them that could be accessed at the gate I used the most frequently of all the gates into the mosque, which afforded me access to the top level so I could pray next to the three domes located there.

They came unbidden to my mind as I was looking at the jam of cars leading out of the HDB car park behind Masjid Darussalam, where I usually park. Very much atypically one driver was sounding his horn as I walked along, as if annoyed about something, and it struck me at that moment that the jam looked pretty bad. However, it turned out to be business as usual and the car park cleared briskly and efficiently, partly because everyone was understanding and cooperative and didn't get irritated (and start sounding their horns) and nobody decided to cut the queue. I've always assumed this happens on a weekly basis because pretty much everyone in the jam is coming out of prayers and mindful, for once, of the need to behave with courtesy and consideration. Which leads me to the escalators.

I suppose it was consideration of the elevated levels of behaviour of folks leaving a mosque after prayers despite the inconvenience of the crowds that put those moving stairways in my mind. Sadly the behaviour you saw in the holy city was by no means always exemplary and some of the most downright dangerous occurred around the gate housing the escalators. It never seemed to register with some pilgrims that it wasn't a good idea to crowd onto the escalators if the crowds at the ends of them were static as there was going to be nowhere to step off to when they arrived at the conclusion of their brief, speedy journey. Similarly there were some who never seemed to realise on arrival at the bottom or top that if there were a space available for them to move quickly into it would be wise to do so as the other bodies behind them needed space on their arrivals. Obviously someone in authority was aware of the unforgiving physics of the situation as the escalators were often switched off at peak hours to solve the problem. But someone in authority was also in the habit of suddenly, without warning, switching them on, sending those packed on them at fairly high speed into the backs of the poor souls clustered at their edges.

All in all it was a minor miracle no one was killed or badly injured whilst we were there. (At least I assume they weren't, but, I suppose, you never know.) And all in all, I prefer the weekly minor miracle of the painless, patient, almost pleasurable evacuation of the car park behind the mosque.