Not Exactly Healthy

Everybody here is struggling with a variety of physical ailments. The most obvious problem for me is my feet on which the skin is cracking, making walking uncomfortable, to say the least. But we're coming to the end of our stay, so the focus now is on packing, in a rather frantic style.

For some reason we seem to have been more pushed for time on this umrah compared to our first in 2014. Mind you, I recall my feet presenting a similar problem then, so some things remain constant.

Quite A Chill

On completing the day's prayers yesterday at Masjid al Nabawi I'd intended to write something about the experience on getting back to the hotel (the day still being Saturday here, if you see what I mean.) Noi was still at the masjid with the ladies from our party who were visiting the oldest section of the mosque, ar Raudah, which houses the tomb of the Prophet (pbuh) and those of two of his companions - Abu Bakr and Umar. I'd had the very rare privilege of actually completing the Ishaq Prayer there and was keen to memorialise my good fortune.

However, I was so shivering cold after dinner in the restaurant, with its unrelenting air-conditioning, that it was all I could do to dive into bed and wrap up warm, hoping to emerge somewhat more in order a little later. Of course, that didn't happen as I just surrendered to sleep. I suppose I do have the excuse that I definitely needed it - just as I needed to be warm.

Here And There

Left Makkah today for Medinah. The journey is now considerably faster than it was when we first did it in 2014, though then we went from Medinah to Makkah. There's now a connection by a super-speed train which means you get from one place to the other in less than two-and-a- half hours. I much preferred the seven-to-eight hour journey through the night myself. It gave time time to think and doze, usually at the same time.

Now trying to adjust to a new hotel room. Air-conditioning too cold and the water's barely warm. Shouldn't complain, though, even if that's what I'm doing. We are where we are.

Being Here

Spirits are high within our umrah tour group but there's been a noticeable increase in the volume of coughing and sneezing issuing from its members - including myself. Noi skipped dinner this evening (it's still Thursday evening in Makkah) and is running quite a temperature, but has happily tested negative for Covid. Since we are moving to Medinah tomorrow, and performing our final umrah, we need to dig deep to find the energy to pack everything, do the necessary, and get on the move. Not easy. But that's why we're here.

On The Monumental

The great mosque in Makkah, the Masjid al-Haram, aspires to the monumental. And like any massive project that does so it has spent much of its existence under construction - as it is at the present time. Indeed, it's so much in the process of being rebuilt that it's difficult to imagine when this current manifestation might be finished. And something similar is true about the hotel complex immediately surrounding it, which I had the impression had been largely completed when I was last here in 2016. It turns out that there are more very large hotels being built behind the very large hotels that immediately face the masjid. In fact, we are resident in one of them, with the adjoining one not completed yet.

Now I can understand the idea of honouring the Creator of All Things with something that reflects in a small measure the grandeur of that creation. I suppose the great cathedrals and temples of the past in other religious traditions are examples of the human desire to do so. There's a kind of nobility in such attempts which reflects well on the human spirit in at least some degree. But there's always the worrying question as to whether its the human aspect in its least attractive form of hubristic ambition that is being celebrated with the divine being pushed somewhere into the background. 

What I like about Makkah are the ways in which the crowds make it their own. Something akin to the anarchy of worship. They bring the monumental down to earth.

Everybody Hurts Sometime

It may be Wednesday (as stated above) in Singapore, but it's still very much Tuesday here in Saudi Arabi and I'm exhausted at the end of another busy day. I suppose this is likely related to my recent illness, but I've found it more difficult than I expected to deal with the physical demands associated with the umrah. Today I honestly wondered at one point whether I'd be able to complete the final ritual, one I've breezed through in the past. I ended up quite pleased with myself for keeping going yet feeling very old indeed.

It's all very humbling, painfully so. I know this is useful in some deep sense, but it still hurts.

Not At Ease

We're now established, temporarily at least, in our hotel room in Makkah. Getting here and fulfilling all our obligations on the way was not easy, which is a large part of the point. Mind you, we didn't have to face anything like the epic wait at the Immigration at Jeddah Airport we experienced in 2016 when we set out on our Hajj in that year. In fact, this time we sailed through - perhaps the fact it was a whole new airport helped.

But each journey here throws up fresh challenges. I'd say the Masjid al-Haram is more of a building site than previously and even noisier and more confusing. Again, the pilgrim faces a challenge and it's quite astonishing to see so many accept that challenge with a calm, implacable good will.

Much Ado

Reasonably frantic preparations now afoot for our upcoming umrah. We set off for Makkah tomorrow afternoon and Yazir, Wan & Maya, who will be accompanying us (along with Fuad & Rozita), are now in residence. Most things are settled, but still lots of detail to consider, both on the practical and spiritual fronts, so that's what I've been applying myself to and will continue to endeavour to do so. Useful to have no real choice.

Affairs Of The Heart

When I was seeking a discharge from the hospital in early October the sticking point was my elevated heart rate, which, to be honest, was quite a concern for me as well as the medical staff. I did wonder whether some kind of damage had been done resulting in the consistently inflated numbers even when I was just resting. And the breathlessness I experienced in the early days of my recovery also seemed to point to some sort of fundamental damage.

Things have greatly improved since then, of course, and I have recently had a strong sense of getting back to something like normal, but it still came as a relief to be told today by a specialist that my heart was functioning well and had recovered completely from the trauma inflicted upon it in September. The doc even went as far as suggesting that some exercise was now in order, which sounded very good indeed.

Of course, the most important aspect of my heart is that it belongs so entirely to my dear wife, who celebrates her birthday today. 

Further Developments

I really should devote more of my time to furthering my education in the visual arts through the resources available online. There's an astonishing amount of informative and insightful material out there of obvious expertise. The excellent Open Culture website regularly features intriguing posts on artists ranging from the classically famous to the modishly obscure and keeps reminding me of how enjoyable it is to expand my knowledge and understanding of the basics.

For example, a recent piece about Picasso at fifteen reminded me of something I once knew and had managed to forget. The young Pablo was a gifted artist in formal terms. An awareness of that helps put in perspective how extraordinary his later development was. The brilliance of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon becomes even more obvious when juxtaposed against the earlier naturalistic canvases. You are forced to understand how nothing in the modernist Picasso has come about arbitrarily: his command of technique is such that he means all of it, even if it leaves us puzzled as to what exactly it 'means'.

By the way, Open Culture doesn't provide an interpretation of Les Demoiselles, but it's very easy indeed to google quite a number, some of which sound reasonably plausible. And if you click on the title itself in the article you're given a link to a decent article on the great work. So no shortage of good stuff, like I said.