Humanity still exists!

by farzana haque (India)

I didn't expect to find Iraq

Many people run marathons, do exhausting Ironman’s , mountain climbs and what not to prove their strength to themselves. But a walk done with the sole purpose of showing your faith to the One Person who changed the face of humanity is not something you can do without coming out a changed person. This is a journey of the mind more than of the body. As I joined this 80km walk from Najab to Karbala in Iraq called the “Arbaeen” being a part of a 150 people contingent from my community with 30 million others, coming from 90 countries of the world, what happened is something I never imagined would. It brought me back to the basics and strengthened my belief in humanity. The preparatory walks we had done, the situations we had imagined, the scenes we had expected to see all went through a brick wall. Because what we saw and experienced was nothing of that. In this flow of millions, you become one with them. There is no pushing or pulling, as people of all ages, demographics, religions and races walk together in equal faith shoulder to shoulder showing such companionship one doesn’t get to see anywhere in the world at any other time. Senior citizens, young children, babies in prams, the lesser abled, families and single men all of them making this supreme journey together. You don’t spend a penny on this entire 80km walk which takes over two to three days across the sandy roads. The locals serve you in indescribable ways. There are food counters on the entire stretch, camps to stay the night and places to wash yourself, there are doctor clinics put up, massage centres for tired legs, cloth stitching and washing units to even shoe repair shops. To walk in the heat and the open sun is no mean task. Those who cannot serve in kind stand in between the roads with sprinklers in their hands and rose water to cool the Pilgrims during the day. Perhaps not realizing that more than any other service theirs is the greatest one of all. Small children applying scent (Itaar) on the hands and waiting for Blessings. All by the locals just to serve the people who do this walk out of Faith in Mankind. And once the journey ends and the visits to the Shrines are done in Karbala, you drive back to Najaf in a bus and it leaves you even more stumped. The entire buzzing life centres that had come out in those few days of the Arbaeen walk have vanished leaving nothing but the road and the sand, memories of the days of the ultimate show of camaraderie and service. Strangers who went out of their way to make you comfortable to endure what their Leader had 1400 years back.