While the winter weather in Athens has many Ohio University students complaining, OU junior Aadam Soorma is happy to be in Ohio after his family's trip to the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca over winter break.
Soorma and his parents went on a pilgrimage this December to Mecca because his parents are practicing Muslims. Hajj, a once in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the holy city, is obligatory for followers of Islam, Soorma said.
The once-a-year event has become notable for its potentially life-threatening situations. A 2006 Time Magazine article estimated that 2,500 people have been trampled to death during Hajj since 1990.
To insure a smooth journey, Soorma and his family paid nearly $24,000 to go on the trip. For that amount of money, Soorma said he was unimpressed by their travel company's operation.
I was surprised by their itinerary; they lacked a lot of organization and were very irrational about things
he said.
At one point, a member of their group was left in the middle of the desert after a head count was not performed before departing. The man had to walk about 10 miles by himself to get back to camp and returned at about 2 a.m. sweaty and scared, he said.
The next and perhaps most dangerous event happened while the group was traveling by bus into Mecca. The traffic was so dense that the bus driver pulled over and instructed everyone to lie on the side of the highway and get some sleep, Soorma said.
I thought 'Man this is nuts
if any driver makes a wrong move
they're going to run over all of us.' he said.
That nearly happened when a police car inched out of its lane and nearly ran over the group, Soorma said. The police officer stopped, apologized and advised the group to try to move a little further from the side of the highway.
They finally arrived in Mecca, where nearly three million people were gathered for the Hajj. This incredible number of people packed in such a small area made the situation very unsafe, Soorma said.
That's what makes it so dangerous
every year people die in stampedes ... people get really wrapped up emotionally and just run forward
and the people in front of them just get squished
he said.
At one point, while walking around the Kaaba, a large monument supposed to have built by the prophet Abraham and the holiest site in Islam, Soorma had to help remove the body of a man who had been trampled.
He was just kind of up on my shoulder and he fell G? and I was just like
'Man
this is crazy ... there's a dead body next to me
' he said.
Once he and his family were home, Soorma said his parents felt very fulfilled by the trip but that he was just happy to be back.
I'm not taking anything for granted ... anything from a cold beer to a shower to a t-shirt
