Dubai: "How's the weather in Dubai?" he wants to know.
I tell him winter seems to be a reluctant guest, in a hurry to leave. The afternoons are getting warmer and the evenings forget to bring along the nip in the air.
"How strange," he responds. "The weather here is also hot, plus it's sticky. And I got to experience just one week of winter in Dubai before I left."
You could say we are talking weather and he's complaining, but when you are walking 2000km, nothing is more important than this.
Jalal Bin Thaneya has crossed the town of Ruwaidah in Saudi Arabia. Makkah is still about 700km away, but he has kept the promise he made to himself six days ago — that he would make up for the lost time as a result of being stopped by a Saudi police officer. "I believe I have [made up for the lost time]," he says. "I walked more, ate less and slept less. I am happy with the pace I am keeping."
Paradox
The countdown for this walk in terms of days began on the first day itself — every day is the first day or last of something or the other in your life — but the real countdown will begin in the next few days when he will be a week away from his destination.
He is feeling more pushed now than ever because of several things: he is closer to his goal; the support from high places during his journey through Riyadh and the walk is taking its toll in terms of getting tougher by the day.
"It's a paradox," he concedes. "The more you walk, the harder it gets."
The other aspect of this paradox is also not lost on him — the luxury of the soul and the torture of the body. Passing through Riyadh and for a while back in the midst of civilisation, he felt the pressure of being not alone with nature. He is aware that he will be back to that pressure very soon, an inevitability that has become an old sensation for him by now. But he can't stop pondering the irony of it all. "When you live in cities, you realise people don't walk any more. In fact, walking today has become almost an unnatural activity." The more he walks alone in places where no one walks, the more he realises that this is a limited period privilege.
Rations depleted
His body too performs better under pressure than in comfort. The two days he ground to a halt almost made him weak, he says. "My body couldn't cope." It was only when he hit the road again that he began to feel better.
In a day or two he hopes to leave the rocky, uneven surroundings behind him as he gets closer to Makkah. The day is drawing to a close and he is hoping to get to a town soon.
"Most towns along this route are tucked out of sight. They are 1-2km inside. So, when I camp for the night, it's usually on the outskirts of one." His rations are quite depleted. There are of course the usual staples of mixed grains, dates and other dry stuff, but he wouldn't mind if he comes across a food stall with fruit, bread and some cheese. "That would be nice," he says simply.
