Health and the journalist

My editor immediately approved the idea, which makes me a bit suspicious, since the flu seems to attack especially those who have underlying conditions such as dementia and other mental disorders, which my wife thinks I have.

"Avoid crowded places," warn the doctors, and the Haj can get as crowded as it can get, with two million people moving as one, performing rituals that go back to the time of the Prophet Ebrahim.

Pilgrims spend a long time in Mina, a tiny valley just off Makkah, where a journey of one kilometre takes an inordinately long time and the sun usually starts to beat relentlessly as buses, cars and people on foot stretch the limits of the resources of the municipality of the holy city and other utility services.

Doctors and paramedics have their work cut out for them, and the elderly start feeling the stress and heat and are carried into the mobile hospitals in droves. Couple this with the new flu symptoms, and it is no wonder that Arab health ministers are recommending that the elderly and the young stay away from the Haj this year.

Personally, I don't think the warning will work as most of the pilgrims are usually elderly and make this journey of their lifetime in the autumn of their lives. Many come wearing two unstitched white cloths, which is symbolic of the shroud, and fervently wish they can find a final resting place in the Holy Land. A thing as simple as flu is not going to deter the millions seeking salvation.

"Why do you have to do this?" asked my wife, frazzled that I would be coughing and rasping in a tent somewhere with hundreds others, while the nurse searches for my vein to insert an intravenous drip. "I thought we could go somewhere for the Haj holidays," she said.

I have covered the pilgrimage for a Saudi newspaper before and believe me, it can sure be stressful. Imagine a city of two million moving at the same time, as the rituals require you to move as one, from picking up seven pebbles from the valley floor at dusk to the stoning of the seven pillars, symbolising Satan, who it is said tried to break Ebrahim's resolve.

My biggest fear

The shrieking of ambulance sirens is magnified 10-fold in the valley as they struggle to navigate through the teeming masses and my biggest fear is getting lost in the crowd.

Once I strayed from my tent trying to find the groups of Chinese and American pilgrims and was swept off my feet by a group of robust Nigerian women who were on their way to the stoning area. After hours and hours of walking, trying to retrace my steps, I spent the night exhausted under a bridge.

Once I was typing out my story and sweating buckets when someone shouted, "fire". As I ran out of the fire station where our newspaper was given a base for the Haj, I saw pretty, orange flames sweeping through the tents below and heading for our fire station.

"Run," shouted my colleague and we slipped and slithered down the steps and then our journalist's instinct kicked in and we ran back up and started unplugging the humongous desktops, as the crackling sound got nearer.

I am not sure how far we ran with the desktops, but the wind suddenly changed direction and we were spared from being burned to cinders.

Hopefully, this time it will be better as I will be carrying a netbook or a laptot, and a mobile phone with a GPS and pumped up with H1N1 vaccine.