Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Catching up on sleep
The Hajj assignment is officially over. I'm now back in Jeddah (departing for Riyadh early tomorrow morning) and finding it really bizarre to have so much time on my hands. The past couple of weeks have been two of the busiest of my life -- but you know what? Despite every difficulty that I've written about in this blog, I've enjoyed this job more than I could have imagined. I mention this because I'd like readers to know that the experience of being part of the Hajj coverage team for CNN was far more enriching than enervating. I only wish I had the eloquence to describe what it was like to witness, up close, how happy the pilgrims were to be there, how willing they were to help each other out.
The sole regret I'm left with is that I couldn't have posted more on the blog. The crew faced major communication difficulties while in Mecca (everything from not being able to make or receive mobile phone calls to sometimes finding it quite problematic getting online) and I had hoped I could submit more vignettes about our daily goings on. I wanted to thank the readers who posted comments -- it's always nice to get feedback -- the fact that it was positive feedback regarding the team's coverage only made it nicer. So that's it for me. Time to finally go get some sleep ... 6 Comments
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Just wanted to send my sincere thanks to the entire CNN Hajj 2006 team, you guys did an excellent job. I was a daily reader of your site, and always looking forward for the next report on Hajj, even though I sometimes watched the same post more than once, I just couldn't have enough! Perhaps a suggestion for next year, is to truly try to capture the pilgrim's emotions whilst on Hajj or when they first see the Ka'aba (e.g. that video clip of the woman in tears, sent shivers down my spine). I must add, I loved the blog idea! It was really cool, and the on the scene articles were wicked! Seriously, a BIG BIG BIG Thank you to the CNN team, hope you'll all take on this task again next year!
Twice I had performed Hajj in the past and when I was reading your coverage, I was really really missing it. Good Job and get treated for Hajj Flu (it takes atleast two weeks to get cured) !!!
Good job and now a well deserved rest for all of you!!! I really enjoyed your coverage and next year you could put some pics and prepare a "behind the scenes" report. It's always good for us, other journalists, and also for the viewers to see how we manage to make this kind of coverage, even with lots of problems. Good work and best wishes!! Happy new year everyone!!
Absolutely fantastic coverage! It is one thing to report the facts and the 'news' but quite another to relate these facts to the human experience that shapes and, in fact, defines them. And, on that account, you guys did a near perfect job.
CNN will hopefully cover Hajj again next year but it will surely be very difficult to top this year's coverage.
I was impressed with the coverage of the Hajj, as a non-Muslim, it really provided a much needed look at the human side of the event. With all the focus lately on the political and military issues, one question did come to mind while reading the blog excerpts- if the Hajj was so peacefully executed and the various factions who came together for the festival encountered no major issues or problems,representative of most of the different sects in the Muslim community, why is the same principle not helping in other areas of the Middle East? This year's Hajj seems to tell it all- people can CHOOSE to get along. Oversimplified, perhaps. But it makes you wonder...
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