Dubai:
The Haj pilgrimage this year has reunited three Indian sisters who now live in different countries, giving them an opportunity to relive memories of their childhood which they spent in Allahabad.
Shahana Mirza, Farzana Mirza and Durdana Mirza happened to make it to the annual pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this year by sheer coincidence and are savouring the moment.
In 1977, Shahana, the eldest of the Mirza sisters, married a distant cousin of hers in Karachi in Pakistan and has made it to India only thrice since then. Two years later, Farzana married Yawar Siddiqui, who then worked in Chicago.
Durdana married an engineer in Bangalore. Her husband is accompanying her to Haj and so is Yawar, Farzana's husband.
For all of them it is a great reunion. "It seldom happens this way, and it was never planned. We applied for Haj in India through the government-supervised Haj Committee. Too many people apply, and pilgrims are decided through a computerised draw of lots. We were lucky to have been chosen this year," Shakir Bazmi, Durdana's husband, told 'Arab News'.
"We wrote to Shahana in Pakistan and she told us they too were coming to Saudi Arabia for Haj. We were delighted beyond words. Then the word came that their sister in the United States was also going to perform. Our happiness knew no bounds. For the sisters it was like a fairy tale," said Bazmi.
The three sisters met last week in the vicinity of the holy Kaaba in Mecca. They hugged each other and relived their childhood memories.
"We did meet on different occasions, sometimes in India, sometimes in Pakistan, but we were never at one place together," said Durdana.
Shahana Mirza, Farzana Mirza and Durdana Mirza happened to make it to the annual pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this year by sheer coincidence and are savouring the moment.
In 1977, Shahana, the eldest of the Mirza sisters, married a distant cousin of hers in Karachi in Pakistan and has made it to India only thrice since then. Two years later, Farzana married Yawar Siddiqui, who then worked in Chicago.
Durdana married an engineer in Bangalore. Her husband is accompanying her to Haj and so is Yawar, Farzana's husband.
For all of them it is a great reunion. "It seldom happens this way, and it was never planned. We applied for Haj in India through the government-supervised Haj Committee. Too many people apply, and pilgrims are decided through a computerised draw of lots. We were lucky to have been chosen this year," Shakir Bazmi, Durdana's husband, told 'Arab News'.
"We wrote to Shahana in Pakistan and she told us they too were coming to Saudi Arabia for Haj. We were delighted beyond words. Then the word came that their sister in the United States was also going to perform. Our happiness knew no bounds. For the sisters it was like a fairy tale," said Bazmi.
The three sisters met last week in the vicinity of the holy Kaaba in Mecca. They hugged each other and relived their childhood memories.
"We did meet on different occasions, sometimes in India, sometimes in Pakistan, but we were never at one place together," said Durdana.
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