#11ElevenLive

Today is the 11th day, of the 11th month, of the year 2011. Little did I know of how this day was being celebrated all around the world, with various events being held on the very same day - all in their own ways and forms - until I was pleasantly surprised to hear of the 11Eleven Project via a TED member, Danielle Lauren. I was elated to be a part of her global venture, thus, I set out with my dad to a mosque near our house where he would pray, and I would take some pictures from the car.

The car clock tells the time, as we set out.

 

                              

   

                          

Friday, is considered a Holy day for Muslims all around the world...

It is a day when Muslim men can be seen visiting their local mosque in hoards; Muslims of different cultures, all rushing out to their friendly neighbourhood mosque to bow down in prostration to their One Lord, early in the afternoon. 

Little kids in their daddy's arms, or holding each others hands...

People who sit on a chair whilst praying, often bring their own...

Old people who walk to the mosque with the help of a cane...

People in their thawbs, their shimagh/keffiyah, their jeans and shirts, their kurta shalwars/pajamas, their lungis, their variations of topis...

All myriads of steps being walked towards the same call to prayer, to bow down together, shoulder to shoulder in prayer...

The end of their ritual brings them back, out of the mosque, off to attend to their worldly needs again. Some start right at the mosque's doorstep with the buying of vegetables, perhaps for their late lunch or early supper...

Vegetable vendors looking for customers, whilst men meet and greet in the background.

What I found most interesting was how I seemed to remember specific people on their way out, from what I had taken in of them when they were walking towards the mosque; the man whose hair could be used in a shampoo commercial, the man with a bling bling dollar sign on his topi, the man with three kids all of the same size, the man with a cane, the man with a chair, the man who ran in, the man who had waved salaam to another, the man in a lungi, the shiny bald guy with the designeresque sunglasses... you get the drift? Sadly, I couldn't get a picture of all those whom I speak of. Nevertheless, I was intrigued at how the mind chooses to hold on to specific things, whilst entirely forgetting the rest. 


And while I silently mused over this thought, we got back home...

It was time for me myself to pray, and before I got around to it, I took some more pictures of my youngest sibling while she performed her Wudu...

And then stood up to pray in the privacy of her room...

The women in our house, in Saudi Arabia, mostly stay at home to pray by themselves - albeit this is not a norm, simply a matter of preference.

I decided to take pictures of how the Holy day of the week is spent in the life of an Indian Muslim in Riyadh - Saudi Arabia, as luckily Friday happened to fall on 11/11/11!