‘I am not bitter any more Doc,’ he told me. We were sitting in a busy restaurant in Azizyah on the outskirts of Makkah just before midnight. I was scurrying between different buildings in the late evening seeing to some sick pilgrims who found it difficult to attend the clinic which we operated during the day.

All these bedbound patients had only one question: ‘Doc, am I going to be fine when Hajj starts?’ The first day of Hajj was three days away and my standard answer was: ‘You rest for three days and I’ll ensure you have five sick free days of Hajj.’ Pilgrims tended to exert themselves in the days leading up to Arafat and this weakens their immune system leading to them catching infections easily. Rest restores the ability to mount off further attacks. He was one of those who I had to attend to a few times.