Throughout the whole trip, starting from DAY ONE, i have kept a diary of everything I saw, what had happend, and how everyones coping and enjoying the trip.

ENJOY!

1. Part one- Day ONE to THREE
2. Part two- Day FOUR to SIX
3. Part three- Day SEVEN to NINE
4. Part four- Day TEN to TWELVE
5. Part five- Day THIRTEEN to FIFTEEN

Day 1, Saturday 18th December 2004

They weighed our luggage and we went to Gatwick. After a long wait we reach there. We climb on bored and we fly over to Birmingham. Unfortunately the staff needed to rest so we were given food vouchers (£5.00). When we went to the restaurant area ALL THE RESTAURANTS were closer OR on the verge f closing. We had to wait in a REALLY long queue for 2 hours (approximately) at the only open restaurant. All they were serving were chips and small snacks. When we got on the plane, people were angry with us because we didn't sit in our EXACT seats. We then were on the journey to Amritsar. You get used to the plane taking on and off. At first it felt REALLY weird and Niall was scared. We got served lunch again. We had rice, small naan, coke, bun and salan. It was all too bland and cold. I don't know whether this is day 1 or 2 because of the MASSIVE 5 and 1/2 hour time shift. I'm tooooo sleepy. I haven’t brushed my teeth or anything for TWO DAYS. It makes you feel dirty. However, I can't wait till I get to Qadian; see all the historical places and stuff. It brightens up the dull plane journey.

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Day 2, Sunday 19th December 2004

We arrived at Amritsar at about 3.15pm (10.00am in London). The food on the plane was disgusting, but we were all grateful for it. Shahjahan, however, did not really have a taste for airline food (in the end I got him to eat just one bun). Right now I'm sitting down in an airport in Amritsar, India. I have been waiting for about 4 hrs. We all got our passports checked, unfortunately, four people from our delegation have been delayed because they had Pakistani travel documents. We are praying for them so they can come to Qadian with us. Khizal (Shahjahan's friend) has been REALLY upset because he is one of the four people with a Pakistani document. The other three have been comforting him. I lost a toppee on the plane, but I was given some headphones FREE, so it evens it out! Inshallah the 4 people will be able to come with us, until then, looks like we'll just have to hope and pray for the best. I've seen loads of staff with massive guns and they wear those camouflage type coats. The airport itself is tacky, but they have nice seats. I never knew that the general Indian public can be so
rude. Niall is waiting and watching what I'm writing so I'll have to stop now. I don't have a pen so I'm Using Niall's...

We are now on the coach to Qadian. The unfortunate 4 who had Pakistani documents have been allowed to come with us. Khizal is sitting next to me & Shahjahan is sitting next to Niall. The coach has got EVERYTHING! TV, good seats, arm rests lots of space, curtains. BUT NO SEAT BELTS! I haven't brushed my teeth for 2 days and I've wore the same clothes for the same period as well. It is 7.50pm (2.31pm London). I haven't bought anything yet, I've made a video diary to compliment this simple form of media. We are yet to pray in Masjid Mabarak and have dinner.

We're in our dormitories. The Jama'at fed us REALLY nice food with good quality naan. All the delegation appreciates it. Its 10.00pm (4.51pm London). Everyone's playing football in the dormitories. This 'game' turned into wrestling. Someone pushed some other guy onto a window in the dormitory. Because these windows are literally paper-thin, the glass smashed and now two of the volunteers who came with our delegation (Atiq Bhatti and Shahid Moin) are lecturing us on how not to play around in the dormitories. I don’t think we are doing anything tomorrow aside from visiting Masjid Mabarik. I’ll try to remember all of my family in our prayers when I visit Bait-ud-Dua. Niall had started to play Cluedo and all the little kids gather around. Then they left coz they lost interest.

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Day 3, Monday 20th December 2004

Day 4, Tuesday 21^st December 2004

I did fajr in Masjid Mubarik, then we were lectured by a man who told us about what sizes and when the extensions of the Masjid were made. We had our breakfast (eggs, toast etc.) (AGAIN!) It was really tasty. We set off to Ludhiana to see the mission house and the room where The Promised Messiah did his first Bait. The mission House fed us rice and salan. It was very nice of them. The man from Masjid Mubarik began informing us on how and when the Mission House in Ludhiana was made. While we were eating three ladies barged through the two large doors at the front of the room and began singing (obviously wanting money). All the men shoved them out. After that we went to someplace near the border of Pakistan. While we were on the coach we met the Imam of Palestine who is staying for Jalsa. He travelled with us. A man, who, I think, was some sort of President of the Jama’at of the area we were in. We went to a restaurant and he got ALL the Waqfe-ne-nau something to eat. I said salaam to him after we ate and we took photographs woth the rest of the Waqfe-ne-nau group. On the LONG, 3hrs, journey home people began to slap anyone who went to sleep. The uncle’s on the coach didn’t do anything because they were ALL sleeping. It was very funny, even though I got slapped as well. In the end, I had to put my jacket over my head and duck while EVERYONE slapped me. I think EVERYONE got slapped in the end. Finally, everyone stopped with the slapping. It’s around 12.45am (1.31pm London time) and I’m in the dormitory. No-ones going all crazy like the other nights, they’re sitting down playing cards or reading books or writing. No-ones slapping or attacking or annoying anyone. Everything’s getting better. On the coach to Qadian from Ludhiana, however, was terrible. The coach was split into two sections of people; it was almost like some sort of battle of HAPPY SLAPS! Its about 3.00am and people begin to wrestle! No-one has gone too sleep. Shahjahan wrestles some kids and I wrestled a couple of people. In the end, no-one got hurt, so it was all good fun.

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Day 6, Thursday 23^rd December 2004

I woke up at 6.00pm because of Zaffr who slapped my face a bit HARD. I’m thankful for that, however, because now I could read fajr in Majid Mubarik. After this we toured the borders of Qadian. I saw Khalifat-ul-Massih II’s house. A college made during the time of the Promised Messiah’s time, which is now a Sikh college. There were some other places that weren’t hat interesting so me, Hamid and Qasid went to some shops & got something to eat and drink. We got some Fanta but they were in glass bottles so we weren’t allowed to take them home with us without paying extra rupees. So we had a drinking contest between the thrre of us and we all go brain freeze coz it was so COLD. The weather, on the other hand, was quite warm, as well as all the other pervious days that we have stayed in Inida. We had a waqfe-ne-nau mulaqaat, which, I think, was broadcasted on MTA Internatioal and not just MTA 2. There was tilawat by Hesham & Nazm with a group of people including Ahmad, Fahd and Fiad-ul-Haq. Then we gave out presents after Rafi Bhatti Sahib’s speech. The presents were to some of the people that helped us and we had LOADS of presents for the waqfe-ne-nau of Qadian, sadly, no-one showed up apart from three or four of them, so we didn’t give them out. Afterwards, we took a picture of all the waqfe-ne-nau and Rafi Bhatti Sahib was NEVER satisfied with the picture. At about 11.30pm we had a meting in the downstaries dormitories and someone came into the room, during our meeting and tld us Ten busses have come into the Jalsa Gah, filled with passengers. So we left the meeting on hold and went out to say salaam to the guests. Then Muzamir began to say “Narai Taqbir” and all the delegation replied.. We found a tractor with a trailor and we climbed on to the back. The tractor started to move and Muzamir began to say “Narai” from the tractor. In the end we went back to the meeting and up to our dormitories. The time now is 3.10am (9.38pm London time) AND I NEED SOME SLEEEEEEEEP!

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Day 7 Friday 24^th December 2004

Today is going to be REALLY simple, first we go to fajr namaaz in masjid Aqsa. Then we listen to the Friday sermon. Then we have recreation time and finally a special BBQ near the River Bias. I’ve done fajr namaaz and after was a LONG daras. I met my cousin from Rabwa , but I forgot his name. He goes to Jaamia Qadian. He wanted to meet Shahjahan, but I couldn’t find him. There are soooooooooooooooooooooo many insects! Anyway, for breakfast I had a cereal bar, toast, tea and an omelette. I’m full up now. The time is 8.44am (2.12am London time) and I’m going back to sleep. Oh yeah… I forgot my malaria tablets for yesterday!

It’s now 12.20pm (6.49am London) I slept through half the day. I went to charge the camera with Hamid’s two pin-three pin converter. The laundry has come and it’s all okay. No marks and it’s ironed but it’s a bit wet. So its on the rooftop to dry off. There is no hot water so I had to bathe by putting water in my hands and soap and just used that, I didn’t use the shower. IT WAS FREEZING. I woke up for Jummah at around 11.30am and got ready. We had jumma outside at 1.30pm and it was hot outside. Afterwards we went shopping around Qadian. I bought this RUBBISH BB gun that broke the moment I touched it. I bought a cricket bat for 130 rupees and two table tennis rackets for 40 rupees both. We got a Rickshaw to Bahishti Maqbarah and saw the Promised Messiah’s grave again, I said salaam to him and said Dhorud Shareef. After, we got a Rickshaw to masjid Aqsa to do Maghrib & Ishaa Namaaz and we saw the Khutba LIVE and we sat at the base of minaret-ul-massih & watched it live from France. I saw Shooki Bhai on the screen. (My cousin) Before this we had dinner with all the Waqfe-ne-nau of Qadian. This was straight after Jammah. Its now 11.57pm (5.26pm London time) and someone bought a BB gun and they are using a bottle as target practice. Then they began to use ME! IT HURTS, but not as much as I thought.

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Day 10, Monday 27^th December 2004

We wake up for fajr with only 10 minutes to go, so no-one was able to get ready on time. In the end, we had to do namaaz in our dormitories. (Every waqfe-ne-nau read namaaz by jamaat in our dormitory). After that we got ready to do duwaa at Bahishti Maqbarah. When we got there a large crowd of people were gathered around The Promised Messiah’s grave. So we all did our duwaa and arrived home. Its now 10.33am (5.00am London time) and I can hear the Jalsa happening next door outside. I need to get ready but Ami packed only one shalwaar kamise for me and the only ones you can get in Qadian were tailor made. We did Zohr & Asr in the Ansar guest house. Then we had a meeting in our dormitory about us going to guard the flag. We ALL had to wear shalwaar kamise. When it was my turn to hold up a large bamboo stick in front of the flag, the man organising it said that I should go to “1^st position” out of the four positions located around the flag. After this we went to jalsa and went to the Bazaar where I bought a Marabee topee thing and a book on ‘Murder In The Name Of Allah’ (by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (ra)) I lost two pens so I had to buy two more, while I was there I bought 11 bottles of Olympic carom board powder. Then I bought a Taaj Mahaal model. After that I went to a thousand clothes shops and went around asking “AAp ke paas white shalwar kamise hai?... READY MADE!” In the end I bought a black waistcoat for Abu. I also bought a pad lock for my suitcase. When we got home and Shahjahan said that he’s going to buy cake for his birthday and give it to everyone. He bought two boxes with “Happy Birthday” written on it. They gave it out during the meeting. In the meeting, before the cake, Rafi Bhatti Sahib asked us what the pros and cons were of Qadian and everytime Niall or Shahjahan said something, everyone went “aww!” So when Shahjahan announced that he had bought a cake and asked Niall to get it with him, everyone went “aww!” again as they left out the door. Then as they came back into the door with the cake, plates and spoons, everyone said “aww!” as they entered through the door.

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Day 11, Tuesday 28^th December 2004

I did fajr in masjid Aqsa at the base of Minaret-ul-Massih. After I got some sleep.Wehn I woke up I could hear the Jalsa outside. It’s a really nice thing to wake up to. Me and Qasid went to the Bazaar to get out customized ‘Allaisalaah’ rings. We find out the man selling the rings was apparently EVERY religion. But then we found out that he filed a case again Mia Waseem Sahib (Khalifat-ul-Massih IV’s brother) that said he did a Hindu’s Nikah, which was obviously not true. He also threw stones ar masjid Aqsa and Minaret-ul-Massih and he calls himself AHMADI! So at about 12.00pm we went to the shop and asked if the ring was ready. (Because he said it’ll be ready by then) so the man said come back at 2.00pm. So we come back at 2.00pm and the man says come back at 4.00pm. Se we come back at 5.00pm and wait there for about 3 hours u[ until 7.00pm and then he FINALLY has finished both rings. I also bought a snow globe Taaj Mahaal. We had to get packed after Huzoor’s concluding speech. So we waited till 5.00pm until it finished and then left for the Bazaar. After the bazaar we got packed and just layed around waiting for 12.30am to come, because that’s when we get on the coach. It took about two hours on the coach to get to North Amritsar Railway Station which is 5-star and goes to New Delhi.

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Day 12 Wednesday 29^th December 2004   

Its 5.15m (11.44pm London time) and I’m on the train which is currently static and is getting on my nerves. We will be reaching New Delhi at about 11.00am. It’s now 10.15am (4.42am London time) and the train is going to Agra. Apparently there will be a couple of gangs that’ll wait for our arrival and well lead us into shops and stuff to mug us so we’kll have to be careful. We were given lunch, which was Fish and CHIP. (Only two chips & 2 veggie-fish) and this was complimented with TEA. It’s nearly 11.00am noe, so we should be arriving any moment.

We arrive at New Delhi at around 1.00pm and went onto our coach. One side had a row of two seats, the other with 3. I sat on the side with two seats, next to the window, which I opened and waved to the people of New Delhi. We went to a big, three story shopping mall. I bought 3 movies and a wallet. Then we went back on the coach, after everyone thought Shahjahan was lost and then finally he showed up, and travelled to Bait-ul-Hida. The movement we reached there people got their beds in the dormitory and then did Namaaz Isha. The time is only 8.05pm (2.34pm London time) and I’m going to get some food.

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Day 13, Thursday 30^th December 2004

We went to loads of monuments and things, but they were all boring, no where near as interesting as Qadian. It was about a 4 hour drive from Delhi to Agra and we stopped on some highway and Raffi Bhatti Sahib bought everyone Lunch. Then we went to ‘Akbar’s tomb’. It was all red. Then we went to some other place where they sold whips so I bought one and so did Shahjahan. I also bought a model of Taaj Mahaal but that dropped. Then we went to Taaj Mahaal by coach. We weren’t allowed to take video footage but I did it (SECRETLY). I got caught 3 times by some guys and I tried to persuade them that I was only taking pictures. But they said a camera like mine was not allowed. We went to some building on the side of the Taaj Mahaal. Qasid got this flashing key-ring. And the guy with a gun seized it and gave us a lecture on why you shouldn’t use the torch in the temple.

Inside the Taaj Mahaal there were two tombs, and they were surrounded by some massive wall with geometric holes in. I think that were of Shah’s and his wife. On the way back Rafi Bhatti Sahib bought us more food! Then we went back to Masjid Hadi and we all went to sleep.

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Day 14, Friday 31^st December

I woke up at 7.00am and packed my bags. At 8.00am we had breakfast and then we queued up to go to New Delhi high street. The coach journey lasted around 1 hour coz we went into deep Delhi. Over there I bought a laser BB gun and a toy helicopter. Afterwards, me, Niall and Shahjahan went to Motor Rickshaw, but the stupid thing didn’t even work, so he asked if I could give it a push start. So I did, but it still didn’t start, so all of us just left the Rickshaw and tried to find another one. When we did find one, he took us where we wanted to go, but when he got there, he called these two guys over that were holding leaflets pretending to be tourist information people, when they were REALLY trying to kidnap us, but they were trying to do it in broad day light. So I figured they can’t touch me or anything then someone would see and do something and, secondly, I was bigger than both of them and they were short and skinny. Anyway, all I did was ignore them and walked away.

Right now I’m on the train, it’s an okay train and there is lots of leg room in comparison to the coach. The train gave us food. Apparently half the food they gave us was liable to give us dihorreah.

We are on the way to Qadian now and the time is 9.13pm (3.37pm London time).

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