After 45 years of waiting, Abdul Rehman Kumar, 74, finally realizes his dream of Mecca thanks to a stranger

His dream seemed impossible. However, at the age of 74, Abdul Rehman Kumar will finally accomplish the Hajj thanks to the generosity of an anonymous doctor. Each year, they left. He had left. Since 1978, this resident of Srinagar, the main city of cashmere disputed between India and Pakistan, observed the ballet of pilgrims in silence. “I just came to see them go. It was enough for me”confides this poor and family cachemiri, in its Ourdou dialect tinged with Kashmiri.

The story could have stopped there. But in this region bruised by decades of conflict, a momentum of solidarity has changed everything. A video showing this old man with callest hands, posted as every year in front of the Hajj House, went around social networks. “It was a call that lasted three minutes. Three minutes that turned my life upside down”, tells Rehman, the trembling voice. On the other end of the line, an orthopedic surgeon from Kupwara, a city in northern cashmere, offered him what he had never dared to ask.

The story of this simple man, who was washed at length before going to Hajj House out of respect for pilgrims, moved far beyond the cashmere valley. “His humility has all questioned us”testifies a merchant in downtown Srinagar. Today, the one who only had his luggage for his secular faith finally prepares his journey. In his modest house in the Nowhatta district, near the famous mosque Jamia Masjid, he carefully tidy up the few things he will take towards Mecca. “I have never had a passport, never stolen”he whispers, examining his ticket with trembling fingers. After a life of waiting in this city divided by conflicts, his miracle came from a simple phone call – proof that the craziest dreams can come true, even in cashmere.