Meeting some singers

Since I had a version of the script ready for two surs in Sindhi and Urdu, I printed them out at a print shop, then head to Hyderabad to meet Ustad Amb Jogi at Radio Pakistan. It is always quite a journey, taking the bus in the heat to get there, so I try to do several tasks in one go. I stopped at the Adabi Board book shop and picked up a few books I needed before heading to Radio Pakistan.This was the first time that we had something that we could even begin testing out. There were a few singers at the station, so Ustad Amb Jogi asked them to give it a go. At first they looked at the verses and were taken aback. The first response was that they could not sing it. After a bit more explaining and coaxing, they understood that these verses need not be sung as song in the traditional sense. Ustad sahib suggested we drop percussion, thus freeing the singers to express the words in the time they needed with other instruments accompanying them. This made sense to the two singers who gave it a go.While these two surs are to be sung by women, it was still helpful to get someone to give it a try. Ustad sahib had some more work to do before we could leave to meet some female singers he had in mind, so I walked around in search of some more books I needed, around Hyder Chowk, which was down the street. Of course, I also visited my friend Abdul Majeed Sumroo at his office there. He’s such a friendly and fun loving person, despite being very busy, dealing with constant challenges in the printing business.Ustad sahib picked me up after his work and we went to meet the family of Farzana Bahar, a Sindhi singer.We spoke to some family members who were musicians, regarding what we were looking for. The women were out for a bit, but returned soon enough, so we were able to present the project and talk about what we needed. One of the challenges was that a reference would be needed for the correct pronunciation of the original Sindhi verses. I thought of Mehboob Ali Shah sahib. That would be something to figure out. The women would be away performing for the next 5 nights, but we could start looking at this afterwards.In the evening, I returned to Jamshoro and met Shafqat sahib who had offered to help with the script that night. We ended up going to meet a group of friends and it was Javed Solangi sahib who did all the verse hunting that night. Every bit, is a huge help as I still need to complete the surs that will be sung by men.

Stylizing animals and typing Sindhi

I met Javed at Shahid Sahib’s place to work on typing the surs we had completed. I worked on drawings for Sur Karayal. I played with the shapes of the animals. Previously I drew different poses of swans, crows, cobras and peacocks based on photos. The next step was to look at how those animals have been depicted in miniature paintings and other artwork from the region, adding my spin on top.It was very relaxing to be in an air conditioned room. I felt my energy levels come up and managed to create a lot of sketches. Javed worked for hours while I did that and typed up verses. I don’t know how I would do this without his tireless efforts.

Mehboob Ali Shah and Dinner at Muhib's

I took another morning rickshaw to Mehboob Ali Shah sahib’s place. He was actually preparing for the Urs celebration of his paternal grandfather, but did not want to say no to me, and insisted that I come for an hour or so. We sat down in his bethak. We were going to work on Sur Sorath today and try to find the original verses by Shah Latif that corresponded to the Urdu ones I had chosen from the translation for my film “Risalo”.Mehboob sahib started with the very first verse and the discussion ended up being about it. Again, he used several stories to clarify his point and expressed understandable disappointment that Shaikh Ayaz had seen fit to simply omit that first verse, which set the stage for Bijal and Raja Rai Diyach’s dynamic in the story of Sorath to also be used in verses aside from the folk tale to connect to the story of the Prophet Muhammed visiting God and asked for something as well. The idea that the Raja was so taken by Bijal’s music that he offered his head, citing it as not valuable, just a dirt vessel.Similarly, God, so taken by the Prophet’s love gave everything to him. I’m not doing this justice in my explanation here, but the way each word in that one little verse was dissected and rich with meaning, brings about all of these connections and allusions. While we did not work on finding the verses today either, I really appreciate these riches of knowledge that give me a chance to see different interpretations of Shah Latif’s verse and put it in a larger context.I appreciated the session, but I also felt worried about being able to get these verses completed in terms of finding the Sindhi verses I needed. It is hard, because the task is not in my hands. I came back to the hostel and finished the design for the Sohni puppet. Then I head out on the long, sweaty ride to the city (Hyderabad) to pick up another translation of Shah Jo Risalo that included Sindhi, Urdu and English. Perhaps this would help me find some of these verses.

I kind of forgot that it was Friday. All the book shops were closed. Thankfully I had come for one other thing as well. I went and treated myself to a Chinese restaurant that I saw every time I went into town. The food was really good and there was plenty left. I knew that this was the only way my friends would let me treat them to a meal, so I went and visited Abdul Majeed Soomro sahib afterwards, with plenty of food.It was fun to catch up. I even had that apple soda I had been craving for a week. Then I head out to try one more store, which was also closed and then hopped on a bus to head back to the city.The heat takes a lot out of you, whether you go out in a bus, or even sit in the hostel room all day. It’s pretty oppressive. I rested a bit, then did my English tutoring. After that I waited, as a few friends were taking me to a dinner at Muhib sahib’s place.

We went all the way out to the WAPDA (power company) housing society where he lived. The way there was as usual a series of near death experiences on the terrifying road.Once we got there, it was really nice. I had been pretty out of it when they got me, from the heat. Though I kept drinking lots of water, and taking baths, it is hot, even at night. Once we were there, the AC was running, I sat down and felt much better very quickly.Muhib sahib sat with me and went over Sur Karayal (which I am adapting with a Peacock and Snake story in “Risalo”). He had basically found all the verses for those three pages already and marked them for me. Now he was explaining the richness and beauty of those verses and several others, which was extremely valuable for me.We all shared an amazing dinner together, then sat afterwards. His little sons were a welcome change from my evenings in the sweltering hostel, thinking about work. They are very cute and funny. It made me think of my niece, whom I really miss, that much more, but the night was really helpful. The help with the work was huge, and just the change of pace and such nice people helped lift my spirits and give me some more energy to get through another day.

Moomal Rano with Mehboob Ali Shah

I went to see Mehboob Ali Shah sahib in the morning. We sat down. I shared the drawings and animatic for my project “Risalo”. He had asked me to bring by these things to share at the end of our last meeting, so I made sure to do so. He took time to understand what I was trying to do, and asked questions for clarification, then shared some suggestions. Seeing the photos of puppets, he thought of a verse related to the story of Moomal Rano, which seemed to fit. It was a verse about how things that don’t speak can tell you more than words sometimes. He started to share some interesting insights into the story of Moomal Rano as told by Shah Latif in his poetry.At one point in the story, Rano has been away from his love Moomal for a while and returns in the night to see that behind the curtain of her bed there were two figures sleeping in the bed.He does not step closer to see who it is, thinking it best to accept that she was with another man, and let her be with her choice. There is no violent reaction either. He simply places his walking stick or staff beside the bed, and leaves, as he came, quietly in the night.Moomal wakes up the next morning and sees the staff and realizes that Rano had come in the night and left. The other figure in her bed, had just been her sister. It was all a big mix up and now Rano had gone far away to where he was from, and Moomal had no chance to reconnect. In typical melodramatic style, they never meet again, so goes the popular folk tale.Shah Latif, the great Sindhi sufi poet used this as a vehicle to say something more and that is what Mehboob Ali Shah sahib was explaining to me. When I had read it, I just felt that Rano was a bit dramatic and stubborn. Moomal had not done anything wrong and so I did not understand why in later verses she was thanking him for the lesson he taught her.She said that he taught her more with his silence and that gesture of leaving the walking stick by her bed than he could have with words. Mehboob sahib shared the Sindhi verses and translated word for word to share some of the rich beauty of Latif’s words with me. I had read the Urdu translation by Sheikh Ayaz, which is beautiful, but as I began to learn, had omitted quite a bit.Mehboob sahib went into a few stories to illustrate another aspect of what was going on in this story as told in the poetry. Just as only a single sword fits in a scabbard, so only one can live in your heart. The idea, was that the one in your heart needed to be God. The story in affect, was illustrating that point. The story of Moomal Rano was just a vehicle for Shah Latif to express this thought. In the Islamic tradition, God’s aspects are mostly in service to creation, be it compassion, beneficent etc. God asks for only one thing, and that is to be unassociated with any other. This is the lesson she is thankful for here.This wasn’t about a man and a woman meeting, but about a human being’s relationship with God. Mehboob sahib further gave example of a story of Hazrat Ali who had vanquished a warrior in battle and was about to take his life, when the man kneeling before him spit in his mouth. The story goes that Hazrat Ali stopped his sword and told the man to stand. The man stood. He asked why he had done that. The man replied that he wanted to anger Hazrat Ali so that he would bring down his sword faster and without any doubt and end it all.Instead, the story goes, that Hazrat Ali tells him that he is free to go. The man is shocked and asks why. The response is that to kill him now would be to satisfy his own ego, out of personal anger, rather than as the will of God. These kinds of examples are interesting. While not quite in tune with my feelings on how to do things. I am getting interesting perspectives and stories from a Sufi Islamic perspective as well as from a few other friends who are communists. It is fascinating to see the range of what people pick out and own in this beautiful poetry, and which stories they link the work to.The story goes on, that the man is so taken aback by Hazrat Ali’s honor and fear of God, that he stops and asks if he can become a Muslim. Hazrat Ali says sure, but why? Both fierce combatants, he says that he did not think Hazrat Ali would fear anything, but that he feared God and had such honor that it inspired him to join. All religions have such stories of obedience and violence. They are also a product of the cultural norms of their times, but in this case the story was told by Mehboob sahib to illustrate the commitment to God, that even one’s ego or in urdu khudi was not to occupy that place of most importance in ones heart.I enjoy the way Mehboob sahib tells several stories to explain the ideas behind each verse of poetry. Another story he shared was of a famous Pakistani singer, who facing a sad illness and failing at all treatments, mentioned in an interview that if she was given time in her life, she would devote herself to sing only praises of the Prophet Muhammed. This is a pretty natural response when facing ones mortality to seek the help or favor of God. However, the point in the poetry was that the place of the creator should always be paramount in your heart, not just when you need help.So in the end, the idea was that Moomal and Rano were representing the relationship between created and creator. When God was out of her mind, Moomal allowed her sister to take that place where God belonged, and then suffered that separation from her beloved, God. It was certainly an interesting point of view and from a structural point of view, gave the story more sense.At that point, our time was up as Mehboob sahib had let me know before hand that he had to attend to other tasks at that time. Yet he did not rush me to go. Like a true teacher, he stopped and shared another thought. He told me of a conversation his mother and father had when he was much younger. She was reassured by four of her sons and the good jobs they had, but she worried about the one son, who seemed not to have figured out what he was going to do. I asked, “Which son might that be?” with a smile. Mehboob sahib smiled then told of how his father told his mother not to worry about him, for to him he would give his knowledge and a river would flow and provide for him. So it was that he continued his father’s tradition of imparting the deep wisdom of Shah Latif to people as well as the verse of his father.He continued by connecting the story to me by reassuring me that though I may not know what immediate gains or successes may or may not come of the work I do, that as I continue, it would certainly bring benefits that I may not even fathom right now. I had not mentioned my concerns or tribulations of this project, beyond that I needed help finding the Sindhi verses. Yet, I thought it so kind of him to think of me and what I might face as challenges in what I am doing, and to say something kind and reassuring, even encouraging to me.I really appreciate the vote of confidence. In fact he even suggested that I take a verse of his father’s and put it to puppetry, which is a very sweet endorsement of what I am trying to do. All of these deeply knowledgable people, including Javed Solangi and Shafqat Qadri sahib as well are pouring out the gifts of their knowledge to help me.Lastly, Mehboob sahib related another verse of Shah Latif’s regarding serving the ocean, for the tiniest of treasures gleaned from it would be enough to satisfy ones needs forever. There are many ways to look upon each verse. He shared that the ocean which certainly feels without limit, represented the limitlessness of God and that once you served God with love and humility, that God too would take care of you.Afterwards, I visited Zulfikar Ali Gopang sahib who had encouraged me to meet Mehboob sahib to begin with and we chatted for a while about his own connections starting with his father and Mehboob sahib’s connection going back, and how generous they had always been with their knowledge.I spent the rest of the day digesting knowledge and working on the design for the Sohni puppet. In the evening I did a bit of tutoring in English reading to Naveed Mohammed, who works at the corner store. He had stopped his schooling at grade 5 years ago, and was interested in learning.Afterwards, I went down the street to meet Solangi sahib and Moeeb sahib. Moeeb sahib was the Shah Latif expert we had been waiting for. Solangi sahib and several other friends had kept saying that he was the one to meet and work on this whole reverse engineering translated Urdu verses to Sindhi verses for the “Risalo” script. He had been gone for a couple of weeks, and had just returned. It was good to meet. We discussed a few pieces of poetry, and he shared many beautiful verses with detailed on the spot translations for my benefit. Such is the love that people have for this wonderful poet, Shah Latif.There was more talk of how the Urdu translation so heavily veered away from the source material, which really worried me as I am running out of time. This step of the process had taken way too long already. It was good to know people’s thoughts and they were right, but I also shared my ground realities and limitations. I needed to move on and get this project actually going so that one day I could go home to my family and life and also actually create this film rather than abandon it.The friends reassured me that they would help me make this happen, then I got dropped back at the hostel and called it a night.

Sorath with Mehboob Ali Shah

I woke up early, got ready and hopped on a rickshaw to see Mehboob Ali Shah sahib. I got there a bit before our meeting time of 8 am. I called him, then sat down in his bethak (sitting area).He came out with three cups of tea, and his warm nature. He was looking around for someone else that was there, hence the third cup, but did not see him, so I got some more tea. We sat down and I waited to let him lead the conversation.We talked a bit about teaching here and as the conversation logically lead that way, it made sense for me to share more about “Risalo”, as well as past projects in Jamshoro with the help of friends here. It can be a lot of information to share, so I share it when people are curious. After all, they have a right to know about me too, as they are investing their time and thought towards my efforts.He shared a lot of relevant and interesting stories throughout our conversation. In fact, before we even got to the poetry, he spent a good hour on discussing humility through the example of a story of the prophet Musa (Moses), and how even after achieving so much, God asked him to go to a seemingly random person to learn from. He went, and the man did things that seemed dishonest, cruel, and evil. At each step, Musa could not contain himself and spoke up. The person told him if he spoke up again, he would be sent on his way. At the second time, he was given a final chance.He did not manage to stay silent and was sent packing, disheartened. The man stopped him and did explain why he had done the cruel acts he had commit in front of him. There was an idea of how each of those acts was really to benefit others as told to him by God. While those acts themselves, and that particular mode of “belief” is not exactly how I feel, the moral of the story was very relevant. The idea that even when you feel you know a great deal or are accomplished, let there be humility. Life or God, may push you into situations where you are forced to learn these lessons. What I have written is a brief summary, that really doesn’t do justice to how fantastic a storyteller Mehboob sahib is.We also discussed the idea of payment for his help. He refused any monetary compensation. What he did ask of me, was something greater and something I intended, but have only more reason and need to fulfill with the help of each person I meet along the way. He wanted me to do this film, but not let my work end at that. He requested, that in lieu of payment for his efforts, I should do my part to take Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s poetry and message, back to Lahore, to other parts of Pakistan and to the world in a meaningful way. I take this responsibility seriously, and will continue to try and learn from Latif’s example and do my part to take his work to the world.We worked on poetry for several hours. The portion we worked on today came from a different sur, other than Sorath, which I used to bring in some of the background to the story presented in Sorath, but not featured in Latif’s poetry. With great care and attention to detail, we went over that entire chapter. I see more and more, that Sheikh Ayaz, upon whose Urdu translation of Shah Latif’s poetry; “Shah Jo Risalo” my work is based, did a lot of rearranging of the verses in a sense as I did too for this film. That makes it much more difficult to find the sources, as we are not looking for direct translations, but trying to find those verses from which these meanings were extracted into beautiful Urdu poetry.After completing that section, piece by painstaking piece, we were done for the day. Mehboob sahib continued with a few more stories, that seemed to fit well with adjusting my own state of mind. He shared a story of Hazrat Ali, the son in law of the prophet Mohammed. Hazrat Ali spoke of how he finds God in his own failures to reach his goals. In essence, that when he strives for something and finds himself beset upon by missteps or obstacles, it is within those challenges that he remembers God or feels his presence in guiding himself forward. Perhaps those missteps or obstacles are not really that. Perhaps they are the steps that guide you forward, just not in the way you expect. I’m not going to lie. I get the logic, it’s just hard to set my mind into being able to flow with it without frustration.I head back to the hostel. I went through and wrote blog posts for the week. When going day by day, it feels like I am wasting away, with little hope at progress, but when I write it all down, there is indeed progress, albeit painfully slow.

How to keep things going?

First thing in the morning, I put together emails for Rajesh, the puppeteer in India with designs for custom puppets as well as reference guides. That took a few hours, then I went back to Sindhology to ask about a musician I could not find the name of in a video I had, and to pick up some recordings that Zulfikar sahib had picked up from Maka sahib who had a record label called AA from which I found most of my current day musicians.The musician ended up being Gulzaib Panhwar who sang a beautiful rendition of Rano. Zulfikar Ali Gopang sahib had recorded that piece at a performance, it turns out, at Mehboob Ali Shah sahib’s place, which I had visited on Friday.I came home and knew that I had to get this Sindhi verse matching task going. People were helping, but they were also understandably busy, and it could take weeks or months and even then there was no guarantee I would be any further along if I just waited. I called Mehboob Ali Shah sahib to see if we could meet. He agreed to meet me the next morning to help me. As this is part of my work for “Risalo” I offered to pay for his efforts. It’s a tricky thing to offer pay. Many who are helping me are helping me out of their kindness and a desire to push Shah Latif’s words out into the world. If I offer to pay people in certain cases, it will offend them. At the same time, I would not think less of anyone if I paid them, as it is their right to be paid for their work. Mehboob sahib said we could simply discuss it when we met.I slept a bit easier, knowing that there was some positive step toward this challenging task.

Shooting the Sunrise

I woke up at 5 am and called Abdullah. He was up and getting ready too. I got ready, and he picked up a friend of his then me. By about 5:30am, we were just past Mehran University, off a dirt road with some rocky hills. As fate would have it, the direction the sun was rising from was where all the buildings we had left behind stood.My other still camera had been stolen, which had some nice time lapse features which I had planned to use for the sunrise. The cheaper, used replacement I had picked up also turned out to have a time lapse option. I had gone through all the buttons and settings of the camera the day before to prepare. I set it up just behind a hill to capture the sunrise. I ended up moving it 3 times as we figured out the exact location of the sun.Meanwhile, I took my other camera and shot footage of rocks, shrubs, and other details. This is all for one of the scenes in “Risalo”. As I did all of this, my two friends were chatting, giving suggestions where they could help and watching curiously. I explained a bit if what I was trying to do as I fiddled around, up and down hills. Off in the distance we were being serenaded by relentlessly barking dogs from small tent settlements. They were warning us to stay away from the livestock under their protection. We kept an eye on them too, because we really did not want them to visit.The sun began to rise around 6am. I shot lots of bits of footage based on what I had storyboarded and also based on what was in front of me. Afterwards, we dropped off Abdullah’s friend, and my gear. Then we head to Javaid Solangi’s place for breakfast. I got to meet Javaid’s father, but Javaid, famous for his ability to sleep through anything was not able to wake up. That was fine, Abdullah and I were tired too. We enjoyed some breakfast and tea, before he dropped me back at the hostel.I tried to sleep, but could not. Instead, I just lay down to rest and fiddled a bit with the footage I had shot before and what I had shot that day. I spent the day, relaxing in the heat, working on bits, resting and biding time.I spent the day finishing a few more puppet designs. It took a lot of drawing, reference gathering and redrawing, but I needed to finish these designs to send off to Rajesh in Udaipur to get made. He had sent me some photos of puppets he had, amongst which I could get a few background characters I needed, but the main characters needed to be custom made to my designs.That night, as every saturday night, the amazing hostel cooks were off. These guys work very hard, and I look forward to each meal thanks to them. I called in an order to a little fast food place, then studied a book I had picked up on various Sindhi musical instruments. The food arrived, and I ate my zinger (the word for all chicken burgers here it seems) with fries and a little can of mirinda (orange soda).

Designing in the heat

Mehar or Mahiwal puppet design in Uzbek clothing.

I spent the day working on some more puppet designs to send to Rajesh, the puppeteer in Udaipur, Rajasthan, across the border in India. It’s hot here, so I work for a bit, drink lots of water, take a nap and repeat to get through the day. By evening, I was good and ready to sleep or so I thought. I ended up staying up late.Abdullah had graciously agreed to take me out to some area where I could shoot some video of the landscape during a sunrise early in the morning, without all the trash that people have defiled this land with in more inhabited areas of Jamshoro. I tried to sleep around 9pm, but ended up falling asleep just after 1 am.

Meeting Mehboob Ali Shah

I went back to Sindhology, and was requested to pick out the tapes I would like to hear from the register. I was asked if I can read the register in Urdu and at times Sindhi. I could, even the Sindhi enough to pick out names of artists. I had been looking at tape covers to figure out which had female singers, but these tapes are a treasure and impossible to purchase these days. People have been known to lift selections and so you are not allowed to directly access the collection. Instead, you pick out tapes from the register and go from there.I went through the register and picked out every female sounding name I could find from the remaining collection as well as a few that were specifically tapes on Shah Latif’s poetry. I was struck by how few tapes there were with his poetry.It was a bit tiring to listen to portions of each of these tapes I selected, but I felt I needed to hear as much of what has been done before as I can, to properly play with the material. Most of these singers had long passed on or were probably far too aged to perform at this point, so I really could not look to this collection for contemporary artists. However, the music of that era, when the public better supported their artists was also something I could not find today, and in it a richer variety of Sindhi music than could be seen in current CDs.I finished up, then head back to the hostel. I called Mehboob Ali Shah sahib, whom Zulfikar Ali Gopang sahib had recommended I speak to regarding Shah Latif’s poetry from a Sufi perspective. He agreed to meet me. I called Abdullah, one of the circle members who had been gracious enough to give me time. He too was interested in going, so he picked me up on his motorcycle and away we went.We arrived at Mehboob sahib’s home. The gate was open. On motorcycle, we stood outside and a man invited us to enter. Inside was an open sitting area. The sun was setting. Mehboob Ali Shah sahib came out to greet us and we sat and spoke. With each meeting, though there is a task to be finished which has brought me there, I do not want the interaction to be just focused on getting things done. I would lose a great deal if I did not take the time to share a bit of what I am there for, but then listen to whatever is being offered.I decided that we could focus on sur Sorath, the story of Bijal the musician and Raja Rai Diyach, the king who had everything monetary but no peace or happiness. This way, with each expert I met, we could try and tackle different sections of the material, in the hopes that it could be pieced together with all of this generous support.Mehboob Ali Shah sahib is the son of another revered local poet and scholar named Sardar Ahmed Shah Lakyari, who has a tomb in Saeedabad. He too was devoted to the verse of Shah Latif. He studied it and shared its vast richness while also writing his own poetry. His son, now older as well carried on that tradition. Such was their devotion, not to some mythical figure of what Shah Latif might be, but to the true essence of the words that have brought many to revere him.Before discussing sur Sorath, Mehboob sahib shared an introduction of Shah Latif’s poetry, to sort of set the stage and context of what it was that we were discussing. He shared a beautiful quote regarding Shah’s own thoughts on his verse which mentioned that this was not poetry, but ayats (scripture) to bring your heart closer to the beloved.He also spoke of how the verses themselves were written by Latif according to his own spiritual needs. They were there for any who found value in them and were given freely for those who wished to apply them for themselves, or discard them to keep seeking whatever it was that they needed. The point being, that there was no ego regarding the necessity of everyone to follow what Shah Latif needed for his life. These verses were needed by him to navigate his life and but there was no compulsion or expectation that others need follow him.I also heard views on the selection of folk stories as a vehicle to sharing Shah Latif’s thoughts. Mehboob sahib said that he selected stories based on various criteria. Partly based on where he had travelled and also based on how that story contained the elements needed to convey his thoughts. Sorath, he shared was about asking or begging for that which one needs. This became a perfect vehicle for Shah Latif to express that dynamic between asker and receiver and how the roles are often reversed.He went on to share some beautiful chosen verses, which he read in Sindhi, then graciously translated into Urdu for my benefit. It turned out that several of those verses were among ones I had chosen and so I was able to find the original verses to several that I had chosen for my script.The whole time, there was a peace about the whole discussion. Mehboob sahib has a rich voice and he has a way of conveying the depth of what he is sharing through stories and examples that become easy to understand. This is how he deconstructs Shah Latif’s verses, to offer even a non Sindhi speaker such as myself, a taste of the beauty therein.I was struck by his sagacity. His adorable grandson was there with us. He was probably almost a year old, walking about and starting to speak in his own baby language. Mehboob sahib woud be in the middle of discussing a deep point, when the little one would stumble into his lap or ask a question. It was heartwarming to see how Mehboob sahib turned to the child with such love, to answer his question or acknowledge his presence and give him some love before going right back to sharing the depths of philosophy and poetry. To me, this seemed to exemplify the application of what was contained in Shah Latif’s verses.He shared such a wealth of knowledge with Abdullah and I. It was dark and we had been pouring over books with flashlights for most of the session. After several hours of sharing, we said thanks and goodbye as we head out.We rode back to Javaid Solangi and some of his friends. I was kind of floating on the appreciation of both Shafqat Qadri sahib and Mehboob Ali Shah sahib’s sharing of their wealth of knowledge with me on Shah Latif and his poetry. These moments help keep me pushing to get this project made.After some time hanging out with Javaid, Abdullah and some other friends of theirs, they insisted on making sure I had some food before they dropped me off. We grabbed some food, then I was dropped to my hostel.

Audio Tapes at Sindhology

I went back to Sindhology with my new tape player in hand and spent the morning sifting through 30+ year old audio tapes, focusing on female singers and noting down the qualities of each voice. The beauty of many of these recordings for me lies in the complex layering of acoustic instruments with so much variety and beauty.The singers voices vary, but I was struck by the lack of emotional resonance in delivery of poetry. What I mean is that while the voices are beautiful and interesting and rich in variety, the bit that I most looking for was missing for my purposes with my film “Risalo”. The tone of voices was mostly consistent, rather than emphasizing particular words and emotions. There was almost no one who even sang Shah Latif’s poetry. I am told that the Sindhi of Shah Latif is difficult even for native Sindhi speakers. The language is old, with usage of many terms that may be unknown to most today, and yet rich with depth and meaning. Few singers can even begin to present this richness in their voices.I went through a more than half the collection in this session. I’ll return for more. I stopped at lunch time, to go eat some food at the hostel, rest and work on drawings for other aspects of “Risalo”.Zulfikar sahib had suggested another person I should meet who was an expert on Shah Latif’s poetry, but came to it from a Sufi background instead of the more academic background of others who were helping me. Each was invaluable in their insights and help, but each also had the potential to offer varying points of view which are invaluable.I spent the evening with some students from the study circle who graciously gave me time. It was good to have a break from my own mind.

Hisam to the rescue

Beautiful Alam in Hyderabad

Camels in Hyder Chowk

So, I've been struggling to find people who are experts on Shah Latif's poetry, who can help me get the original Sindhi verses for the Urdu translated ones I am working from. Each Sindhi edition is different and so the task requires someone who really knows it well.My friend Hisam took me over to the Sindhi department in the University. I had looked up the outdated page for the department online to find possible contacts. It turns out that he knows people there, so we head there to talk to them.I'm always humbled by how nice people are and encouraging towards the work that I am doing, and willing to help, despite being very busy. I got some info on an original Sindhi edition of the Shah Jo Risalo that might better match the translation I am working from. Cacca sahib even checked out a copy from the library in his name to let me try it out.I also dropped off a few sheets of the script to the head of the department who kindly offered to have a look. I would love to take care of this myself, but really, I can't do this without the help of all of these generous people, who so love Shah Latif that they are willing to take time out of busy schedules to help me with a project to promote his work.That whole process just made me feel a lot better after the past week. Afterwards, I visited the fine arts department, where I had taught about a month ago. It was nice to see the students and faculty friends. Hisam's brother got me from there and I dropped off a few things in my room before heading with him to the paathak, where I catch the bus for the city (Hyderabad). I went along the bumpy bus ride to the city, then got off where I needed to catch a rickshaw to get to the Sindhi Adabi Board bookshop. Everywhere I go, people offer tea or sodas, so I end up drinking quite a bit of both. I looked at the books, picked a few out then sat down to talk to one of the people at the shop. I found a copy of the book I had gotten from the professer at the Sindhi department, so I picked it up. I also grabbed a book of Urdu translations of another famous Sindhi poet named Sachal Sarmast as well as a book on Sindhi folk musical instruments.We had some tea and chat for a while, before I head down the street to find a tape player. Along the way, I stopped at the Oxford bookstore. I am always surprised at the amount that prices are discounted at the publisher stores. It makes these great books very affordable.I made my way to a mess of electronics shops. I kept asking people for tape players and they directed me all over. Finally I found one, but I really did not like the shop people, so I kept walking. Eventually, I found it at a few other places down the road, and picked it up from a spot where the people were eating their lunch. I had a funny chat with an eccentric old man and the shopkeepers while they ate. It gave me a chance to sit and rest a moment. Then they showed me the tape player. There are not that many options, so I went ahead and bought it.For musicians, I still need to figure out the female voices I need to reach out to, and listening to the tapes in the audio library seemed to be my best bet at finding the voices I wanted. Since they don't have a working tape player, I picked one up.From there, I walked further to say hello to my friend Majeed Sumroo at his office. He was just about to head out when I saw him at the entrance of his building. He insisted that we grab some tea or soda, so we went over to a shop, sat down, enjoyed a couple of sodas and caught up. It is always great to see him.From there, I said hello to the poet/book seller nearby, then hopped on the bus to get back to Jamshoro. I even saw some camels right before the bus arrived. On the bus, I ran into a guy who works at the hostel general store. We caught up a bit, then decided to hop off and take the University bus the rest of the way, as it would take us to the hostel doorstep.I got back, then head over to the weekly Shah Latif circle. We waited for our scholar friend Shafqat Qadri to drop by and lead the discussion. I did not understand 90% of it as it is in Sindhi, but it is a cool thing. I just sat and read my Urdu translation. Afterwards, I grabbed some dinner, then Shafqat sahib opened up his mind and vast knowledge to me and we sat until 3am finding the Sindhi verses that correspond to the Urdu ones I chose. We managed to get through about half of one of the stories. He used 4 or 5 different copies of the Shah Jo Risalo, and combed through the text meticulously to find the best match. I could not ask for better help in this task. He also pointed out some other beautiful verses along the way, including some fantastic ones that were not included in Sheikh Ayaz's Urdu translation that I read.The boost of progress did wonders.

Second visit to Sindhology Audio Archives

This time, I got to check out the DVDs and CDs that had been gifted to the archive. Many were from the Indian Sindhi community. It was interesting to see a glimpse of Sindhi culture from India and around the world, but there was not much in the way of music that could be relevant to my film.All the real folk music I have seen is still very much here in Sindh. Things I have seen and listened to from Sindhis outside of Sindh tend to be pop and never up to the quality of what I see here, except for some folk musicians in Rajasthan and Gujrat who also sing Sindhi music.I just don't see the appeal of a lot of the watered down pop singers when you can support the real deal.Since the library collection consists mostly of audio cassettes and records, I need to buy a tape player as the institution does not have a working tape or record player apparently.Oh, the hoops...

Visit to Sindhology Audio Library

I visited the audio archives at Sindhology. I did not get to hear anything in the collection. I’m not sure why. I mentioned it several times while there, but nothing seemed to happen. Instead, I shared the recordings I had been studying on my laptop and learned a bit more about each of the musicians I had already chosen.The rest of the day was spent drawing and looking for people who might be able to help with the Sindhi script which involves taking the Urdu translated verses and finding the corresponding original Sindhi verses of Shah Latif’s poetry.Photos of my room...

Biding time

Sometimes you find beauty in the simplest places. Here in the hostel I am staying at, someone placed these pink, translucent flowers in a spot in the grill with beautiful results.Just biding my time, doing some drawing and planning for next steps on “Risalo”. Reaching out to people for help with the Sindhi script.

I went and spent some time with the super talented Najib Rashdi. It was fun talking art and eating some delicious watermelon. Perfect for a hot day.

Bystander at the Ludo Championship

I listened to the rest of my music collection and noted down the best voices I found. There is no lack of musical talent in Sindh. The various traditions are rich and beautiful.I spent the day contacting friends to see if they knew of other people that might be able to help Javaid Solangi and I work out the Sindhi verses for the script for “Risalo”. There are some possibilities, but I really need to keep things moving.I spent the afternoon at Shahid sahib’s home and caught the guys playing a game of Ludo. I hung out and mostly talked to Javaid. It was a welcome respite from being holed up in the dorm room with my own thoughts.Just before sunset, I walked back to the dorm to write down a few musicians’ names. Tonight is quite a bit hotter than the night before. I think I will listen to some music to take me away from here for a bit and slather on some wonderfully poisonous Mospel.

Last workshop at CEAD

I taught the last session of my classes at CEAD. The students wanted me to stay another week, but this is it for now.Afterwards, I hung out at the dorm and started listening to my Sindhi music collection to find voices that I feel could fit well with the sections of “Risalo”. Some voices seemed to clean, others to muddled. While each of the voices is beautiful, I want to find voices that have the rich texture that only folk music has, while maintaining the emotional impact of the poetry and also making sure it works on an audio basis even for people who can’t understand the words for longer sections of poetry.It felt good to listen to such rich voices. I wrote down names and possible Surs (chapters) that could go well with them.

hanging in there

Another day, another class taught. I came back and did some work, waiting, hoping to hear news of this other Latif poetry expert who might be able to help transcribe the original Sindhi verses based on the Urdu translations I selected.Shahid sahib picked me up and we head to a spot to shoot the sunset. I need some sunrise and sunset footage of landscapes here, but without the insane amounts of trash and plastic bags littering every inch of land. For that, we had to drive a bit away. We both took cameras. It was fun to get out to one of the not quite developed spots. Soon it too will be covered in plastic bags.For now, I found some spots where I could capture the stones and sand hills. It was fun to just get out and do something as opposed to struggle and fail. Though I have allotted time for this work, the time is not meant to be spent just waiting and not doing work. The more I wait, the less time remains to do the actual work. I am trying my best to use the time as best as I can.Afterwards we grabbed some faluda ice cream, which makes me happy. We had some dinner at his place afterwards along with Javaid Solangi. It was good to just hang out and feel like a human being instead of feeling like I am in limbo.

typing woes

Shahid sahib picked me up early for class, and I ended up figuring out the Sindhi keyboard issue before my class began. Things were looking up. I got Solangi sahib’s phone number.There was a weekly meeting and discussion on Shah Latif’s poetry at Shahid sahib’s place, in the evening so I head there. I understood the first part of the discussion in Sindhi, but once we started on the passage of the day, I was completely lost, so I just read my Urdu translation to myself and bided my time.At the end we all said goodbye, then Solangi sahib and I went inside to start typing. I thought this would be great. We could more or less paste passages, relieving Solangi sahib of a lot of the tedious work. Once we got started though, we hit many more road blocks. For one, each addition of the poetry includes and excludes different Surs (chapters), so we found a pdf version with the chapter we needed.Then we noticed that there were different numbers of verses and a different order. This is apparently common. So how do you find the corresponding verses? The original Sindhi language is old and challenging for people today. The Urdu verses are a poetic translation of the meaning. We spent hours trying to find the first verse. I really appreciate the enormous help, but I also felt very disheartened at how difficult each step is. We could not find it, but Solangi sahib called an expert friend who knows the verses and is familiar with this translation. That he offered to give us two hours of his time the next day, was hugely generous. That Solangi sahib is still undeterred and willing to trudge on with this is also incredibly kind. Everyone is busy with their lives and responsibilities. Who am I to come here with my weird projects, and yet people help me.I had already spent two months on finding puppeteers. The only reason it took so long, is because my first puppeteer contact did not want to connect me to any other puppeteers in Multan, so I instead of going there right away, I needed to find another contact. None of the arts organizations that I was able to speak to had any numbers and the one that did, does not give them out. What a mess.I can’t tell you how many leads I have followed. I filled a notebook with contacts and leads trying in every way I could to find puppeteers. Then when I found them, there was the challenge of sifting through people who were real puppeteers, and those just looking to make a bit of money as I was paying people to show their work. There was the whole dance of trying to not get cheated and get the info you need. It was physically and mentally draining, and none of this had to do with the enormous task of adapting the source material, which I had undertaken before even coming here.So, every step of the way, I struggle to make plans and backup plans, and find the right people, with help from so many friends, and yet despite that, I hit so many brick walls along the way. The creative aspect was understandably challenging, but so many of these other steps really should not have taken this long or been this challenging, but that is how my work in Pakistan has been. I am tired of reading the news back in the US, here in Pakistan and around the world about all the horrible tragedies and crimes that make my “suffering” pale in comparison.The puppeteers and Jogis often tell me that their prayers are with me. For that and all the people trying to help, I am endlessly grateful. I couldn’t sleep most of the night, as I weighed options, tried to figure out ways to keep moving forward and reminded myself that this can be done and is worth doing.

woo typing

beautiful painting of Sindhi culture in a University administration buidling.

Second day of class, was not so impressive. The students are not particularly good at drawing and don’t seem to be interested in working to improve on it. They seem interested enough in the work I present, but art isn’t something you listen to and absorb, you listen and apply it.My job is to teach, so regardless of their effort or output, I give it my best. You never know where someone might catch hold of an idea and leverage it in the future, so I would rather not count anyone out.Unfortunately, whenever I teach, I end up getting roped into longer sessions that make it impossible to do other tasks during that time. I wanted to teach from 9am to 11am so I could go to the Sindhology research library every day for research, before it closed at 3pm daily to find musicians and musical styles for my film. What ended up happening is that I teach from 10:30am to 2pm and get back around 3pm due to lunch in between and how slow the students are to knock out a few sketches. This is how the weeks go by.That evening, I was trying to get ahold of Shahid as we were supposed to meet at his place down the street in the evening to work with his friend on Sindhi typing. I tried for hours with no response. I walked to his home and he was not there.Finally, I gave up disheartened, and sat down for dinner. Just as I was finishing dinner, his friend Javed Solangi came looking for me. I felt very grateful. We went over to Shahid sahib’s place and started working.There were many technical issues. I was searching for a Sindhi language keyboard install for Mac. We managed to find some PDF files of the Sindhi text. We were hoping to copy and past as much of the verses we needed as possible as typing with all the pronunciation etc is laborious and very time consuming, but there were issues in pasting and I could not find the keyboard.Solangi sahib was typing away on a PC and cross referencing the Sindhi book I bought for the short intro of the film. He kept at it, as I tried to get things going on my mac as pasting seemed to work better on it, but I needed additional Sindhi characters that are not in Urdu.Hours went by, and it was time to go home and sleep. He finished the first Sur or chapter, then dropped me home. We did find a Mac install, but it would need some additional troubleshooting which I would try in the morning.

First day of class at CEAD

CEAD truck art inspired benches

paperwork

I started my first day of workshops at CEAD. Shahid sahib picked me up and we were off. The class was filled with 3rd and 4th year students. There is a lot of beautiful art in the courtyard, created by students, including these truck art themed benches. I gave the usual intro to my work, and process behind my short film, along with suggestions on how to use local culture to support it, and present it in new ways in your work to set yourself apart. As usual, students are pretty unresponsive in the beginning, which makes it a bit of an uphill battle to get through the class.You just have to trust that you are giving them something useful. I assigned some character designs for homework, then met the VC and with Shahid visited a friend of his who was interested in what I was doing and willing to help me transcribe the original Sindhi verses that correspond to what I had put together based on the Urdu translation of Shah Jo Risalo for my film “Risalo”.I went home and rested.