I recorded a few bits of performances of sufi siant Hazrat Sachal Sarmast's kalaam (poetry) at his tomb in Daraza Sharif, some 50 kms outside Khairpur Mirs.
A trip to Khairpur cannot be complete without exploring many of its spiritual treasures. Khairpur itself is a calm, quiet city. You can feel the stillness of the air.
The Dating Season
I have heard that this stillness becomes slightly oppressive at around this very time of the year - the hot summers - when the area transforms into a gigantic dates bazaar. In the heat and stillness, dates - the prime agricultural product of Khairpur - come to ripen. Temporary shack cities spring up in the area as pickers and traders come in droves. Many use the by-products of the dates industry - the barks and the gigantic leaves - to make woven baskets, sweepers, and other handcrafted products.
Sufi Music - Live Recording at the Tomb
But I digress. I recorded several bits of music and this one is my favorite. I used an iRiver MP3 player+radio+recorder to capture the music. The night was calm and beautiful, and our small circle sat with their heads one their knees and eyes closed - in a state of absorption. in our group was Sindh's popular activist Amar Sindhu, her faithful friend the gentle-natured Arfana Mallah, my journalist friend Afia, and our kind hosts the Joyos.
The Real Sufi was Standing Up
I shouldn't forget to mention that I went to the tomb to learn more about "sufis." I found that we had a beautiful soul right within our group - the son of the Joyos who stood holding my camera for over an hour while its ever-failing batteries charged. I asked him to leave the camera and the charger in the care of one of the care-takers of the dargah (tomb), but he stood guard. He was known to be the naughtiest of the Joyo boys, and calls himself "dangerious" with that exact spelling... How often do we pass by such people who serve without expectation everyday and never find out what true Allah ke banday they are!
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