I called Sadar (Khurshid Ali) sahib, the leader and narrator of the group I organized for the show yesterday. We schedueled to meet at 3pm to visit some more puppeteers in the area. I spent time catching up on tasks and running a few errands before heading out to meet him.We head over to where I had met Jameel a couple of days ago. We walked through the tent community, greeted Jameel, then mentioned how I wanted to record him with his puppets for the puppeteer directory I am setting up. As a true performer, he insisted on putting together a small setup for a little performance. He put up the two charpoys with a bamboo rod between and then draped them with sheets and a beautiful cloth with windows cut out for the front.Children from the community were excitedly gathering around as I setup my camera. Jameel demonstrated two dancing puppets. It was interesting to see how some of the puppets had limbs cobbled from dolls and toys. The kids around really enjoyed the puppetry as well. Though this is their community, it was clear that they don’t see this often. Though these master artists are right there, with puppet collections stored in chests, the simple fact that they are not being called often for performances made for an environment whereI feel like I am coming in and getting them to dust of their art and show me the dying embers of their legacy. Yet from the performance yesterday at the design college and these displays in the tent community, it is clear that people have a natural love for this art form and that these performers have the skill to showcase it. Jameel showed me many other beautiful puppets from his collection, and though he said that they can make puppets, it was clear from what I was looking at that they did not. The puppets are old, with chipped paint, in need of a touch up, which they can certainly do once they get some more gigs.
I next met Mohammed Shafi, who at just over 80 is one of the older members of the community. He recalled days gone by when he performed in segments for films such as “Patay Khan” back in the 1950s. It took a bit of coaxing from Sadar sahib to get him to pull out a couple of puppets and showcase them. The children around clearly loved it and he too seemed to perk up a bit once the puppets were in his hands. He performed with a beautiful ball throwing puppet and a dancing puppet. At Jameel’s place, I was shooting the performance with a large cow tied to a stake in the ground, just a few feet behind me. Here, I perched the tripod on a charpoy with throngs of children all around.Next we visited a singer, who performs with her husband who is a puppeteer.. I took down her husbands information so that I could include it in the directory, though he is currently working in Lahore. Each of these groups were very sweet in offering and insisiting that we have a soda. Many of the challenges they face are clear before my eyes, while others are not really said. I don’t pry on these things, because I’m not here to probe about the difficulty of their lives, to write an article on their misery. Instead, I want to showcase their art, and try to connect them to new opportunities. They have no computer or internet access of knowledge. I want to try and be a bridge for them to leverage these tools for their promotion.I left Sadar at his place before it got dark, then head out to the Multan Art Gallery to see Afzaal sahib and meet a friend of his involved in puppetry. My navigation reference was a Pakistani Chinese restaurant, but once i got there, it turned out there are two branches in the area. Afzaal sahib picked me up on his motorcycle and took me to the right one. We sat and chatted oin his beautiful gallery. Since I had the gear on me, I recorded a little video of him and his gallery. I’ll edit and subtitle it to get on here soon.
Waqas Falak sahib joined us at the gallery. He shared some exciting work that he is doing with puppetry with his organization Neengar Society. The held a puppet festival last December and are planning a film festival this year. He is a puppeteer himself, with a focus on modern techniques.It was a lot of fun to compare notes and share experiences. Afterwards we grabbed some delicious Chinese food, then Waqas sahib graciously dropped me off. It is a lot of fun to meet all these people doing interesting artistic work.