Ustad Shafi Faqir

The next day, one of Juman sahib’s sons, Mohammed Sugarr, who is a talented singer, kindly took me to his music teacher, Ustad Shafi Faqir. While waiting at his music space, I met some other musicians and students. I spent the day there, waiting, listening to practice, drinking tea, ate lunch, and also got to enjoy Ustad Shafi Faqir perform several pieces. He spoke to me at length regarding the subject material “Risalo” is based on, namely the poetry of Shah Latif and in particular the musical component to it. He also shared a lot about himself and his music. Again, the conversation began with, no knowledge of puppeteers and ended with that as well.I wished that I had more information from Fatah sahib, but heard nothing. The friends in Umerkot were all graciously asking around on my behalf. It was tiring, in the desert heat. The town is small, but is a rarity in Pakistan, with a Hindu majority population. There are still many muslims living there as well, but the positive relationship amongst the people there was really heartening. The hospitality on the part of my hosts and everyone I visited was humbling as well.Sugarr sahib took me to see the local fort and then a small monument to the birthplace of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. We visited a printer friend, Shakil sahib and a barber shop. People were very kind in calling their contacts to try and track some information down regarding puppeteers, but none recalled seeing any.I spent the night back at Juman sahibs’. The room I was outside of is kind of a club for the community, with people living in homes at some distance behind. This keeps the privacy of the community and allows guests like myself to hang out in front. I must have had some bad water or something, because my stomach was a mess all night. I suffered pretty bad.