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.