Breakfast the next morning with my uncle was great. Meanwhile, my cousin’s little one was hopping around gleefully, watching Kung Fu Panda, which was sweet.We head out, dropped my cousin at his office, then Anwar sahib, his driver, graciously dropped me off in Sadar, at the Culture Department. I was hoping to see my friend Fatah sahib and also pick up a hard to find book that they had published. The book store was locked up and no one knew where the shopkeeper was. My friend was busy in endless meetings, but I managed to say hello.I did not mind sitting in the air conditioned room. I met a new friend named Momin. He also happens to be adapting Shah Latif’s work on Sur Sorath for stage. It was very interesting to discuss how each of us was interpreting the same story and poetry. We ended up going out in search of the shopkeeper. It turned out, he was at the arts council down the street, setting up a stall for a Sindhi culture event. Information really gets lost here.The event was in the evening, but I got to see most of the stalls. I picked up a few ajraks for puppet clothes, and a book of Sindhi poetry by Sachal Sarmast translated into Urdu. Afterwards we hung out for a while, then went back to Fatah sahib at the culture department. I head out to explore some more of Sadar after that.I walked around for hours, checking things out, searching for some books shops on my list. I managed to visit all but one, grab some lunch, sweat profusely and get very tired over the course of several hours. I picked up a few interesting books related to cultures I have not explored literature from yet in Pakistan. It does pay off to visit each of these stores.
I also picked up some lace for a puppet dress. Some of these things, I felt I need to pick out myself and send to the puppet makers, as ajrak is an important symbol of Sindh, so needed to choose the right pattern and I wanted to make sure the lace looked good with it. It was nice to buy the ajrak from the actual artist who made it.I walked back to the culture department, enjoyed the air conditioning and talked to other people waiting there. There are a lot of fascinating people that come there. I made a few calls related to my film. Eventually, my friends Haider Ali and Mumtaz bhai joined me and we sat down with Fatah sahib for a while, before heading out.
We ate some cholay chaat on the way home, which is dangerous for my unaccustomed stomach. I risked it, but avoided the watermelon drink. All of us were tired from a long day of working as we discussed plans and possibilities.