After a delicious breakfast with my friends Azam and Zareen and their little ones, we head to the Fine Arts Department at Bahauddin Zakaria University. It was interesting to walk around and see the class rooms and students. I saw students working in clay. These campuses are a huge blessing. Progress is hampered largely by a culture of deeply rooted corruption that keeps institutions from reaching their potential. As always, while walking down the corridors of institutions, I don’t see the damaged buildings or lack of electricity and polish so much. I mean, it is there, but what I really see is that there are large buildings, with a lot of space and institutions with the ability to pay bills, teacher salaries, connected to a network of institutions around the country. So much could be done, if people were not so corrupt and intent on not allowing others to get ahead.That system keeps the people who are struggling to make things better from being able to make the progress needed.From there we head to the Multan Design College across the street, and I grabbed a rickshaw to head to the Siyal Hotel, a little dhaba by the Eid Gah, where Khursheid lives. We had agreed to meet there to figure out how to proceed with getting puppeteers. He had visited different areas in Multan where the puppeteers, who are all related live and called some people in other areas to help me find puppeteers prior to my arrival. Over the phone, I had requested that he get people that are the best puppet performers, as well as good people that we could actually work with. These puppeteers are living in very difficult conditions. They collect recycling, sell eggs, or keep a goat or two all year round to sell during Eid season. They get called for shows now and then, but it is not often. I can’t even imagine the cut throat existence that exists in their world after seeing what salaried, educated people are willing to do to get ahead.Therefore, I have a heavy set of challenges to deal with. These puppeteers are not going to be at the skill level of the ones in India who are performing on a regular basis and have exposure to international puppeteers who visit. Yet I have seen that they are capable performers, and if they can take direction and we can work together, then we can make this puppet film; “Risalo”, happen.So I went to see Khursheid, and as it turned out, he had three of the puppeteers in tow with him. That was great. I got to see Jamil Hussein again, and met Muhammed Ishaaq and Abdul Hakim. I had tried to find Abdul Kakim before. Khurshid took me to the tent slum that his family lives in when I was here back in March. He was away, in a rough part of Karachi called Lalukhait, collecting recycling. I saw some of his photo albums and some wood puppet heads he had carved as well as a couple of beautiful puppets he had made, many years ago. Later, while in Karachi, I had tried to search for him again, thanks to the help of some truck artist friends. I was not able to meet him then either and just met his son there.He, as far as I have been able to find out, is the last puppet maker in Pakistan in this Rajasthani tradition. No one has learned from him, because what good is a skill that can’t put food in your belly? At that time, I knew that I could not expect that he would be able to create the main characters for the film. I ended up getting those made by Puran Bhatt in Delhi and then selected premade puppets from Rajesh Gurjargour in Udaipur, Rajasthan. I could not go to India, but my wife was able to bring them for me.So here he was, sitting at this table, a quiet older man along with some more worn, emaciated puppeteers. I was nervous coming in, because it is hard to wrangle people and an entire production.We talked about what I was trying to do, what they had done prior and what we could do together. I appreciated that Khursheid had discussed the project and myself with them already. They stuck to providing reassurance as to why they were qualified to do this work. To me, that is a very good sign. Without my even asking, they shared examples of how they had created puppet performances for the Health Department, with changes to their routine to reflect the script they had provided. They talked about these projects and displayed an understanding and strong desire to do the work. They didn’t play any kind of angle, sizing me up or trying to talk themselves up while talking someone else down. Those are strong warning signs that I have had to deal with a great deal with others.So we shared some tea in a little dhaba. They would not let me pay for it. We decided that holding auditions in the slum would be very challenging as we would be in a sense mobbed by people pulling out their old puppets, trying to fight their way in, without actually being trained performers. This happened when I came to scout puppeteers back in March, so I know it was true. We agreed to meet the next day at the design college. They would bring some of their puppets and I would bring the four I packed in my suitcase, and we could try this out.I head back to the design college, feeling good that at least in conversation, they were good. I want to benefit them, and when we create something beautiful together, we can all rise together.