In what seems a hazy past now...(it seems in days when Karachi used to be safe city)....Dervish remembers shops in front of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine....selling flowers, and chaddars and the myriad other knick knacks that are an essential part of any dargah in Indo Pak....there used to be rickety columns of "daighs" trying to reach for the skies tempting with food being cooked and distributed to the people by the roadside...
But these essential landmarks of a Dargah were conspicuous by their very absence when Dervish visited the Mazar during the Urs. Hazrat's Mazar although a peaceful haven lacked the the hustle bustle of a mazar bazaar and the familiar ring of a malangs bangles and cry of Haq Allah Hoo.
Dervish couldn't help but investigate what happened to the bazaar and was told that the shops are now tucked into the lane next to the Mazar and sure enough if you walk into the dimly lit lane next to the Mazar there is a gate leading to shops (within the Mazar grounds but with no access from within the Mazar...or maybe thats the way it was during the Urs).
Hoping to find shops selling the usual paraphernalia...and life...Dervish met with disappointment.
Sure there were shops...but the majority of them were selling food...or daighs for langar. There were a few shops selling regular knick knacks and plastic jewelry and other cheap jewelry available all over the city. There was nothing specific set these shops apart as Mazar shops.
Why would be Dervish interested in Mazar shops would be the natural question to ask. In the hope that there would be some individuality left in the shadow of the shrine. That the consumerism and commercialism so evident all over the world would not have reared its head here as well. Not so. There was nothing different in these shops.
And then Dervish saw something that set these shops apart. The shell picture frames being sold in some of these shops had very interesting pictures in them. Ones that Dervish had never before seen.
These were an artists interpretation of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai and Hazrat Suman Sarkar.
So there was some hope yet...some hope for retaining the individuality and the diversity that one normally finds in these small pockets that are so much a part of any big city. And the disappointment that Dervish had felt at the "I Miss You" wristbands being sold at the Mazar bazar was somewhat alleviated.
It also signified that for some people out there these three personalities...Lal Shahbaz he for whom the dhamal is danced on Dama Dam Mast Qalandar on a regular basis (not only at spiritual occasions but also at not so spiritual ones)...Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai with his universal message of love...still hold sway. Dervish has heard about Hazrat Suman Sarkar but does not know much about him. The fact remains, that if people continue to revere these personalities and their teachings of love for all and equality, irrespective of color, creed or religion, than the world and this region will surely be a better place and peace will reign supreme.
Apart from the few shops selling knick knacks, you can buy daighs of Biryani to give to the poor...but here again the commercialism is at work...the price you pay to the shop keeper does not include the price of the plastic bags...the people who get the food have to buy their own plastic bags from the plastic bag sellers who are roaming around selling their wares.
The shop keepers said that generally business is slow and generally the place had a sad feel of a rejected forgotten place..very different from the main Dargah.
Perhaps it is different during normal days when the security does not control the ingress to the Mazar and it is easier for the populace to have access to the Bazar, but Dervish wonders that even during the normal days what kind of business would the shopkeepers other than the ones who sell food would be doing.
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