KARACHI, Oct 12: If you pass by the Abdullah Shah Ghazi mausoleum during the day, you will find some yellow kurtas fluttering on a makeshift clothes line or spread out on the footpath where a few big men with big dhols or drums also rest.

The scene alters in the evening when the same men, having donned the kurtas, are all ready to be hired by someone or the other for playing the dhol at their function.

“There are also days when we find no clients at all. With our pockets empty we then head to the mazaar to satisfy our growling stomachs and get something to eat at the free food distribution or langar there. Thank God, there are at least three langars a day at the mazaar. We would have starved otherwise,” says Mohammad Irshad, who hails from Vehari but wears a Sindhi cap, which, he says, goes with his yellow kurta.

“We get between Rs2,000 and Rs3,000 to play at a mehndi or shaadi but the payments are better, between Rs4,000 and Rs5,000, if we are required to play at a concert or television show. People from TV morning shows come here often looking to hire us. But since there have to be at least three or four musicians and drum players in a group we have to distribute the amount among ourselves,” he says.

Irshad plays the dhol with Allah Ditta from Okara. The two met right here on the footpath of the mazaar to realise that both had similar interests. “And we found Asghar here also for playing the rattle. He is learning to play the dhol from us, too,” Allah Ditta joins in to introduce the group members before giving a small demonstration of their music.But after playing for just a minute, Irshad gestures to him to stop playing while glancing up at some flats near the roundabout. “Please don’t mind Bibi, we can’t play loud music here. It disturbs the neighbourhood. The people living here frown upon us anyway and if we continue playing for no reason they will pour a bucketful of cold water over us from their windows,” he apologises.

A similarly dressed elderly man sitting with his set of drums on the road divider introduces himself as Pervaiz Jatt Malang. “I live with my family in the colony just behind these houses,” he gestures towards a couple of houses before the Tauheed Commercial Area. For some reason he can’t seem to keep his eyes open or stand steadily on his feet.

“I came here to the mazaar from Punjab as a nine-year-old. Even today, I clean the mazaar during the day and come here in the evenings. These days everyone is busy in Bakr Eid so business for us dhol players is not going very well. But cleaning at the mazaar has its benefits as those putting money on the chador, which they spread at the shrine upstairs later give us the money as khairat,” he says.

“Soon, I will proceed to Lahore along with my family for Data Sahab’s Urs on the 20th of Safar. We earn well during the mela there playing the dhol and gathering charity,” he says.

“It is also a good way of maintaining our instruments, for these drums which we play here are much bigger in size than your regular dholak or tabla. Dhols are not commonly sold here in Sindh. We get them from Punjab,” he adds. About their popular yellow attire, he says, “Well, it is the most common for mehndi and mayoon functions. We also have bright red and crisp white kurtas for accompanying baraats,” he adds.