Mirza Ghalib had once suggested that he would like a Brahmin to be buried in Ka’aba. His wish would never come true, neither during his lifetime nor after his death, because non-Muslims are not even allowed to step into the holy city of Makkah, where the Ka’aba is located. The possibility of their interment there is completely out of question.

I don’t know whether or not the Lund Baloch tribes of Mirpur Khas have read Ghalib, but they have partially fulfilled his wish by burying a Brahmin in their Imambargah, if not in the Ka’aba. Though, by then the Brahmin in question had embraced Islam. Still, the Muslims living in the area had objected to the burial of a Muslim convert in the vicinity of the Imambargah and a shrine.

The tale of their opposition to such a burial is rather long, but I will recap it here as briefly as possible so that you get a complete picture.

In Mirpur Khas’ Na’ai Parra, (Barbers' Quarters), a young man named Sukh Dev used to live with his family. The family would regularly pray at the Hindu temple near their home. Less than a stone's throw away from the temple stood a Muslim shrine and an Imambargah.

After the Partition, Sukh Dev migrated to India with his elder brother. But yearning for his birthplace, he soon returned to Mirpur Khas to take up residence in the Barbers’ Quarters.

In the Barber's quarters, Sukh Dev's ancient temple stood as a desolate building. But is still continued to receive visitors and hosted small religious congregations during the month of Muharram.

Sukh Dev’s ancient temple, in these quarters, was a desolate place now, but the shrine still received visitors and during the month of Muharram hosted small religious congregations.

Today, the temple serves as a permanent refuge for Muslims who had migrated from India. It goes to their credit that they did not alter the structure of the building; the plaque fixed above the central door has never been vandalised. But approximately three thousand square yards of land surrounding the structure have been appropriated to build houses for Muslims.

When two of my friends Wahid Pahilwani and Imran Shaikh and I were taking photographs of the temple, a young man approached us, and said softly, “Bro, this is merely a figure of temple; no one prays here. You can take as much photos as you like, but we have the documents. We won’t leave this place.” However, he was kind hearted enough to not to dissuade us from taking pictures.

I have already said that this temple is located in the Barber Quarters of Mirpur Khas. Sukh Dev’s grave, here, is frequented by devotees as it is next to the Imambargah and the Shrine of Aarib Shah Bukhari. Daily, a large number of people visit the shrine for votive prayers and, after their prayers are granted, for votive offerings.

In the past few decades, several moves to rename the Barbers’ Quarters have been thwarted by a group of Hindus still living in the area. The Barber Quarters is populated by Hindus as well as Sunni and Shiite Muslims. When Sunni Muslim tried to rename it as “Faisal Town”, the Shiite populatation rechristened it as “Abbas Town”. However, this sectarianism led to nowhere; the Barbers’ Quarters are still referred to by their original name: “Na’ai Parra”.

The background story to this unsavory name of Barbers’ Quarters would sound both bizarre and interesting to many readers. Before the Partition, majority of people living in this area were Hindus, and they were almost all hairdressers by profession. Since Muslims constituted the largest section of population in the city and since the rulers were also from the Mir dynasty of Sindh, the Hindus barbers, willingly or unwillingly, would attend to the circumcision of Muslim male children. Circumcision is a Muslim religious rite of passage. But Hindu barbers, perhaps, acted business mindedly, without giving it a religious bent. (Eds Note: at the time local barbers, in Pakistan, would perform a number of duties. Besides, working as hairdressers they would circumcise Muslim male children.)

After the Partition of India, the Hindu barbers living in the Barbers’ Quarters migrated to India. Muslims from the other side of the newly created borders were migrating to Pakistan and Mirpur Khas would be their first destination. Here, most of the barbershops had been abandoned. Members of the Shaikh Community, who had just arrived from India, would take up employment with the few Hindus barbers still living in the city, and begin to learn from them their craft. With a rise in communal tension, most of the few Hindu barbers who had decided to stay would leave the Barbers’ Quarters, but not before they had transferred their skills to Muslim Shaikhs. Hence, the Shaikhs in Mirpur Khas were given a new identity.

Today, these Muslim Shaikhs own barbershops in and around the Baber Quarters. Although Haji Zafar sahib of this community has served as Nazim (Mayor) of the city and his family is still active in the local politics, his detractors, instead of discussing his performance as politician, continue to denigrate his community on the basis of their new identity, calling them barbers.

Forgive me for the digressions, and let’s get back to our original topic, which is the sepulcher of a Brahmin. In my book, Teesri Jins: Khwaja Saraon ki Ma’ashrat Ka Ayke Mutalia (The Third Gender: A Study on the lives of Transgenders) I have narrated an account of hospitality offered by Balouch’s of Mirpur Khas to a transgender man. This transgender was Sukh Dev. He was born to a Hindu Brahmin family but later he converted to Islam and adopted an Islamic name, Abdullah. Since Abdullah was very a beautiful person, local people gave him a feminine nickname, Sohni. Gradually, the name evolved into “Sohni Faqeer” (Sohni the mendicant).

Sohni was six feet tall, with fair complexion, broad forehead, and big eyes, which always exuberated with kindness. Sohni was a compassionate person, who loved children and whom many people would now refer to with feminine third person pronoun: she. Many of childless women would come to her to get scared wristbands and talismans. Women would invite her to ceremonies; whether someone would get married or circumcise his child, Sohni Faqeer was bound to be invited to the ceremony. She would also name all the newborns in the area. Sohni Faqeer would bless everyone.

Shoni Faqeer, née Sukh Dev, showed little interest in the Hindu temple but she took it upon herself to look after the Imambargah and the Shrine of Aarib Shah Bukhari.She would renovate both of the structures and make arrangements for an annual festival; transgenders would cover all the expenditures.

One day, Sohni Faqeer sent for two elders of the Lund Balouch tribe, Chacha Allah Rakhio and Murtaza Lund, requesting a meeting as she was critically ill. The two men told me that after offering prayers they immediately left for her place.

Sohni Faqeer asked them, “Do you think I have served the Imambargah and the Shrine of Aarib Shah Bukhri?”

“The Shrine and Imambargah are maintained by you and the rest of the Khwaja Saras (transgenders),” Rakhio said.

Sohni’s next question would perplex both Rakhio and Murtaza. She said, “Is it possible that I be buried in the vicinity of the Shrine after my death?”

Both men were of the opinion that they needed to consult the Balouch community before promising anything to Sohni.

Two days later, Rakhio was informed that Sohni Faqeer had departed from this ephemeral world. He promptly summoned all the young and old members of the community to inform them about Sohni’s last wish. Everyone agreed that since Sohni had served the shrine, she deserves to be interred there.

Some of the locals protested the decision, albeit mildly, saying that it would be wrong to bury a transgender near a Sufi saint. But Lund Balouchs would overrule them and give Sohni a burial that she had desired. If you visit the Shrine of Aarib Shah Bukhari, you would see devotees heading straight to Sohni’s grave to offer Fatiha, before they enter the main Shrine of Aarib Shah Bukhari and make votive prayers.