KARACHI, June 15 With slow but readily audible chants, rhythmic drumbeats, and gathering around a pond inhabited by crocodiles to feed them their offerings, the Sheedi community spent the penultimate day of the four-day annual festival — known as the Sheedi Mela — outside the Manghopir shrine on Tuesday with the same spiritual zeal that's been its hallmark for centuries. The four days are divided among the four groups of the community - Kharadar, Lasi, Hyderabadi and Belara. On the third day the Hyderabadis performed their rituals and began by assembling at one of the places with their drums, not far from the pond, and sacrificed a pair of goats. Then the blood from the slaughtered goats was lightly smeared on the drums and the baithak (a niche built into a small structure where lamps are lit). This was followed by the burning of incense and some men and women sitting in a circle, drinking a certain concoction called thadal from a bowl with a danda (stick that had a bunch of flowers on top) in their hands. Once every member of the group was finished with the drinking, they stood up, again holding on to their drums beating them loudly and chanting in unison. The group was then joined by young girls and boys, with the colourfully dressed girls leading the procession.

The procession moving at a leisurely pace covered the little distance to the pond in about half an hour. As it headed towards the crocodiles, more people joined it, all of them were barefoot, walking, chanting and dancing completely oblivious to the sun beating down on them. The dance is known as the sheedhi dhamal and is marked by slow, measured steps to the slowly increasing tempo of the magarman and chun chun (drums). Upon reaching the pond, some people stayed under the tent put up outside the pond and some walked up to the placid waters where the crocodiles lay dormant.

At that moment many climbed the boundary walls of the pond and quite a lot stood near the fence around the aquatic reptiles. Then the real ceremony was performed when Mor Sahib, the 100-year-old crocodile was garlanded and fed halva and meat, as the highpoint of the day's festivities.

“The crocodiles were gifted to Sakhi Sultan by Baba Farid Shakar Ganj some 750 years ago. They were known as Baba Farid kay sar ki jooein (lice from Baba Farid's scalp),” says Khalifa Sajjad who takes care of the reptiles and feeds them without a semblance of fear in his eyes. He has this strange method of creating ripples in the water through a stick inviting the crocodiles to appear on the surface so that they could be garlanded and fed. “My ancestors did this for ages; I've inherited this service.”

According to Sajjad, the crocodiles have mystical powers, and they grant wishes to/of those who come here with a myriad of problems. “No one returns empty-handed from here. People here believe that if they don't hold the festival on an annual basis, they'll be hounded by predicaments. So every year during our children's summer holidays, we organise the festival.“In our tradition, when a wish is granted we treat the crocodiles to halva and gosht,” says Sajjad.

Over the years, the Sheedi Mela has gained tremendous popularity, which is why the media, international and local, gives it due coverage. This year is no different, which irked one of the ardent devotees, Mehrunnisa, no end when she saw some media persons thronging the pond with their shoes on. “Why are you here with the shoes on? Why can't you people (the Sheedis) discipline them? We work hard ever year for this, and now Mor Sahib has disappeared into the water,” she fumed.

But the king crocodile didn't disappoint her for long and resurfaced.

In the tent the drums kept playing and devotees kept dancing. Once the crocodile was fed by the important members of the community, the procession returned to and terminated where it had originated in the same leisurely way.

Not too far from the pond, there's a sulphur geyser gushing through sulphur rocks. It is believed that its water has powers to cure many a skin disease.