Dance is such a leveler, I thought to myself, as the circle of men got wider and bigger with all shades of men joining in the folk dance they called the jhoomer. Age proving no deterrent to participation, barefoot or wearing sandals; in dhoti or shalwar; bearded or clean-shaven, with elaborate paggars (head gear) or without one - the men moved in unison to the beat of the dhol that began slowly and built to a crescendo with the dancers moving along with the rhythm.
The accompanying shehnai spiced up the dhol's beat.
This was outside what was called the chillah gah of sufi saint Khwaja Khursheed-e-Alam, known as Khwaja Ghulam Farid at Jhok Farid, a small village in the wilderness of the Cholistan desert, known locally as Rohi. Shah Farid made Rohi his base where he spent 18 years travelling to various parts of the region, spreading the message of love and peace, but always returning to the desert.
Inside the covered shed, a trio played the qawwali oblivious to the spectators and men went around kunda, a kind of a tree, touching a green cloth probably where the sufi saint sat, with deep reverence.
Less of a spiritual fix, this all-male event, called the Rohi mela is held every year, somewhere in February and is a typical heady Punjabi masala of rural competitiveness and festive fun.
The man behind this marathon of activities is none other than the descendant of Khwaja Farid, Khwaja Kaleemuddin Koreja who is also the executive director of the Khwaja Farid Foundation. The KKF was founded in 2000 and the aim behind holding the festival is to revive the saint's message of tolerance, equality and respect for humanity.
This event is held each year, and has been going on since the past 14 years. Belonging to the Chishti-Nizami Sufi order, Khwaja Ghulam Farid was born in 1845 and died in 1901 at Chachran and buried at Mithankot.
According to Koreja, nearly 50,000 men take to the desert in southern Punjab and enjoy non-stop revelry for three consecutive days with mornings spent watching horse and camel fights, wrestling, kabaddi, motorbike races and the evenings turning into milder celebration and spiritual activity of poetry recitation and qawwali sessions up to the wee hours. Food is free and the villagers sleep under a large marquee.
