Pappu Saeen, Shah Jamal...a night to remember..

Since settling in Lahore, one of my cousins had been egging me on to go to Shah Jamal's shrine to listen to Pappu Saaen.

I had seen Pappu Saaen on TV performing with the band Overload so it didn't take me long to agree to the trip. As I was told, Pappu Saeen plays every Thursday night at Shah Jamal's shrine.

So here we were entering Shah Jamal's shrine on Thursday 23rd Aug at around 9:30 pm. We entered a small brick courtyard...nothing fancy...just a brick floor with a large oval marked with chalk...couple of dusty rugs for the audience to sit. There was a big tree inside the courtyard which was perhaps as old as the shrine itself...who knows how much it had witnessed and of what nature.

A small gathering of boys and men had assembled...waiting for Pappu Saeen and party. Pappu Saaen arrived a couple of minutes later, clad in his a large black kurta and dhoti...his oiled curly long hair and beard making him an imposing figure. 

Pappu Saeen was joined by one of his disciples and a young man with some sort of an african drum...a tamboora perhaps. Someone told me he was part of Overload but I wasn't sure.

The three drummers fiddled with their drums, tweaking them to get the sound just right and then it began..

The beat began slow and steady...building up into a frenzy slowly..the audience began to tap their feet and nod their head as the infectious beat began to take control. The air was heavy with weed smoke which was being smoked in abundance...soon the weed and the beat began enticing the audience to step inside the oval and then the frenzied dance began...men & boys...dancing feverishly...whirling around like turkish dervishes...lost in a world of their own...the beat of Pappu Saaen's might Dhol taking them to heights and places only know to them.

And suddenly at one point I felt like everything had slowed down...when everyone was engrossed and lost...whether standing passive or dancing...everyone was connected to that one beat...following the ebbs and cresendos..the whirling ones twisting and turning around one axis...perhaps connected...perhaps thinking about the One above.