We are the flute, our music is all Yours;

Your wind invisible sweeps us through the world

                                                                         Rumi

Lovers of the Truth, they call themselves. They deny all notions of duality and the individual self and seek Divine unity, “main nahin, sab Tu " [I’m nobody, all is You!], cries Sufi saint Shah Hussein.  They wear black, red and green, and abstain from animal food. They whirl around the streets of Old Lahore chanting names of Allah and slogans of freedom from the worldly desire. “Dam mast qalandar, jholay lal, shah jamal, beray par”, a friend writes these words to me from another part of the globe and I sit back and wonder, how insidiously the voice of dervishes echoes across the continents. Dervishes rock!

Dervishes are unique characters. Dramatic personalities, seemingly under some deep spiritual trance, they move about away from everyday existence of desire and greed. Ishq [love], they claim, is the foundation of their faith. It’s a stairway, a bridge, a vehicle that never fails to take one to the desired destination. “Ishq pakka, manzil pakki”, shouts Ghulam Rasool qalandar.

Shrines of the Sufis, their disciples and murids are drenched in color. Fire burns, aroma of scented wood fills the air. Qawwali music floats with the wind. Narrow and mysterious streets of Old Lahore are crowded with malangs and dervishes. These dervishes talk peace and listen to the woes of suffering from people who come to seek solace to them. Human misery is never ending. But these shrines are the places where one can forget pains for a while. These dervishes are a ray of trust and assurance.  A momentary escape from fear and sadness that surround every soul. A flicker of hope and a vague shadow of relief. A glimpse into the world beyond the self. A psychedelic look of relief into a world beyond reality.

“Bitter cruelty transforms me into a pearl, O Spirit!”

                                                                                          Divan e Shamas

Complete article published in Tourism Scenario International [Pakistan's leading magazine on tourism], May 2007 issue.