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TAMASHA

The insane passion to research the remains of the abandoned Sikh legacy across Pakistan has taken me across the length and breadth of the country. Rationality cannot explain this quest which I have taken upon myself to document because the subject has not been dealt holistically since the community’s umbilical cords were severed from their lands in 1947.

At a village close to Changa Manga forest, as I scaled the upper floors of an abandoned gurdwara, looking down, I was surprised that a large curious crowd had gathered on the streets. Once a predominantly Sikh village, ironically today, here my presence as a Sikh visitor had turned into a source of entertainment (TAMASHA)!

I was reminded of a couplet;

Too Nay Deewana Banaya Tau Mein Deewana Bana
Ab Mujhey Hosh Ki Duniya Mein Tamasha Na Bana

You triggered the insane passion and I turned into a mad-man
Now in this sane world, do not make me a source for entertainment

Photographed in Jan 2017, during the research for the book “THE QUEST CONTINUES: LOST HERITAGE The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan”

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