“I started doing menial work from the age of 13 in Nowshera. My father had fought in World War II and lost an arm and leg there. My father would take me and my older brother to a factory where our job was to break large boulders. After breaking the rocks, we would spread them and for every 200 feet, we were given Rs10 per person. All this time, I went to school as well. I studied till seventh grade after which I dropped out.

I continued doing odd jobs till I stumbled upon a friend who played the rabab. I was instantly drawn towards this musical instrument. In 1983, I went to Peshawar where I worked as a labourer and also started learning the rabab. It took me a year to master the instrument.

In 2005, I came to Islamabad where I got work as a labourer in Daman-i-Koh. After work I would sit with a person who had been employed there to play the rabab. I would ask him to let me play as well. During one such sitting, a senior CDA official saw me playing. He took my number and after three years in 2008, he contacted me and offered me a job as a rabab player in Saidpur museum.

Since then, I have been playing the rabab here. My salary is Rs23,000. Earlier, I would earn good money from the tips offered by the visitors, but now due to the declining number of people visiting the museum, my income has reduced. I live with my family in a rented house in Khanna for Rs8,000. I have five children. Three of my children are studying. I consider myself lucky to have gotten this job. Not many people do the work which is also their hobby. This hobby of mine has also taken me to the President House and Prime Minister House where I have had the honour of performing.”

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019