Mee Mumbaikar Lal Bagh Chya Raja

Mee Mumbaikar Lal Bagh Chya Raja
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1

This slogan of the masses of a migrant diaspora , is what the King of King of Mumbai Ganesha seems to say.. Mee Mumbaikar.. I am a Mumbaite.
And the Raja in his worldly splendour laden with Gold, Silver , precious stones is a humble Mumbaikar at Heart..He becomes one with all, the rich men the poor man even the beggars too..who stand for over a day in a serpentine line to get his Darshan..The volunteers or the foot soldiers of Lal Bagh Chya Raja are exemplary, polite, courteous , and ever helpful, giving all they have got to the Lord..
For them the Lord is everything, and so the atmosphere is congenial, pervading with a spirtual serenity..unseen anywhere else perhaps at the GSB Seva Ganesh Mandal..Both are territorial Kings of their Space ..but the largest space is in the Minds and Hearts of their Devotees..
As a Sufi thinking Muslim, as a Shia Pandit me and my camera eye misses nothing..
Lal Bagh Chya Raja is the Mascot and Lucky Talisman of a cosmopolitan city of Mumbai..and when he moves out of his Domain towards the final Immersion at 9 am and reaches Gigaum Chowpatty next morning at 4 am..
He passes through Muslim localities where the Muslims garland him, respect him, this is Tolerance for the greater good,beyond cheap Fatwas of Bareilly clerics who live in Caves and in Dark Ages.. This is not a single Salman Khan, but all the community , giving a farewell to the spirit of Mee Mumbaikar..
Being a Muslim in Mumbai, is a very special feeling, I know Muslims who climb the pyramid to break the Dajhi Handi, I know Maharashtrians who grab my scourging blades to shed blood for Imam Hussain on Ashura, yes I am crying as I write this, if this feeling of oneness labels me or my Hindu friends as Heretics so be it, it is better to live as a Heretic than die the death of a fundamentalist Dog..
There are Muslims of the Jamati kind who taunt me whether I have become a Hindu, I remain silent but honestly I am a Hindu since birth, born in Hindustan my nationalistic cultural identity..But I am a Muslim that Allah knows and my family knows..Why cant we be less bigotted and more human friendly is a cry that escapes from my lips..
So I shoot pictures , go great lenghts to show and share as feelings with all of you, I am not just a Shia I am a person of the world..and I intend to remain like this tiIl my death.The neo Islamists can stick to their beliefs , the neo Shia Wahabbis can also stick to their beliefs..I am happy at my end of the World ...
I have over 8000 pictures on my homesite that I have not bought to Flickr..a daunting task, and 11000 pictures posted here perhaps not on my homesite..
But Flickr is my homesite by default now..
I dont go and defecate my views on Flickr members pictures, I dont condemn their Faith so I dont see why or with what right they abuse me here as a Shia person or as a Muslim..I do not promote Shiasm , but yes I shoot pictures of all Faith..if your Faith is stronger than mine more pure, more closer to God you should not be worried by the words of this Shia heretic..
I shoot what I see and Truth cannot hide behind false Dogmas..