9th Moharam Amin Imambada-Blood Letting
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1
I want my pictures on this segment 9 th Moharam in Mumbai, to speak for themselves, so I have shut my radio, besides I take you the non Shias on a photo journalist pictorial journey..a journey even you as good photographers of this genre wont be able to shoot , as these are private places and private Shia moments covering the pain of Hazrat Imam Hussain, that their forefathers kept alive for over 1400 years, this new generation more educated, more knowledgeable, more net savvy, more introspective, more in command of themselves are in the forefront depicting their traditions of self inflicted pain..this is not a chillum smoke , nor a trance.
The blood is real the pain is real.
I earlier posted my pictures at Word Press and it was a site that gave me my creditibility as a serious photoblogger.
I could not afford uploads , so I posted the pictures at my photographerno1 homesite copied the URL at WordPress all of last year.
Till I rediscovered Flickr , unlimited posting at a price that was affordable, so I discontinued posting at my homesite as I had to pay for upload space .
All my Moharam pictures are at Flickr.
Selected posts I cross blog from here to my Shia site ...
shah-ast-hussain.com
photographerno1.wordpress.com
photographerno1.blogspot.com
firozeshakir.blogspot.com
and my Kumbh Mela site
firozekumbhmela.blogspot.com for Naga Sadhu related stuff..I still have CD s unposted and no time..
My homesite is a photo gallery and is not blog friendly..
the stats from Dec 2005 till 21 Jan 2008
8279 files in 58 albums and 1 categories with 0 comments viewed 725776 times
All this would have not been possible without the help and encouragement of my eldest son Asif Shakir ..
he got me my latest poetry publishing site..though I first blog my poems at Flickr
www.firozeshakir.com
Moharam as a photo capturing event means a lot to me, last year after an attack on me by vested Shia Wahabbi youth I had decided not to shoot Moharam, so went to Delhi to shoot the Arbaeen or Chehlum..where I cut my tendon wth a sword while cutting my forehaed that put me out of circulation, I type with the index finger of my injured hand, I cannot do flagellation , as I have a frozen shoulder on the same side of the injured hand.
I cut my forehead on Ashura day this year, on the roads, and it was luckily that the guys snatched the dagger from my hand I am a severe diabetic and the bleeding takes time to stop..
I also did not cut myself at Kaiser Bagh as I wanted to shoot pictures that I share with you..
Even this Moharam for a split second I thought I would go to Hyderabad again and capture Moharam, but business committment made me stay put in Mumbai..I also thought perhaps Dr Glenn Losack MD from America might just come to Mumbai at the last minute to shoot Ashura.. He did not come .
I had a comment from a Shia person on my Flickr post that she does not think it is right for the Shia children cutting themselves up..
Normally I would delete such a comment, but I did answer it in humility..
I have been shooting Moharam for about 6 years , kids doing Matam fascinates me , because my dad late Mohomed Shakir kept me away from all this blood letting, he could not stand bleeding , though he watched it from the Imamiya Sabil where he was a founder member , the sabil belonging to his maternal uncle..Late Maqbool Bhai..a staunch Shia from Lucknow a philanthropist and soldier of the Imam.. working for rehabilitation of the poor in the shia communty..
I did zanjir matam in my teens and than when Alcohol came into my life I gave up going to Moharam events for about 17 years, its just recently after I gave up , that my doctor suggested I take up a hobby that would make me forget my alcoholic cravings , I took up photography a crazy mans expensive hobby film era , met Habib Nasser and Baqar Nasser and returned as a born again Shia...via photography.
Started seeing events had never seen before Athvi in Lucknow,Athvi in Mehmoodabad,
Moharam in Kolkatta, Hyderabad, Hussain Tekri Jaorah..
In retrospection I think Mumbai is the best clean clear cut Azadari with no untoward controversies, no Shia Sunni clashes, just Game Hussain as the core pivotal subject.
Well about kids doing the flagellations and forehead cutting, its a tradition and will never go, no kid is coaxed once he grows up, the little kids in arms that have their heads touched by the sharp blade of the dagger with a gash very tiny one is a Mannat thing..and the parents prerogative..a baptism by blood..
I have been shooting kids, I have captured a kid pictures I will post later, at Kaiser Bagh he made several attEmpts with a dagger of all sizes but his head would not cut..
and he came back again and again and Munna Bhai in charge of the Kamazani never coaxed or humiliated him,letting him have hs chance..
Kids are the backbone of the Shia community..I know mothers who are protective about kids but come Moharam they know the child is under the Spiritual Insurance policy of Akka Maulah Hussain..
My children Asif And Saif also do not partake and I have never told them to do it.. they are much better as Shia than me..
