Ismail Chacha Bandra Bazar Road

Ismail Chacha Bandra Bazar Road, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Ismail Chacha has been blinded in both the eyes due to doctors negligence , first he lost one and than the next eye, he was an Army man, and later worked for Bombay Port Trust, he once owned a lot of property all usurped by friends and relatives.

His wife is Hafiza Bi wwho sells ladies and childrens garments on a hand cart near the Agha Khani Jamatkhana also at Bandra Bazar Road.

They have a daughter settled in Manhattan New York, a grandson in London..one of the grandsons in Mumbai, Abdulla is a hair stylist for films. I dont know much about his other children as this is a journalist blog but I lack the in depth of a journo for details I have no time nor the inclination..I have no editorial constrains either ..I shoot what my heart tells me to shoot..period.


His wife Hafiza Bi has lived in New York for several months could not bear the winter chill she tells me.

Whatever pension Ismail Chacha gets most of it I am told is given away to the poor and the needy, the kids love him he gives them sweets , though they lead him by the hand to his sisters house close to my shop.


His father was cook in the Jinnah and Nizam family.

They are Konkani Muslims hailing from a place called Pawas.

Ismail Chacha is a very friendly and a jovial guy who loves reciting shairi and love poems.

Today I was in a mood with my Nikon AF 80/200 ED Lens 2.8 ..I normally use wide , but all the pictures I short today are with this lens..I had bought it for Rs 40000 from my friend Subhash Solanki , this and the 20mm 2.8 were the main lens in my arsenal and a 50mm 1.4..but these are non digital lens..

As I am stuck in Mumbai and in Bandra my subjects are the same ,thanks to Akbar Simonese , I hope to become a versatile street photographer like him, I am not ashamed to say I am emulating him..

I shot this against my shop door..this is the only peaceful pictorial place that soothes my soul and my subjects too..