Decoding the Shia Child ...Marziya Shakir

Decoding the Shia Child ...Marziya Shakir, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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A Shia child carries the credentials of Faith embedded in Hussainiyat.

From the day she has was born Marziya has intuitively shown a sudden surge towards the faith she has inherited as a Shia child.

I have shown Marziya all religiosity every time she accompanied me for a shoot ..but it is her faith that she follows with a frenzy , we are liberal Muslims , modern to a certain extent living in mutual compatibility with everyone else.

Marziya has been bought up by her parents who are less adventurous than I am towards other religiosity..Her father a soft ware programmer is a Shia scholar and a teacher .Her mother a devout Shia housewife from Kazmain Lucknow ..

We have been Mumbaikars as Mumbai is our home and our destiny.

Marziya has never seen a Moharam procession, never seen any blood letting that is part of our ritualism, but she has attended majlis, ladies majlis..

She has seen me come home with a bandage on my head but it never bothered her , the dagger I use to cut my head during Ashura or during Chehlum does not belong to me , I use the same one that is used by others too, all belonging to my good friend Habib Nasser pioneer of the Iraqi Kama Matam in Mumbai.


So Marziya took me by surprise while sitting on the dining table , she picked up the butter knife and began slashing her head , to the chant of Ya Hussain...this was many months back, and she did it again in the kitchen this evening.

At my house its only me who cuts his head , my children dont partake in this ritual.
So Marziya does things that I cant explain , this was important before you misinterpret my following pictures.

I shot all of them this evening , beginning with this one where Marziya is reciting a Noha and beating her chest chanting Ya Hussain in her baby lingo..