The Fall of a Warrior Race The Siddis of Junagadh, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
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This is the ignominy, this is a shame , which hurts me the most, kids love to see the acrobatic side of the Siddis, when they fish for money from the ground thrown by rich patrons..
But than this is the flip side of our culture , we are a very critical hypocritical race, we dont like others abusing us, our norms but the Siddis who are an integral part of our nationalism are treated worse than street dogs - a photographer shoots pictures a photo blogger shoots pain provided you are literate enough to read the wordless chimera of pain as a poem..
I have never stalked for pictures , they come as Gods gift in my beggars bowl..this time I thought of documenting the Siddi ethos..it was poetic spur of the moment decision.
Perhaps you may not believe it I have had no time to talk to them, they have Muslim names and come from the genealogy of Hazrat Bilal the Azan giver during the time of the Holy Prophet of Islam..
They are a very inclusive race, dont mix but respond to people in monosyllables, they speak Gujrati with an African dialect.
I did meet Zeenath the Siddi eunuch at Ajmer Sharif a few years back.. she thought I was a fashion photographer , so posed like a ramp model.. raw sensuality and bodily aggressiveness.
