You Telecom Sucks

You Telecom Sucks, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

My perfect Sunday has been ruined thanks to you telecom my server provider - some body has cut all the internet wires in our area so the net has been dead since several hours I am now at a cyber cafe...I had Idd pictures to post now not possible..take care the silence of this lamb.

The net wires were cut from a building as they had not taken the requisite permission from the person concerned..


my poem of pain as I begin it at a cybercafe on Hill Road

you telecom sucks
more connections
adding to the coffers
making more and more
prosperity big bucks
for old existing clients
like me they care two fucks
as they had not taken permission
from a building all their net wires
were cut
this how business of making money
works
instead of them
a kick on my multi colored
conceited buttock
a blogger silence of this lamb
dumbstruck
a barefeeet blogger of mumbai
friend of the hijras
aravanis and eunuch
a pedestrian poet lame duck
free for all blogs
on cyberspace running amok
bollywoods most haunted blogger
bad luck

The Bawas of Mumbai

The Bawas of Mumbai, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Okay let me make this simple for you all those dressed like him and me are known as Bawas .. mendicants souls you will find at Dargahs ..or behind the Dargahs at the Dhuni the Holy Fire .. smoking away .I dont smoke or drink.. its totally photography which can be injurious to your wife's health.. photo blogging the next stage is coming closer to the Family Court at Bandra East for the final papers ..Luckily I have been saved the ignominy of the Family Court ..

December will see the season of Urus starting with the Mother of all in Mumbai - The Maqdoom Shah Babas Urus at Mahim.. a great place for pictures even if you stand on the streets and shoot the sandals on the main day.

.I am a well known face barefeet so you will find me sitting with the Bawas, but than I give all the offerings that is given to me to the head guy.. most of the older women touch my feet pay me alms and seek my blessings this is India the land of Love in spite of political disillusionment..

I have received invitations from Senior Inspector Liaqat Shaikh of the Urus committee. I shot the sandal of the Mahim police last year , where the head honchos place flowers on the tomb of the Holy Saint..

Only after the cops have made the offerings others can proceed..

Urus time for me is bonding with the Bawas , most of the ones I knew have passed away but the legendary ones are Hassan Ganda, Farukh, Shahenshah Baba..and I have not taken Marziya here ..

As it is wife was complaining just te other day , every time Marziya sees an elephant on the streets she starts shouting Ganpati , Marziya has seen more Ganesha pandals than elephants , Marziya has not yet seen the Mumbai zoo..luckily she has not missed much..the animals outside the cages are the wort specimens..

I digress Urus is the time at Mahim of celebrations, and Sakibs sandal where Firoze Rafaee does crazy feats I always shoot..than if you get out of the main dargah and go towards the Mahim beach you will find the Holy Shrine of Baba Khizar.. the salt water had turned sweet here ..you will find crazy malangs too .. dont miss it..

The security at the Dargah has been revamped and most people hate cameras and photographers beats me..

After the Urus of Makhdoom Shah Baba gets over begins the other famous one of Fakhruddin Shah Baba a three day affair ..there is a Dhuni here too..

And there are other Urus too but the most sensational is the one up the Malangad mountain the Haji Malang Urus..I have no words for this one just see my pictures at Flickr..

Back To The Future

Back To The Future, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

This was the first shot and the child turned her back, and the irony is that though they beg they are filled with shame and begging is fine but most of the Kashmiri men beg along with their teen daughters which hurts but than the Muslim pocket can be miserly and needs a provocation of guilt..nobody would want their children to beg..

I dont stalk or search for pictures god gives them to me in my cameras beggar bowl, all this was shot yesterday ..I missed the Hijra beggars who come to beg for meat and money..

Even the Namaz at the Bandra Station road was not as crowded as Ramzan,. I was quite late but yes I got something ..

I shot Senior Inspector Prakash George at the traffic signal..

And I shot beggar women veiled in desperation searching for hope in the crowds ..after the Namaz got over, while the media photographers were trying to manipulate the picture frames with kids hugging for the Idd picture ..the same kids year after year, the kids have grown up but the photo journalists of Amchi Mumbai are stuck in a fucked rut,...one way street no way out.. and I am not talking about all of them..

More than a metal camera body you need a human heart and a soul.. you need the gift of poetry.. not in words but in fleeting images as you steal and capture them for the rest of posterity..our first instruction manual in photography has been newspaper photographs.. and sadly to say..nothing has changed .. its the same taking the masses for granted..dumping garbage instead of pictorial wisdom...

Cry My Beloved Kashmir

Cry My Beloved Kashmir, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

begging on the streets of mumbai
on bakra idd ..hope an illusion
hungry stomachs open mouths to feed
back home tears robbed by greed
they all pass by but let the victim bleed
the innocent paying for another mans misdeed
through my camera lens I shot
humanity beyond color caste or creed

Sleepless on Facebook

Sleepless on Facebook, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

a net savvy god
hitting the keys rapidly
if you take a second look
a shudder his kingdom shook
this world gone to seed
they all like the author
but none want to read his book
despair that hope mistook

From Falna With Love

From Falna With Love, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

From Falna With Love

From Falna With Love, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

01,813 items / 662,630 views

This was shot a day before Idd in a tiny dreamless alley called Haji Noora Lane..from here you exit to Lucky Hotel.. or move towards Bazar Road..

I showcase all what I shoot at Flickr..and my uploader hardly rests in spite of that I have yet to upload the Namaz pictures, I am under no time bound constrain or editorial demands, the pictures in my camera are part of a story I try not to break the rhythm or flow..and I share my stuff..

Idd was a day at home, I did not shoot any more Kurbani pictures only those that I shot at Indira Nagar.. and they are quite a bit..

I did not shoot the slaughter in my building either as Marziya would have tagged along with me..

Death Where Is Thy Sting !

Death Where Is Thy Sting !, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

hope at the edge of the butchers knife
some hope brings ...
god has to be appeased above all things
if beggars were horses than dogs would have wings
darkness at dawn...some pictures some links


for me street photography and poetry are are two sides of the same coin..you call him Ishwar I call him God..

Butchers on Bakra Idd

Butchers on Bakra Idd, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

These are Ebus men at work, in a span of a short while they had slaughtered over 20 bakras , meticulously..and I love shooting butchers at work, a very envious task they perform like artistes sculpting a soul in clay..

I have not yet uploaded the Idd Namaz pictures of the Bandra Station Namaz or the pictures I shot of Bakra Kurbani at Indira Nagar Bandra..

Flickr uploaders are very slow and suck too..