Thursday, December 3, 2009

Mumbai Se Main Bhagaya Gaya

102,288 items / 667,564 views

phir ek bar
faizabad
se na aya gaya
hindustani hokar mumbai
se bhagaya gaya
bar bar mujh ko sataya gaya
uttar pradesh main
madamji ki
murtiyan bana kar main
phasaya gaya
main bhi gaya
mera saya gaya
mumbai ke raste pe
yeh nishani
chodkar bhulaya gaya
yeh bhaiyya mumbai main
phir na paya gaya

Koli Girl Marziya

102,264 items / 667,504 views
Marziya is a gifted child.. very perceptive and understands her surroundings, fish smell does not bother her in the least, nor is she scared to hold a prawn or a crab or a lobster..

Ever since I moved my work place my visits here have lessened , and my red door is a thing of the past.. it was given to the bhangarwala..


Kids stalk me to shoot their pictures and I can say with emphasis that the camera is the greatest instrument of peace,,,

Sreyashi Sen
Thanks Firozebhai. Was a pleasure to meet you. Take care and all the best with the most moving work you do through your photgraphs.

This is one of the most generous comment of appreciation I got from a Facebook friend..

For me photo blogging is a holistic science that heals the wounds of the world..we become a part of that world which never existed before..

For me Facebook is not micro blogging - I write without reservation..I use Facebook as a blog site..

Koli Girl Marziya

The koli women of Bandra Bazar fish market were complaining that I have stopped bringing Marziya to the market, so to please them I took her along with me to buy mackerel or Bangda,and Marziya is comfortable in these surroundings , of course her main key person and link is Mangla Aunty.. who has seen Marziya grow..

When I was a child I knew most of the fisher folks and Tandels of Sassoon Dock..where I grew up..

In The Claws of the Camera

Fuck F Stops

My first lesson in photography to my grand daughter Marziya when I placed my Nikon D 80 in her hands at Holy Family Hospital on the second day of her birth.. 25 Nov 2007.

Luckily she uses the same camera to shoot life as I see it..

Skinning Emotions To Keep The Soul Alive

flesh
making love
to the knife
to be dead
is beyond
spiritual strife
a moments pause
was I really Alive

Photography is Music You Either Have it or Dont

The Meaning of Death and Sacrifice

I shot this a slow motion flow of emotions sparring of life v/s death, through Jimba a much loved goat of Bandra Bazar Road, I showed you a collage of painless sacrifice, Jimba was a symbol of the essence of Bakra Idd in its true sense, it was not about buying a goat getting it done over with, Jimba was raised as a human child, lost his animal attributes as he lived among kids.

Yes Jimba was a child as much as a child a child can be, in between I interrupted the flow of Death by showing you through links his bond with my grand daughter, I am not a butcher , I am a poet as we all are in one way or another..I showed a poem of life as it ends like all things have to end.



I would have not shot this if I had taken the normal route to my house ,mind you I walk barefeet and walking through blood flowing slums is not an easy thought too, I am a diabetic and my bravado is on leash..

As I write this I have already cut my bare feet shooting the Mahim Urus..so I could have never known about Jimbas sacrifice, I was destined to shoot Jimba as I never mentioned till now that Jimba loved me dearly not just as Marziyas grand father but as a photographer and I am crying , because Jimba loved to be photographed , almost like any kid I shot..he stalked the red doors of my old shop, he knew I never scrounged, at least not as a photo blogger, as photo blogger I did not shoot pictures I shot text that you read smoothly as you would read a poem.,,


Yes blogging can be injurious and addictive too, but you cannot give if you have nothing to give, through the humility of my pictures I give you what God gave me..no it is not vision Mr Bhupesh Little I am still amateur, all visionaries dont end up as street photographers..photography is reading life's musical notes and replaying them by ear here my chiildhood friend Dinshah Sanjana would truly agree.. I am not a musician but I lived with the finest at Jony Castle Wodehouse Road, they all touched me ..as music touched the soul of Keith Kangas now silent guitar..strangely the one person who inspired me to shoot pictures like a musician was a shy reticent guitarist Neil Chattophdaya grandson of Harindranath Chattopadhya the veteran comic serious actor..

Yes this is Jimbas sacrifice I shot ...

And I understand Dr Glenn Losack MD s philosophy of life through pictures because we are both musicians at heart..

Photography is Music you either have it or dont..

Slaughtered Soul of a Barefeet Blogger

I am not into groups events or games
I am not into guys hijras or dames
I am a blogger -
pictures within poems
I frame
man kills man
poor god takes the blame
a barefeet blogger
what a shame
I am what I am
though someone calls
someone by my name
my notoriety to fame
I did not borrow
another mans surname
a photographer
fractured fortitude
a blogger
I became
Technorati
my blogs
I reclaim

The Silence of This Lamb

to blog or not to blog
the silence of this lamb
bleeding emotions
definitely not positive spam
a blog also a battering ram
interconnected wires of despair
bursting a cyber dam
read me as a picture or a poem
I aim to be what I am
mutton beef chicken no ham
while her door on the face
of my destiny slams
a blog goddess
I fondly remember
God Damn
who made me a blogger
a poetic pause some slam
roger roger over
radioed reality
the moment she
said scram

Unforgettable Memory Called Jimba

102,125 items / 666,514 views

This was a picture I asked a person to shoot, a picture that needs no text, animals feel love through sense of smell and Jimba knew me alright, and without trying to squeeze tears from a dry hanky I can assure you I read his mind , he was wondering over the missing presence of Marziya..

And as Kadir Bhai the owner of Jimba lives in Indra Nagar his children were slaughtering him here, though he stayed with the other brother at Bandra Bazar Road .

Jimba was well taken care of , fed kala namak or salt to clear his bowels, green leafy vegetables the works, he ate fruits , ice cream , chocolates sweets and biscuits too..

Every child at Bandra Bazar Road knew Jimba and Jimba knew all of them..

Jimba Meets His Fate

102,125 items / 666,514 views

Jimba is a pet goat that was raised fed to finally be slaughtered for Idd ..he is a Khasi goat, and was the favorite of all kids at Bandra Bazar road including my grand daughter Marziya, he had a very special attraction for Marziya and would follow Marziya simply because Marziya would nudge me to buy him biscuits..

Jimba was to be slaughtered last Idd but missed the butchers stroke, Jimba was a kid goat bought for Rs 2500 by one brother and raised by another brother, Kadir bhai who bought the goat wanted him to be slaughtered for his daughters wedding and though the wedding took place Kadir bhai, gave him a reprieve..

So when I returned from shooting the Bandra Station Road Namaz on Bakra Idd day,I passed by Indira Nagar barefeet and was shocked to see Jimba being made ready for the Kurbani..the surviving bakra that was a pair of Rs 45000 had already been slaughtered..

The Qurbani of Jimba was done by a Mullah who recited the Holy Verses.. and all the kids were weepy eyed sad, including me, Jimba took a lot of time to die, he was not ready so to speak to meet the Maker yet, and I kept on shooting his rattle and death throes..his head was placed in a utensil so his blood dd not flow on the ground..

I know one thing for a fact Marziya wont stop searching for him..and perhaps you might not believe this but when I came home I asked Marziya about Jimba she put a hand like a blade on her neck.. and I understood that Marziya has the gift of reading my thoughts too,, and Marziya has not yet seen a goat slaughter yet..

For those who have tuned in late Marziya is a two year old child..my son Asif's daughter..

And my eyes are wet and moist as I post this today..

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