Adab Aur Tehzeeb

Adab Aur Tehzeeb, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

We in Lucknow had a saying you can live without food and water but not without Adab and Tehzeeb, meaning culture and etiquette..

So in many ways Lucknow and Hyderabad are the main pillars of this important aspect of life..
In the olden days in Lucknow young Nawabs would be sent to the homes of courtesans to learn adab and tehzeeb.

I made these kids pose for me after seeing each one bend low offer adaab or salutations to the people that had come to attend their 8 Moharam majlis at Hussaini Koti Hyderabad but as I cannot post all my stuff at Facebook, just see this at Flickr..

I could have gone on shooting them forever.. this is the way tradition is nurtured by Nawabi families..this is how heritage is kept alive, this is not just about being Muslim , and no cheek and jowl among the radicals and the white collared Wahabbis , Shias are not even considered Muslim, ill treated , abused because of their customs because of their beliefs by the Saudi culture police when they go for Haj or Umrah..speaks a lot about so called Brotherhood and Peace and Islamic so called Universality.

And yet Shiasm in India gave some of the best architecture,poets , writers..its pity the decadence seeped in pretty soon..once the states broke up and Nawabi and the feudal system ceased to exist.

When the child is born and tutored in life in Lucknow , he is taught to say Adaab a head bent low salaam or salutation , the girl to do Tasleem a feminine part of salutations.

As a child I was bought up in the house of actor , a giant of an actor who to act act in a film called Yahudi as an old man had removed all his teeth, Nawab Kashmiri contemporary of Dilip Kumar, Jayant , Johnny walker, Mukri and Sohrab Modi..

Nawab Saab had long died but Adab and Tehzeeb were kept alive among his kids Akhtar , Munnawar and Anwar by Ammi his mother in law directly related to Wajid Ali Shah. Kolkatta was one of their ancestral home from their mothers side and Lucknow from both sides..

Nawab saab was related to late Agha Jani Kashmiri and Ali Raza Saab and Nimmi.
Whatever I am today a major part of my growth I owe to this family..my father Mohomed Shakir was a tenant of the family , he was given quarters strictly on the criteria he was a Lucknowi and married ..my mother's father Daroga Nabban Saab being a descendant of poet Mir Anis.

So Adab and Tehzeeb is not just the jagir of the Nawabs but is part and parcel of day to day life in poor families too as seen in Old Lucknow.I dont know much about Hyderabad as I visit it for 3 days during Ashura or Chehlum.

And I have self exiled myself from Lucknow the city of my birth, for life due to its sectarian hate among Muslims and radicalism...and bigotry.

And I dedicate this to Anis Sabri my Facebook friend..blogging is a holistic science that like a time machine takes you back into the darkness of your soul.. much before life began.

Ps
It was Nawab Saabs daughter Akthar baji who enrolled me in Private European School I955 and my poor dad paid the princely amount of Rs 50 as my monthly fees ..how can I forget Nawab Saabs family ever..we stayed at Khatau Mansions Wodehouse Road now Jony Castle.