Climbing Haji Malang Barefeet

Climbing Haji Malang Barefeet, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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This is humility and people who love kissing the ground with their bare feet ..walk up the mountains to touch a paradise called Haji Malang.

You leave your car , your motorbike your arrogance your conceit your attitude at the Malangad foothills to connect with the Sufi Shrine of Haji Malang.


There is a palanquin for the disabled and the sick, for the lazy rich, it a costs bomb.. the distance is over 7 km.

I had bought Dr Glenn Losack MD from Manhattan New York to this Holy place two years back , of course those days I did not know the owners of this mountain the Ketkar family , Kumar and Abhijeet are the ones I know and connect with , they are my host and take care of me as their family member speaks volumes about their humility too, they dont charge me a cent for lodging or boarding ..

And I blog about the mysticism , the androgynous get away for the Hijra spirituality..Haji Malang is made up of various Chowks of spiritual hierarchy, I am close to the Malangs , the Rafaees and the Siddis..

Climbing the Malangad mountains does not tire me I shoot pictures of the monks bawas on the way up, the beggars the most leprous unique lot, other pilgrims ..this is a spiritual territory and landscape for the Hindus Muslims and other communities too..

I have been shooting this place since 2005 or earlier..there are Mandirs too in this region and an influx of Naga Sadhus.

The place is a hill station , the water freezing cold but I would sit under the tap and be transported to the waters of Hardwar and the Maha Kumbh..

Almost everybody knows me here and calls me Bawa or Photowale or Camerawale Bawa..but the most touching was the tribals who would kiss my hands and touch my feet.. and thereby purify me and my restless soul.

I was mostly with the dread headed Malangs of Haji Malang , they are from Karnataka close to Gulbarga Dargah.

I felt peace in their presence , I sat with the Siddi head and my friend Altaf Siddi was there too..The Chancawalli Rafaees were there but most of the bawas are at the Chand Shah Wali Urus their home base near Powai.

They did a great dhamal..there is another Rafaee lot and these guys were awesome too.

I shot the Hijra Sandal of Gopal Haji and Babita the Najafgarh hijras.. my German friend Dorothea was not there ..but I met another wonderful person a very close friend of my Hijra Guru Laxmi Narayan Tripathi..photographer Anita Khemka ..

I connected with Heena Hijra of Peela House had lunch at Ma Madhurimas house , the hijras at Haj Malang were not in large numbers as most of them were attending the Hijra Sammelan at Hyderabad.

I met Mona the child eunuch with her eunuch sibling Nandini, these are very touching pictures I shot of a dance and song recital at their house..


I met a young Hindu boy a devotee of Haji Malang Baba who had chopped his little finger and offered it to the Holy Saint , I did not shoot any tonsure rituals this time ..


I could have stayed a few hours more shot the Sandal of Sultan Shah Baba but I was missing my grand daughter Marziya Shakir so I chose to come down..and return home.

I did the Kaif at the Dargah of Sultan Shah Baba in the style of the Whilrling dervesh of Turkey it just came and this was a trance with a mourning element as I am a Shia and in a few days I will be celebrating Chehlum in Mumbai..the 40 th day of Mohram ..