The Possessed 1

The Possessed 1, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

These are people in various stages of possession, what is depressing they are accompanied by their kids who are in more despair and pain than the person possessed.
I was really not much into shooting all this as I had come here specifically to shoot the Shia Moharam the scourging this was a kind of add on..
The Mujawirs would glare at me as they did not want all this to be recorded , this is a money racket too...
Poor get conned , as they have no alternative .
I knew a man who worked at Khoja Florist at Bandra, he had left his wife at the Shrine dormitory fot the afflicted ..this was deeply hurting a thought ...but he was sure she would be healed he sent her and the guardian the necessary expenditure money for the long stay.

People leave their relatives here those who are terminal cases...is not part of this narrative..people bring their kids to beg here is a reality this is a spiritual fair almost akin to a Urus ..but for the Shhia who throng here it is the mourning for Chehlum.. 40 day of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain.

Actually the Chehlum here takes place a day before Mumbai Chehlum so guys plan their trip in such a way they catch up the Chehlum juloos too..

And there are Mumbaikar Shias who prefer Hussain Tekri Chehlum to Mumbai too.

And as my pictures have a target audience that is cosmopolitan , I have named this as Non Shia Ritualism at Hussain Tekri Jaorah..

The Shias dont indulge in all this as a community..but they do believe in the holistic power of healing of the Hussain Tekri Shrines of the Ahle Bayt.

Colloquially Hussain Tekri Jaorah is known as a spiritual hospital for mentally terminal cases.