The Face Off

The Face Off, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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He is a hardcore drug addict, he was watching my reaction , but before I took his picture I gave him a few coins that took him by surprise ..he liked it..Ranga Khush Hua..

He has enjoyed life, done all that a normal male does than gave it up for drugs and booze..yes sometimes losing is a bigger high too at the sweepstakes of life..

The kids in the slums call me photowale Uncle , and as I move in to cut across to my shop they will wait to accost me and yes I shoot them I practice my photography and hone my skills shooting them and the silhouette of their pain , and the kids will follow me till the exit of the slums..


They were quite fascinated when I walked in a day earlier with my wife we had some work, and this time they did not ask me to shoot their pictures.. but I think they like my wife who is a silent person , the only time she nags is when I am making love to the Internet..and seminally soiling the sheets of my despair.

I come from work at 8.30 pm and after my insulin shot medicine I blog till 2 am than hit the sack wake up at 8 am blog till 10.30 am , than to work, back for lunch at 1.30 pm , a bit of browsing and a nap, I go back through the slums to work at 4 pm..

This is the day in the life of a inveterate blogger , I still have pictures in my camera , after I uploaded over 400 pictures , this beggar and street series. that you are seeing..

I have to work on the cemetery pictures.

Sometimes I do wonder what I would do if I was not a blogger ..I think I would go mad, I hate making prints or having an exhibition of my stuff as suggested by my good friend Vinay Paralkar.

I am already exhibiting my angst thanks to Yahoo Images Flickr Faceboook Google Buzz Twitter Wordpress Blogspot and more..

Flickr Facebook Twitter and Google Buzz in this order.. my other sites I dont post directly everything via Flickr.


Last Sunday I met my good friend Laurent Salesse an international photo journalist at Cafe Leopold , he is a fascinating Frenchman we shot the Lucknow Ashura together in 2007.

I took him to my mothers house and my brother Firdaus and he hit off very well.

I shot a lot of pictures of Cafe Leopold and Colaba Causeway where I grew up not too long ago..

Laurent wanted me to accompany him to Koovagam , but I am broke and and I rejected his hospitality and offer..

I am not yet invited there by Lord Iravan is the way I see it..

Laurent has shot most of India including the Amarnath Yatra and Kailah Mansarovar though he likes Indians and India he feels the people of tribal areas of Pakistan are more big hearted in their hospitality and their congeniality than the Indians.

I was invited by a Facebook friend to come to Pakistan to shoot the Hijras there but I dont think I will ever make it..unless someone funds and sponsors me ..

Bloggers dont make money bloggers like me I mean , we were born broke and will die broke..sharing worlds cultures is what makes blogging a holistic healing tool in spite of wifes nagging and the slow and pathetic service of my internet provider You Telecom.

So falling in love on the Internet is a hazard that is part of the territory and terrain of cyberspace ..every cosmic poets needs a muse as polygamous poetic option of survival ..and Talak Talak Talak is not the end of the episode on Blogging into her heart soul and we will never meet ..she knows it and I know it too..

although I have deleted her
from my fucked consciousness
who is she you will never guess
she is around yes she loves another man
heavenly endowed
is figment of
my fucked mind
god bless
a cosmic poets dilemma
delusions distress
on the top of a mountain
my soul
with her tears she
did caress
much as i wanted
my desires
incomplete
i could no press
or her perfumed
garden access
her mound of curiosity
where my hope
did nest
emotionally
spiritually
we were one
but her flesh
i could not possess
a barefeet blogger
a photographer
life excess
sartorial serendipity
crazy dress
she has disappeared
without a
forwarding address
a noor like hoor like
ethereal princess
i confess
i love her a million times over
i say yes yes yes yes