The Rafaee at Mahim Signal-A Blog Speaks Out

The Rafaee at Mahim Signal-A Blog Speaks Out, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

I met this Rafaee a body piercing mendicant at the Mahim signal he was going to Abdul Rehman Babas Urus at Dongri and wanted me to come there but I could not make it.

The little kid with him is a rafaee too, they are trained in this art since a very young age, and luckily I am well know in the Rafaee circuit , and here once again I must thank Fahad Pathan Sakib and Firoze Rafaee.., they got me hooked to this , and I have been documenting the Rafaees for several years now , I must be the only Shia adherent among the Chancawalli or Shancawalli Rafaees..

They use the swords but they dont bleed , oon my part I cut my head and bleed profusely , my bleeding takes a long time to stop as I am a severe insulin dependent diabetic too.

Handi Sai who was the head of the Chancawalli Rafaees , and who had visited my shop, was very fond of me he expired and is buried at Kota , he wanted me to learn the art of Rafaee but I had politely refused ..I did not have the temperament or the Rafaee mijaz..


I miss Handi sai a great exponent who would cut his tongue lengthwise into two halves and I think I must be the only photographer who has lived with them and shot their angst so closely .. they dont take kindly to photographers....

Recently a crazy Rafaee drugged slashed my stomach with the sword I was taken by surprise at the Sandal of Fakhruddin Shah Baba but nothing happened to me he just cut away a part of my clothing only..

And he later hit me on my back saying I was a Rafaee too..however I stay away from him whenever I see him around the Dhuni or the Holy Fire ..

Being a Rafaee requires tolerance and the power to overcome pain..

Being a Shia well in all humility we are born to pain , and pain overcomes us as much as it can..I am a mere beginner in comparison to Baqar Nasser of Habib Nasser who cut their backs with swords so ferociously that pieces of their flesh fly around..

The get their back stitched without anesthesia...I have stopped scourging my back as I have a permanently injured right hand , shaped like the hood of a cobra and so it is tough moving the blades across my back..

I prefer the dagger on my head while leaping into into the sky doing Tandav on the soul of Yazidiyat.


I intend to pierce my cheeks this year with a 18 feet rod with Hindu Tamil friends and show my solidarity with their ethos and their pain ..whether I live to tell the tale I dont know but I shall do it come what may..

Death is the only Reality of my Life on this planet and I shall poetize it without shooting a single frame ..my rod piercing will be an extension of my angst and an essence called Ghame Hussain.,.