Why Some Hijras get Upset When I Shoot Their Pictures, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
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Hijras may like photographers the kind you see dressed in normal clothes like media photographers , they may even spare the precocious woman photographer who shoots hijras to keep up with the Shakirs and the Jones.
But invariably in spite of being notoriously infamous shooting hijras for some time I am , still castigated by hijras who dont want me to shoot them , one because of my sartorial signature I look like a Tantric and the hijra even in modern times feels I will steal her soul.
One Hijra called me a Behrupiya ..a person in Disguise and an agent of a society that hates hijras , one hijra at this event Chalisva of Ragini Naik at Park Site Vikhroli picked up a burning log from the fireplace to break open my skull.. simply she did not like nosy photographers shooting a private moment and I was a guest of Heena Hijra my patron from the red light area of Peela House.
So shooting hijras is not as easy as it might seem , I have gone through stiff opposition , fights and shot the quintessential angst of the hijras.
I climbed the Malangad mountains bare feet both ways to shoot the Hijras at Haji Malang.
Only one person called me to her birthday party Simran dancer transgender but because I post all pictures on the net , at Flickr and at my Hijda Eunuch blogs on Word Press I have stopped getting invitations .
I shoot hijras differently I shoot them as fleeting wordless poems provided you read them as poems too.
I leave my work rush to Ajmer for the Urus and I am invariably broke , I rough it out change various trains walk barefeet , to feel the pain of a drama of life and I shoot the hijras at Moti Katla.
So my tryst of Hijras that began at Matunga road shooting the prostitute hijras soliciting on the road I have finally reached this far in hijra photography.
I shot the Hijras at Peela House the dangerous red light area of Mumbai , not once but many times barefeet cursed by the whores and the pimps ..yes I live on the edge shooting hijras this is my high my Nasha whatever you call it.
And though I have a Hijra Guru Laxmi Narayan Tripathi I have not made use of her name or her contacts , I shot the Hijra Gully No 1 at Kamatipura too.
One place I could shoot hijras without any problem is Delhi , because of my relationship with Gopal Haji Naik and Babita Hijra , they invited me several times but I could not leave my work..I dont earn through photography I dont have any other source of income.
My only regret as a blogger who shoots Hijras is not being able to make it to Koovagam. I had a French photographer who wanted me to accompany him but I politely refused .
So Koovagam remains unseen by the Barefeet Hijra Shooting Blogger of Mumbai..
I am more at ease shooting the beggar hijras and the hijra performers that dance at weddings in the slums.
I have also shot Hijra Rafaee , Hijra Bawas .
And my grand daughter Marziya two years old has no problem or fear of the hijras.. she shoots them as efficiently with her eyes as I shoot them with my camera.
I have also shot Hijra impostors too..
And now I am hoping somebody comes forward to help me publish my hijra pictures poems and blogs..
