Hijra Offering Namaz

Hijra Offering Namaz, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

The hijras should not be condemned because they are transgender , born male but having opted for a womans identity and gender.

The hijras are as human as you and me //or more human than you or me.

The hijras are devoted to almost all divinity, the Muslim hijras offer namaz keep fast during Ramzan and abstain from their worldly activities and soliciting during this mubarak month.

Hijras are not guinea pigs or simians in a cage they bleed as you bleed perhaps more.
I shoot hijras with dignity, and hijras come in all shapes sizes quirks and idiosyncrasies.
I have been lucky to have been divinely helped to show you the hijra in all her beauty and simplicity.


I know hijras who tell me that they will soon leave the trade and become devoted housewives or mistress of the person they love.

So the hijra too needs love as you and me perhaps more than you and me.

To shoot the hijra as close as this is not photography it is a bond that comes from within the hjra.

I have met evil devious hijras too but I think of them as a minority and victims of abuse and neglect in their childhood.

I have seen photographers shoot hijras , only as photographers , they are much better than me in their art and technique.


I shoot hijras as poems and make you read them as poems too.. I stop becoming a photographer the moment I see them through the viewfinder of my human soul.

I dont ask hijras their names , their past life or any question that would embarrass or humiliate them.

I shoot them move away, if they tell me to stop shooting I stop immediately.

I respect the senior hijra gurus and Ma Madhurima of Park Site Vikhroli treats me like her son.

I know if I had overstayed a few more days I could have more than 20000 pictures of Hijras but I cut short my trip to get back to my work and my grand daughter Marziya.

I was certain this trip to Ajmer Urus 2010 would not materialize I sold my Nikon ED 80- 200 Lens 2.8 to make it happen.

It miraculously did happen in the end.