Pratap Sarnaiks No 1 Dahi Handi of Vartak Nagar Thane, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
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“Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya
Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha
Abhyuthanam Adharmasya
Tadatmanam Srijami Aham”
A shloka taken from Bhagvat Gita where Shri Krishna while addressing Arjuna says “Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O! Bharata and a rise of unrighteousness, then I will manifest myself”.
I am keeping my Dadar pictures on hold just a few hundred remain to be uploaded at my site at Flickr.com.
After I had shot the Dadar Dahi Handi I went to Thane Vartak Nagar to shoot Mr Pratap Sarnaiks Dahi Handi - the No 1 dahi handi of Thane .
It is not about ten tiers or nine tiers that make you big but humility and hospitality .
Now why do I say this simply because emotions override all other aspects of Humanity.
And this was visible when Aftab Shivdasani spoke to the disciplined peace loving dahi handi lovers of Thane at Vartak Nagar where he was the chief guest along with Prachi Desai , he thanked the crowd and this fine actor whom I have known since a long time had tears in his eyes he was overwhelmed by the love of the crowds for him and these tears are what makes a Dahi Handi the No 1 in Thane.
I read body language and shoot pictures as a poet I read the poetry of tears as they dropped from Aftabs eyes he touched Thane with this gesture of his humanness and his humility for the Sarnaiks too,
I am not journalist nor do I have any media pretensions of being a journalist my camera my pictures do the talking and so this long series might be devoid of text..
I must talk of one person who besides the Sarnaiks touched me deeply was Pappu Bhai a close family associate of the Sarnaiks , he knew I was fasting tired and my legs were swollen as I normally shoot some events barefeet this was one of them.
He ordered batata wada fruits and cold drinks so I could break my fast on the stage and I did it without feeling I was away from home.
All the volunteers were very helpful to me the performers and the guests and when Mr Pratap Sarnaik introduced me to the crowds I too had tears in my eyes , he told them I was the photographer who had shot their World Record breaking Dahi Handi 2008 .
He called me Family and a few minutes back today his son Purvesh Sarnaik Pappu Bhai came to my house with a shawl to felicitate me and I liked this because they felicitated Marziya Shakir my grand daughter two and a half year old street photographer too,
Well before they felicitated me Marziya shot their pictures on my Nikon D 80..and they could not believe it..
So now you know why Mr Pratap Sarnaik his family and my family are a singe family.
For me before you are a Hindu or a Muslim you need to be human this is the Mantra of Mans survival his Karma and his Dharma.
I believe I am as much Hindu as you are Muslim..
