Sunday, January 17, 2010
Hardcore Zanjir Matam
I am only a whisker away from him, I shadow box with the movements of his sharp and dangerous blades , I carry the gift of life and the day it fails me I wont have regrets ..
And this is not bravado either standing in the middle of the tracks of a speeding train is not photography it is suicide...even with a camera in your hands.
Hardcore street photography , requires the shedding of fear ..and I am still learning it.
And on Chehlum I will cut my head again , I dont know where I will be now that Glenn has decided not to come to Mumbai to shoot Moharam.
And I will do Tandav on the soul of Shimr to the chants of Ya Hussain.
I Shoot the Allegory of Pain
There are rituals that are part of a religious tradition, they come with the territory of pain.
I have shot a lot of rituals , but as a photo blogger I shoot pictures as amateur photo journalism.
You dont like it too bad , I cant individually satisfy you , as a photographer this is my genre my specialty hard core street photography , I get hurt while shooting this but I take my chances , the only thing that does not scare me is death , she is with me all time..my true soul mate , my only true friend the only friend to guide me across as the oarsman of my transitional ethereal life's boat.
A few years back my eye lid was split due to a flagellating blade my eye ball was in my hand and the guy who bandaged me immediately with deft healing hands had saved my eye ..I had cried as I walked all the way barefeet to the Shrine of Hazrat Abbas at Dongri to offer my thanks..and from there in this state I went and shot the hardcore scourging and kamazani at Kaisar Bagh, yes Faith does move mountains we as Indians know it very well.
And so now you know why I just cant get myself to shoot Better Photo tame and sweet chubby stuff, why I cant shoot the rectum of an insect or the posterior of a mountain..dont blame me for my short comings..I am wee bit more human than you re with your fancy state of the art micro lens.And I dont begrudge your metier your fascination, for the god of all little and big things.
I shoot the destiny's child I shoot moments as metaphors , I shoot the allegory of pain, I shoot God as I see him a speck of dust hidden in the despair of a poor mans eye...
Yes I shoot the poor mans god who bleeds and is as human as you are when you bleed.
Self Healing The Scourging Wounds
The pressing of the cloth absorbs the excess blood and stops the overflowing of blood .. through the deep wounds and nothing else is used no ointment no septic shots .. only water the source of life and a medium of holistic healing..
Self Healing The Scourging Wounds
First I must confess a thought and I wish Flickr had a wall on our main profile page , that we could at least voice an opinion, or a gem.. but Flickr hates copying Facebook, it wants numbers and nothing else..it wants heads , more members nothing else, it thereby promotes porn, though that is not its intention , anyone can become a member with a false ID, all are heartily welcome child molesters , pedophiles, anyone,
So you have ordinary members who are on Flickr simply for browsing the hardcore sexually explicit pictures , you have members who have joined for racial profiling, racist abuse, for Shia bashing,I took a lot of stick for posting Shia pictures , my family cursed abused , till I finally locked my comment boxes at Flickr and also at Blogspot.
I like Word Press as I have enabled comment moderation , I am the sole person author of my blog to censor a comment.. yes I am doing a free service to Cyber Society I give my time and I pay Rs 800 per month to my service provider to show you my cultural inheritance not merely as a Shia but as an Indian too.. I show you the underbelly of our diverse religious angst as a photo blogger..I have no side income as a blogger ,it is totally gratis I dont sell words I dont sell pictures , I am opinionated as much as you all are.And at the age of 56 I dont think I need to go under an editorial desk to give head ..to see a single picture published or my pedestrian verse made public..
I am online and Google Search brings me to your home whether you invite me or not..I will be alive as a blog unless my children delete all my stuff after my death..my blog is my heritage as a street photographer I bequeath to them.
Now having said all this I began blogging at Buzznet in 2005 and at Blogspot too, someone a vicious person hacked my Buzznet site I had to delete all my blogs 11000 blogs in a single night.
I was totally disillusioned with blogging and the time I spent on it , endless sleepless nights.
So I came to Flickr , and in less than 31 months I have posted 112849 blogs on all religiosity and street subjects.. 75 %of my blogs are part of a genre called Hope and Hindutva and this is my tribute to my Hindu friends well wishers and to my country.
I am an Indian much before you identify me as Muslim or as a Shia period.
So I began posting my Shia pictures , on Buzznet and Blogspot , not to enlighten Shias they already know the essence of their Faith , I posted my Shia blogs only for my friends mostly Americans all on Buzznet.
I wanted to know my religiosity of pain up close , and interpret it without falsity.
I shot Moharam in most of the cities of India, sometimes the Shias of Lucknow too treated me shabbily till I did my Tandav on the streets of Kazmain cutting my head like I have never done before.. Yes there are a lot of bigots among Shias too, they want me to be like them I cant.. I come from the crucible of tolerance and mutual coexistence .. Yes I am a Pucca 101% Mumbaikar and I am proud of my city.. without disrespecting the roots of my birth - Lucknow.
This is my 6 th year as a photo blogger I shoot with a single camera Nikon D 80, my Flickr two year membership has been gifted to me by my American friend Dr Glenn Losack MD..
The guy in the picture has cut himself badly, and he is being treated with water, his back will pressed with a cloth ,so blood clots dont mushroom as little bloated bags once the wounds heal.
And I shot several frames of one friend helping another friend.This accelerates the self healing more than anything else.
Busheri Matam of Mumbai
Busheri Matam is a specialty of the Imamwada Shias and those from Moghul Masjid and close by areas, it has a Irani origin, and it is performed as a circle, one person holding the other persons waist and moving round and round to the Irani noha recited by the person in the center.
The Busheri Matam is seen more graphically as a top shot, and I think I will try to shoot it from Bashiron where it will be held next week at the Guru Nanak Park juloos organized by the Wazir brothers.
The Busheri matam requires ample space , but people do it in close and congested quarters too, this is a spiritual choreography of pain we call Ghame Hussain.
I shot several frames at the Bandra East Juloos series at Flickr.
The Imamwada anjumans showcase this to the far far areas they go for Shabbedari.
This has a Mumbai patent hallmark of Shia faith.
Master of the Rings
a blogger
who blogs
photo things
entering
your world
without wings
poetic upswings
master of the rings
pictures as words
giving vent
to feelings
sending you
hearty greetings
The Old Shoe Shoppe
These are old shoes that the owner has bought from film productions as a lot, shoes worn by heroes , super stars , villains , vamps , heroines all under one roof that I call the Old Shoe Shoppe , as it has a very nostalgic Dickensian quality, I can close my eyes and see Mr Micawber haggling for a long pair , and demanding credit but promising to pay once the tide turns over..or I can close my eyes see Mr Uriah Heep back bent slithering in the shadows to buy a pair of warmers for his stiff feet..
Or Mr Barkis trying to buy a dainty one for Aunty Pegotty..
And than when I do open my eyes it is Marziya eying me having imbibed a thought for the day , that street photography is adding a human angle and dimension to a mans sleeping soul awakening his consciousness to the lyrical beats of mans quest for dreams.
Simplicity is the soul of humility..
Marziya Beware
the stink
the filth
of
bandra
the uncrowned
queen of garbage
will follow you
everywhere
now if this was
next to ministerjis house
the municipal maibaap
would lose his chair
but the common man
who voted ministerji
to power
all this misery
he must bear
his precious vote
forgotten
an empty hollow dream
turned into nightmare
the despair
of the eunuch
silent residents
with all of you
I share
I too a eunuch
caught in life's
eternal snare
The reason Marziya is heading towards the garbage dumps is because she loves goats..
Shooting Barbers
That is me in the mirror shooting barbers I enjoy shooting street side barbers and pictures of religious tonsure, and almost all the street side barbers know me because of my razor sharp camera.
I have not shot the street side Bandra Reclamation barbers , the road side stall near my place , I dont visit anymore..
Shooting barbers at work,smoothly touching a mans face is about Touch, the human touch, than the blade on raw skin , its strokes , its movements can be poetry..if you read this moment as a poet like I do..
I have shot the road side barbers in various towns but the most exhilarating was shooting a guy having a shave in an open green field perched on a chair in Bakshi Talav close to Lucknow.
And spiritually enlightening was a couple I shot from Andhra Pradesh newly married who had a religious tonsure at Haji Malang , this was the best picture capturing moment , both man and woman Hindus giving the strands of hair for wishes brought to fruition by the Sufi Saint of the Mountains ,Haji Malang Baba.
Even Marziyas mundan is part of her 9000 picture story at Flickr.
Marziya is not scared of the razor at all,but she used to get mad when local kids called us both Takle.. I became bald after her mundan to give her company and not make her feel an alien at my house.
I cannot resist shooting barbers and shooting barbers at Pitru Paksh at Banganga can be a moment that wont leave you forever , if you are aware of the fact that most of the guys cutting the devotees hair have never held a razor before , it is just about supply and demand and big juicy bucks.. not Rs 20 for a haircut but Rs 251 and more..
Education in the Pipeline
New water pipelines have been laid by Councilor Rahebar Khan for the residents of Indraji Nagar Bandra and this girl doing her homework, caught my camera eye...
Being Born a Poor Muslim Woman My Bad Luck
During the few years I have been shooting hijras I found many a man had left his family to get married to the eunuch, a eunuch that is neither man nor woman but has the exotic charismatic power to ensnare gullible man..his original sin being his naivete and foolishness.
This woman inspired me with the words, this may not be the allegory of her pain..poetically designed in a situational inescapable moment of grief ..so read it as such..
within the
grinding wheel
of karmic pain
of my womanhood
I am stuck
I beg to feed
my childrens
empty stomach
as no one will
give me work
winds of despair
into my life's courtyard
more pain chuck
vulnerable
sitting duck
being born
a poor Muslim
woman
my bad luck
he has left me
for another woman
a comely eunuch
a shake a jolt a jerk
on my misery
another bolt
thunderstruck
I wish I was dead
run over
beneath the wheels
of a truck
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Shah-e-Mardan Sher-e-Yazdan Quwat-e-Parwardigar Lafata Ila Ali La Saif Ila Zulfiqar , originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1 ....
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Dargah of Hazrat Syed Ali Mira Datar Unava Gujrat , a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr. HAZRAT SYED ALI MIRA DATAR'S G...
