Now I could have rushed taken a shot from the front but than human pain without a face could be as painful too if you read it as the drama and poetry of life.
I dont force myself on beggar flesh, I shoot them as I see them , and perhaps you may not see them as I see them..shooting beggars is shooting spectral light in a circle of confusion.
I have shot more humanly demeaning pictures of beggars on this trip , this is the essence of Urus circuit, you cant escape beggars at all..
And here in the land of the Khwajah Gharib Nawaz every human soul is a beggar , everybody including the Khadims the devotees are beggars and spiritual and material survival is the name of the game.
Everybody is here for gain and profit, most of the time money is the power , the hoteliers the vendors , the coin changers , the barbers the pressmen, all are here to make a quick fast buck.
I came her e with the camera as my quintessential beggars bowl..I shoot pain and instead of selling it I give it freely.
I give it freely to all Search engines though some rob me without even giving me the respect of a courtesy line.. as a photographer I am a blogger whore I give and give and I give..
130389 Photo blogs is the story of my life and when my subscription at Flickr comes to an end , and if I dont renew it you wont see my pictures ..just 200 odd ones ..I am entitled to as an ordinary member.
Flickr still needs proof to give me a Pro membership to show that my pictures are of no commercial value nor my thoughts.
So being a photo blogger is not an easy one , I shot a 22 GB memory card on this trip..and I shot what no other would want to shoot ..I show you the underbelly of pain and mans connection to spirituality through the Sufi path of Peace.
And it is this path that Ahle Hadees Maulana Mehraj Rabbani has allegedly denigrated , and with power and influence and his political connections silenced the Soul of Sunni Islam..
It is not the just the hijra but every human being seeking spiritual solace come to Gharib Nawaz.
I am a Shia Muslim but I come here as Khwajah Gharib Nawaz promoted the Humanity of Hussain..
Shah ast Hussain, Badshah ast Hussain
Deen ast Hussain, Deen Panah ast Hussain
Sardad na dad dast, dar dast-e-yazeed,
Haqaa key binaey La ila ast Hussain
Loosely translated
Ruler is Hussain, Emperor is Hussain,
Faith is Hussain , guardian of faith is Hussain .
Offered his head and not the hand to Yazid.
Truly, the mirror of faith is Hussain
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A Human Dog Called Man
The Rafaee and His Pet Parrots
130,380 items / 969,375 views
The Rafaees all cluster at Char Yar , a hang out place for them , and every one comes here to share smoke and bond.
Every Rafaee from an order has his space and around him sit his murids, hangar ons some seek his blessings others tke care of his needs , food , tea etc.
This place has an over all head Noubat Ali Baba and the Dhuni is the prominent place out here of mystic sanctity.
You will fill find the Hijra Bawas , the Ya Waris sect bawas dressed only in a saffron lungi and bare breated with a shawl drape.. they are adherents of Sabir Piya.
The Chancawalli Rafaees headed by Barsati Baba have a place or asthana here.
Hassan Ganda Don Jaun Baba was here with his two beautiful kids and Farukh Baba too both hardcore body piercing rafaees.
A little ahead is the asthana of the Khadims of Ajmer.
Char Yar is the place , and one person I missed terribly was Indorewale Baba who has chains all over his body about 180 kg.
I am a known face here and Noubat Ali Baba has accepted me as one of his Murids too.
Though most of the bawas know me because I meet them on the Urus circuit, they also know I am a cherished guest of Fakhru Miya Hujra No6 .. I stay in his house ..
Now the rafaee in the picture has got the parrots hooked on bidi smoke,they love inhaling it.
This Rafaee was sitting with the Hijda Bawas.
About the Hijra Bawas..
Hijra bawas are transgender , eunuchs who have given up the life of glitz and glamor and become ascetics..they do dua tawiz and exorcism.
No one messes with the Hijda bawas here at Char Yar.
But mind you there a volatile crazy bawas who are on deadly high of hash, and if provoked will smash your camera and your balls too.
I am not exxagerating most of the bawas dont like to be photographed taking hash, but if you pay them or give thm a round of chillum they might end up your best friend.
I dont smoke hash..nor do I give money for their habit so some take an immediate dislike and curse me under their breath.
The Malangs of Ajmer
These are dread head ascetic monks known as Dam Madar Malangs .
They are high up in the monastic hierarchy , and I have a ver good equation with them since many years.
They sit at a grave site within the mosque.
I am totally in awe of the Malangs of Ajmer .
The Rafaee at Char Yar Ajmer
He was once with the Chancawalli Rafaees but now he moves around on his own at Char Yar where all the rafaees and malangs sit.
At Peersaab Fakhru Miyas House Ajmer
All the years I have been coming to Ajmer I live with Peersaab Fakhru Miya Hujra No 6..he is my mentor and my host.
Peersab along with his children Farid Miya and Qambar Miya.
Javed in the orange shirt is Peersaabs main Murid and his man Friday.
Peersaab is a lover of Ahle Bayt a well known Sunni scholar and associated to the Khadims of Ajmer.
Peersaab is very vocal about Hazrat Ali and his recent seminar and a public rally paying tribute to Imam Ali and Ale Mohomed and denigrating Mauwiyah at Katni MP ruffled the Mullahs and the Brelvis.
But Peersaab folows the path of Ahle Bayt , he is not a Shia nor a Sunni but a Sufi who regards Hussainyat as the Soul of Islam.
He is a slave of Hazrat Abbas and has named his grand son as Hyder Ali..
Peersab does tablik on the Ahlke Bayt..and is very close to Hindu scholars and Pandit and has great bonding with them.
When I had a dream I saw a temple he interpreted it and sent me to the Brahma Temple in Puskar along with a circumcised Hindu Pandit a devotee of Khwajah Garib Nawaz and a custodian of a 750 year old Hanuman Temple in Ajmer.
The Pandit it is said had a dream and circumcised without becoming a Muslim but to appease the soul of Khwajah Gharib Nawaz.
I did not meet Panditji this trip but I met Ramzan Ali mujawir of the Shrine at Taragadh a great pilgrimage site for the Shias from all over India.
The Tap of Wisdom Runs Dry
130,253 items / 968,667 views
pseudo intellectuals
pseudo intellect
from heavy tomes buy
the tap of wisdom runs dry
they come tele evangelists
fuck humanity
with their diatribe
dividing the nation
of peace and brotherhood
with pseudo intellectual lies
to save the pillars of humanity
he paid the ultimate price
godliness in saintly disguise
fighting a yazidi king of flies
it is not in heaven
but in human hearts
you find humility
in eternal paradise
Holding His Future In His Hand
piddling away
he stands
his mind
no one
understands
a cosmic reality
unplanned
his hopes
sinking
in quick sands
what he is
what he was
what he cant be
his life rotting
away belligerently
in wastelands
shortage and demand
his doomed destiny
not at his
beck and command
Ishq Hua Hijde Se To Pari Kya Cheez Hai
waqt ne
lakar chorahe
par chod diya
meri manzil
uski dehleez hai
yeh hijda
bhi kya
cheez hai
kabhi badtameez
aur kabhi
adab aur
tehzeeb hai
hijde ka
bhi kya
nasib hai
Ishq Hua Hijde Se To Pari Kya Cheez Hai
The Hijra Beauty in Bloom
Society biased hateful
uses her as broom
fucked hijra fate
fucked hijra doom
begging on trains
getting fucked in a room
the hijra livelihood
desperate defiant
a nubile male
phenomenon
in a womans costume
her sweatiness
her body's
androgynous
perfume
the hijra is
the hijra was
a hijra from
the cradle
to the tomb
fucked fruit
of the loom
pain eternal
a poison
to consume
she is human
but a hijra
you assume
smoke
without fire
some fume
to Laxmi Narayan Tripathi
Best Wishes and prayers for her family
Beggar Hijras in the Train Hijra Vardan
Invariably I meet hijras on the crossroads of life I call this phenomenon Hijra Vardan, a gift by Providence and there is no escaping this for the hija and me.
I did not meet hijras on my return journey as I came by road.
The hijras on the trains is a quintessential quality of train travel and the hijra is ubiquitously a rt of the begging scenario.
These hijras liked me and were from Mumbai..
The new Flickr photo page. Bigger. Faster. More Flickr-er.
The new Flickr photo page. Bigger. Faster. More Flickr-er., originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
130,173 items / 968,395 views
This was shot in the Dadar Ajmer Express while going fo the Ajmer Urus 2010
Thank you Flickr
If you could only get rid of a nightmare called one sided contacts who add you and removing them is a tedious procedure that requires blocking.
I have blocked 400 such one sided contacts mostly those who have sexually porn explicit pictures on their photo stream and favorites.
It should be like Facebook where you either add him or ignore him.
Comment moderation is important to photographers like us who shoot controversial stuff as street and religious documentary.
Barring this Flickr is the best website to showcase your thoughts and pictures.
Indi Blogger has finally accepted my photo steam as Flickr Blogs ..Thank you Renee
The Impostor Hijras of Mumbai
They have all the looks of the hijra save the hardcore mannerisms of the hijras ..
A lot of young unemployed kids join them wear women clothes purely to make a fast buck.
This lot I have shot for several years , these are beggar hijras nonetheless , most of them touch my feet and call me Maharaj, thinking I am connected to religious order, but they have visited my earlier work place too so are aware of my profession.
They keep asking me pictures I have taken of them but I have not given them any copies till date.
The House of the Umbrella Lady of Bandra Reclamation
The House of the Umbrella Lady of Bandra Reclamation, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
The lady who lives under this umbrella faces the fury of the monsoonal showers flooding, but she wont seek a better safe haven.
I have been documenting her wretched life ,I give her money, I could have got a beautiful shot had I offered her money and she popped her head out, she did it the next day but I did not shoot her at all.
Such is pain of living unprotected to the whims and vagaries of nature ,I call her the Umbrella lady of Bandra Reclamation.,
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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...
