Sunday, August 1, 2010

The Silhouette Of the Hijab Never Ends

135,755 items / 1,045,713 views

lighting its way through darkness
to the new generation a new hope sends
within the hijab her religiosity
her humanity she defends
like minded souls she befriends
whats happening in france belgium spain
she does not comprehend
such an uproar over a ladies garment
seems intriguing unnecessary
when we have important things to tend
healing wounds creating a new tomorrow
without barbed fences where people
irrespective of caste color creed can blend
bring racism , terrorism fundamentalism
to its end ..as a symbol of peace
womanhood make sure you give
one to your lady friend the beauty
of the hijab lies in the eyes
of the beholder dont pretend

Life On A Roll

135,730 items / 1,045,669 views


beneath the crushing
wheels of the truck
dreams on a stroll
poems are pictures
my camera stole
god gave me images
in my beggars bowl
a sprinkling of words
the angst of my soul
a poet of mumbai
prolifically
producing poems
without birth control

Every Picture Is A Poem If You Read It Like One

135,739 items / 1,045,678 views

basking his sorrows
sitting in the sun
life today he says
has lost its fun
now it is only
money money money
god of every one
humility
hospitality
charity
just empty words
now on the run
the soul of man
born in the womb
stuck in the gun
the time for peace
has not yet begun
a karmic cycle of pain
only pain will return

Ghost Dog Shitting On The Street

135,730 items / 1,045,669 views

on a fucked system
beneath his feet
the rampant corruption
the hafta usuli
the bribe the kickbacks
a circle complete
yes minister
hands folded
he salutes
his seat
it is the dumb
public
gifted to him
sweet and neat
5 years
jyo shan se
roti kapda makan
aur man ka meet
blinfolded
no conscience
just rob and cheat
give take
without receipt
permission granted
no balance sheet
the contractor
while making the bridge
used straw and concrete
the poor get poor
homeless nothing to eat
watching
the rich get richer
in total defeat
we the people
are responsible
for the mess
we will stay away
from the elections
we will be on vacation
another
5 years repeat
the national flag
the dead soldiers
winding sheet
politicizing
the soul of humanity
humidity and heat
along with ghost dog
even man excretes
on a fucked system
a one way street


to benn bell

this is one poem you can
copy save or delete

Namaz Padega Jannat Jayega


At the back of this ricksha were words I really liked and poetically intrigued me

Namaz Padega Jannat Jayega
to which I add my own

nahi toh
dozakh ki ag main
phatke khayega
tere sat koie
nahi ayega
sale jo bhi
kamaya
neeche reh jayega
teri biwi tere bacche
teri dukan
tere makan
sat nahi ayega
sirf tuh teri neki
teri badhi
sar khuayega
ek bar aya
dubara palat
ke nahi jayega

Street Photography Stray Thoughts and Blogs

I am posting about 193 photos from the batch I shot and tweaked a few pictures , mostly street shots and some of Marziya in her new rain coat.


My style of uploading is posting most of my pictures without working on them but I dont know why I delayed uploading this jumbled lot , I was sheer lazy and not in a mood.

I carry my camera to work reluctantly more as a habit than as a choice I shoot randomly and honestly there is no method to my madness.

I am not a photographer like photographer I shoot impulsively without poetry or rhythm.. sometimes I shoot my caged childhood and yours too.. somethings are universal , the streets rains childhood and human emotions that we pan scan and showcase in my case as a photo blog.

And to think of it when I became a blogger I did not know how to use the computer not even how to upload pictures .

I was a disaster as a blogger , I could not manage fonts I type with one finger ,I was bad at spellings my early writings were rant exhumed from my past , so I have kept them alive at my archives and copied some to Flickr and at my web presence on Word Press and Blog Spot and Buzznet.


Two people helped me as a blogger one was Steve Haldane from Buzznet and a feisty lady I call the Blog Goddess who made me a journaler.

I thank them for allowing me to age and mature like fizzling old wine.

However hard I try I can not forget the contribution to my bloggers life by my Buzznet friends and Tom Andrews who inspired me to street photography has disappeared once again.

I cross blog my posts to few places but I use Facebook and Twiiter to shamelessly pimp my blogs and it works , I may not be an accepted contributor to newspapers but at least as a blog I have my say and Google Searching Firoze Shakir or Photographer No1will tell you the story of my shelf life as a blog.

I acted a cameo in a single Raj Kumar Santoshi film China Gate and a Rahul Anand serial Ranjish but that was my only tryst with my filmy fate that died as soon as it was born.

If I was asked by fluke to recite my poems well it would be next to impossible as all my stuff is at Flickr and unsaved on paper or memory.

My pictures are also on cyberspace I gave life to situations people who would not be photographed as freely as I have done.


So when I die my heritage will die with me on the Internet.


Unless Flickr gives me an extension after my death without paying the 25 dollars mandatory for a Pro membership that allows all all my stuff to be viewed ..And I am serious as I write this I am a diabetic and maybe be gone before I upload my next lot..because I shoot morbidity in all its mawkishness my thoughts to center around Death and impending departure.

So these are some stray thoughts on a Sunday , Mondays kill me anyway they remind me the problems of my life off line are not yet over and haunt me like Hamlets fathers ghost.

The Healer Called Marziya Shakir

99,326 items / 602,426 views


the little girl in the picture is my muse
through her the soul of my poetry l enthused
i would have loved my daughter
the same way had the bottle of booze
my soul not abused i was too drunk
alcoholic stupor my self all
other things i refused relationships
i used i was truly a victim and accused
but the birth of marziya giving up
the pain of life holistically healed
a new blood instead of alcohol transfused
a new membrane a new skin over the parts that
were internally bruised a new hope a new dawn
through marziya shakir a gifted healer i was rescued

1August 2010 6pm Mumbai

this is a poem inspired by a facebook comment

The Healer Called Marziya Shakir

99,326 items / 602,426 views


the little girl in the picture is my muse
through her the soul of my poetry l enthused
i would have loved my daughter
the same way had the bottle of booze
my soul not abused i was too drunk
alcoholic stupor my self all
other things i refused relationships
i used i was truly a victim and accused
but the birth of marziya giving up
the pain of life holistically healed
a new blood instead of alcohol transfused
a new membrane a new skin over the parts that
were internally bruised a new hope a new dawn
through marziya shakir a gifted healer i was rescued

1August 2010 6pm Mumbai

this is a poem inspired by a facebook comment

Humility Lies at the Feet of Man

135,645 items / 1,045,233 views

Most of my pictures on the streets that show me in the frame are shot by bystanders guys who have never ever used a SLR digital camera.

And I am updating this set Appu My Friend at Flickr... as I am posting some of these images to Facebook for my friends.

most of the time
we complain
our short height
our club feet
cause us pain
our long hands
our bow legged legs
a big protruding belly
makes us look insane
the women complain
more than us because
they have beauty
but lack a brain
a flat chest
a flat ass
varicose veins
cause them
much
greater pain
so obviously
when i shoot
appu my best friend
i thank god
i thank hussain
for making me
what i am
with all my flaws
more sensitive
more humane

I always gagged on the silver spoon.
says citizen kane

Life is a Tamasha On The Streets of Mumbai

99,327 items / 602,445 views


I am updating this picture today dated 1 Aug 2010 and I copy a comment on Facebook about Appu.. by Tya Gem a friend to whom I dedicates this post ..


The little girl at that time 23 months is my photographer grand daughter Marziya Shakir who shoots the streets with a Nikon D 80.


#
#
#

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Tya Gem this is a beautiful photo.. determination and presistance with added courage is the wake up call to human will
8 minutes ago · LikeUnlike ·
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Tya Gem
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educat...ed derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
John Calvin Coolidge
----------------------------

firoze say hi to your friend appu for me... living with disability is hard work.. not so easy.. i know cause i have slight disability and i work with them too.... looking at this photo and the smile on appu's face,.made me realize just how lucky i am, i still am complete even if part of me isnt..thank you my friend for sharing this beautiful life inspiring photo..you know i always look forward to your uploads and share because i knwo what comes form you is real and and a hard knock on reality is much needed in this very shallow world

I Shot Humanity Through The Ass

Decisive Moment of Pedestrian Poetry

Some pictures are predestined , I had my camera loaded with slide film I shot it, and this has to be shot fast, or it loses the aspect of its poetry of human life..
I normally stood aside from Appu , however my attire is such that more than Appu it is I who becomes the crowd puller..

And this is human nature, warped human nature..
On the streets of Mumbai to dress up like me requires sartorial courage..
The flip side is that even the cops dont spare you..
Earlier I wore the Pathan Kulla , but gave up wearing it it completely as I was getting earmarked as a would be terrorist..getting stopped at Nakabandis..security check required...

But I never changed my attire though I toned it down considerably..

And so shooting dressed like me gets me great expressions from my subjects..

I shot the Bandra Station Idd Namaz.. dressed in my usual attire , but than now at Bandra , the Bandra Police show more leniency..not because of me being Bollywoods Most Wanted , but because they know I am a simple Sufi soul at heart ..love of humanity and pride in being an Indian the greatest reward.

I gave up America and Alaska and love , and now Alaska is famous for all wrong things.. pit bulls lipstick , gun totting macho women..

Appu My Friend - A Blog Within a Blog

135,645 items / 1,045,163 views


I dedicate this picture and text to Dr Glenn Losack MD ..
This is Appu my friend shot a few years back in June 2003 on slide.

I have not met Appu since the time we shot him jointly at St Michaels Church Mahim.

Appu means a lot to me, he is an epitome of struggle , and once you meet him you will change your entire view of living.. on a precipice.

Living on the edge we all do..quite comfortably.

When I met Appu with Dr Glenn Losack MD he had already changed, a Muslim stubble a Muslim skull cap..

These are Appus early pictures where one saw him beyond the parameters of enforced religiosity.

Here he is human...

I have never , never asked Appu how he became limbless.
was never curious about his story , but that he existed carrying this huge burden of a torso was all that mattered..

And I am happy I am blogging this a few minutes away from my 28 th fast..I was awake till 3 am - yes letting you feel scanned memories my earliest travails and my passage into dimensional purposeful cryptography.

You dont just shoot pictures, its pictures that shoot you down, photography is a pre-destined form of creativity.. what you have to shoot you will shoot..leading a trail when others too will walk your path and shoot the same thing..

Our pictures take you away from home on the eagle spread out wings , these wings are powered by the soul of a blog..


Every picture tells you the recorded story of man.. and woman she is the epicenter of mans volcanic history.

Tom Andrews , Friar Tuck, Dread Heading, Yorrik Benn Bell Anthony Posey, Marius Muscalu, Designldg, and so many others here on Flickr..displaying a world according to Garp...

Dr Glenn Losack MD my mentor, my friend my guide and now my family.. we are one through the nature of our conjoined pictorial soul.. that adds text less poetry to a blog..

I am not much of a writer, I never was but the Blog did me in..I dont have a single poem in hand writing everything on the net..I am what I am because of my spirit that is cyberspace.

This is my 4927 Blog at Flickr for the month ending September.

And my 41910 blog in 15 months -Since I joined Flickr in June 2007.

Update
1 August 2010

135,645 blogs / 1,045,163 views in 3 years 2 months thanks each of you who helped me on this long journey ..

My Flickr friends my dear kind and considerate Facebook friends

God Works In Strange Ways

135,645 items / 1,045,101 views

sometimes god
works in strange ways
through another mans pain
shows you life parting
the waves in a world
of cowards where
live the braves
lives that were lost
marooned on the
shores 'of despair
within a nano second
he has saved
on the forehead of man
his humanity
engraved
to each ones
destiny a path
he has paved

Appu and Me

all my pics shot by dr glenn losack md

appu my best friend and me
shot by glenn losack
for posterity
tears on the dimpled
cheek
of adversity
humanity
is zilch
if you dont
have humility
humility
is
truth as human eyes
though which another
mans pain you see
relive a moment
set your manacled
soul free as glenn
would say
bahut shukriya jee

3 Little Monkeys

135,645 items / 1,045,072 views

In this picture I have caught two ends of a color palette chalky white and blackish brown
when a photographer of repute and renown came to shoot humanity in our town
a tryst with pain down side up right side down he sat next to a stump where others
would frown he felt a human pain deep down shot by another brownish black clown
an offer to shoot Darwinian monkeys he could not turn down a picture within a poem
he writes down fuck grammar syntax fuck all verbs noun pronoun..by time and tide
now mowed down barefeet a bleeding crown a chaotic calamity wont calm down

main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya

135,645 items / 1,045,063 views

Movie Name: Hum Dono (1961)
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music Director: Jaidev
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Year: 1961
Producer: Navketan
Director: Amarjeet
Actors: Dev Anand, Jagirdar, Lalita Pawar, Leela Chitnis, Nanda, Rashid Khan, Sadhana
Theme: Family Drama



Maein Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya
Har Fikar Ko Dhuen Mein Udata Chala Gaya

Barbadiyon Ka Shok Manana Fizul Tha
Barbadiyon Ka Jashan Manata Chala Gaya
Har Fikar Ko Dhuen Mein Uda

Jo Mil Gaya Usi Ko Muqaddar Samajh Liya
Jo Kho Gaya Maein Usko Bhulata Chala Gaya
Har Fikar Ko Dhuen Mein Uda

Gham Aur Khushi Mein Farq Na Mehsoos Ho Jahan
Maein Dil Ko Us Muqaam Pe Laata Chala Gaya
Har Fikar Ko Dhuen Mein Uda

Appu and His Sister at Chor Bazar

135,645 items / 1,045,060 views

Appu has changed a lot since I shot this picture at Chor Bazar , he has become more Mouzie meaning Muslim , skull cap beard growth etc but he is still jovial , and lives his way through life..

He does not call out or draw your attention to get alms like other beggars do , he does it with dignity and grace.

Appu is the story of Life and I would not want anyone of you to ever relive it.

But I do take courage from him and my flaws become minimal when I think of Appus own disabilities and how he has overcome it.

Appu was blown by a minefield called Fate.. and he lives to tell his story through my pictures ..of him.

The Goat That Loved To Butt Appu


135,645 items / 1,045,047 views

This was shot at Chor Bazar a long time back and this is the truant goat that would butt Appu most of the time but his little sister would shoo her away .

The only problem shooting Appu here at Chor Bazar or at Mahim is the crowd mentality they appear from nowhere and the shop keepers get mad as it hinders their business and at Mahim it causes traffic snarls.

So I dont what is in store for Marziya when she shoots Appu with my Nikon D 80 one of these days.

Appu and His Sister at The Shia Cemetery Shabbarat

135,645 items / 1,044,909 views

Its been close to three years since I shot this picture pain is the hard core reality in this picture , and the cemetery was crowded for Shabbarat prayers , and the ground was wet and soggy.

This is a rare picture of Appu my best friend and his sister I shot them both at Chor Bazar too , and she is his guardian angel

There is a story too with his sister guarding him , there are beggars drug addicts who snatch his days earnings and run away , but the worst is when he was at Chor Bazar a goat took dislike to his stunted form and would try to knock him off.. so not having legs or hands you cant do so many things that are quintessentially Indian pastimes , you know what I mean I would not want add cheek and jowl here.

Flies too trouble Appu and mosquitoes too.

And he stopped sitting at Chor Bazar a place I have not visited since a very long time.

Maybe Muslims are misers as he now sits near a Church and gets more money from those who come for the Wednesday Novena at Mahim.

I have not seen Appu and I had gone to give him his picture shot by my mentor Dr Glenn Losack MD.

The next will be when I take Marziya to shoot him one of these days.

Armless Harmless Legless Akimbo

135,645 items / 1,044,898 views

As a street photographer I tried to show you pain , a pain of a man
armless legless harmless akimbo time stood till while his pain ran
a human tree stump of misfortune growing from within
a garbage can he is what he is appu my best friend height grandeur
as he stands poverty soul enhancing Indian brand supply
greater than demand a few coins at your beck and command

Appu In The Rains

135,645 items / 1,044,840 views

I shot this in 2007 during the Shia Shabbarat celebrations , and this is the entry path to Rehmatabad Shia cemetery Mazgaon .

This was a post without text I am updating today 1 Aug 2010.


The Shias come to pray for the souls of their ancestors offer fatiah on the graves , there are two ways of seeing this the ones in the graves are the sleeping dead and the beggars begging for salvation of your soul are the living dead.

This picture of Appu haunts me even now and I could have shot this by changing my angle of view but I was far too timid and embarrassed., and as I shoot my pictures as poems it is tough being a photographer in situations such as these.

That is why most of my beggar shots are not face to face at all.

Perhaps I am a bigger beggar than the beggars I shoot a lot of beggars and sanctimonious shit heads who see me shooting beggar pictures think I do it for money or to show my country in a bad light fortunately my credentials as a nationalist Indian are more complete than my own marginalized religiosity taking hiccups in sectarian strife.
You know exactly who shows the country in bad light I dont need to elaborate those who leads us are doing a terrific job..no pun intended.

It took Mr Boyle to turn our slum life into a brand equity and how do you shoot beggars if you are up into the ass of an insect in your micro lens , or shooting mountains and forgetting the shit lumps of humanity on the roads.

Now you know why I dont shoot sunsets cuddly pictures of toddlers and kids , I shoot pain and survive its onslaught through ever frame I shoot.

Through the pictures I shoot of the beggars relive their pain , and I share it free a a blog I am not paid per cc either..and you cant measure a beggars pain in per cc too.


I thought of desaturating and adding creativity skills to this picture but than I leave it as is where is..

I Post My Pictures at Flickr I Blog at Facebook

135,644 items / 1,044,802 views

I upload my pictures at Flickr I add text dramatize street pain realistically even if I am using a creative tool..but of late I blog at Facebook simply as I am inter acting via comments at Facebook and not at Flickr.

A Facebook reader within my circle of friends who comments on my street pictures is honest sincere sensitive and more intelligent than me by far, my Facebook friends are the icing on the cake of my blog..abd I mean it , my Facebook friends are not mere faces they are body and soul too, and I am sure once in a while Mr Marc Zuckerburg reads me too slyly or shyly of course .

I blog to educate and its a fact I blog to educate myself through your comments.

My Facebook friends are human as human as the pictures I shoot of humanity on the streets clutching to a straw of disappearing hope.

I have blocked people at Facebook when they got nasty and ridiculed the people I shot or my faith I booted them out without explanation ..if you are on Facebok you are not a kid you should be sensitive to my side of a story though you may not adhere to my religiosity..

I dont bad mouth your vocation , your religion or you gender issue so why nail me like Jesus Christ for your own shortcomings.

Anyway this is not the purpose of my post I shall continue without speechifying a social network nightmare adding friends losing sleep etc etc/.

In my case I am happy with all my Facebook friends , this morning I got a comment on my beggars post at Facebok , by my good friend Laurent Designldg a gifted poet , a gifted photographer and an Indophile..

He is on Flickr too and all over on the soul of India too..I copy his comment and share it with you..to the hero of my blog post in the picture I shall come later.


Designldg Laurent

Dearest Firoze your last pictures are amazing, all of them...!!!
Before your style was more photo reportage and now you are sharing with us some absolute pieces of Art.
I enjoy your new pictures so much bahut shukriya for all that.

My reply to his comment besides this post is words I wrote at Facebook.

Firoze Shakir

Laurent I hate doing this Art bit honestly , earlier what I shot I posted directly , but I am reliving and dramatizing my pain through my new pictures and my poetry ..pictures I have in plenty, I am a pot somebody has accidentally overturned and my pain overflows ..quenching someone else s thirst ..it drinks flies away..

I normally post my pictures as I shot them I try not to show of my borrowed creativity but sometimes a picture demands it , and so I have desaturated the soul of my picture adding more pain to my own monochromatic morbidity

Its not easy being a blogger you cant be a blogger if you have nothing to say photo blogging is not micro blogging or farting a tweet it is narrating with or without words the story of the man on the street and through him your own too.

These are my words on the long winding blog of pain.

Now to Appu My Best Friend ..

Appu is the soul of my strength in breadth and length .

Appu is a person I dont call a beggar or ever treat like a beggar and I know him since the time I began to shoot pictures he was my street model..he still is.


But Appu disappears during the rains he goes back to his hometown Gauwhati in Assam.

Appu survived the cloud burst fury a few yeas back that had inundated the soul of Mumbai I am told he takes no chances , his handier I know it is not the right word is his relative or a sister.

My grand daughter Marziya Shakir met him too and there are only two people she recognizes instantly one is Appu my friend the other Salman Khan Dabbang..

So I shoot pain capture it even when the pain no more exists , pain has a tendency to move away from over exposure.

I began walking barefeet inspired by Appu , I realized what it means for Appu he walks much taller than me.

Apu is not crude , he is lovable polite and generous he sometimes gives alms to the more unfortunate than him with hands and legs and no alms.


So this is a God inspired blg I have absolutely no knowledge or training in formal writing no syntax symmetry or grammar I shun it all as the picture within the picture of pain tells its story requires no text.. but some moments necessitate text as I write for a global audience who do not know the imagery of my surroundings or the surroundings of the person I shot.

Appu is a set on Flickr.

This is for my Facebook Friends in humility and gratitude..

Appus other best friend is Dr Glenn Losack MD

Untouchable Pain

135,643 items / 1,044,801 views

a new sunday has come
an old sunday has gone
from one week to another
i slept on a dead
bed of thorns
soliloquizing silently
the soul of my song
my body is weak
my spirit not strong
in a hired dead body
my pathos my pain
my anguish belongs
fighting despair
as my demon
my story lifelong
like a pet dog
on a chain
slavishly
comes along
my stiffing stay
death loves
to prolong
a poem
within
a picture
reptilian
remorse
a tear
from my eye
my slithering
swan song
i maybe right
my luck
all wrong

Untouchable Pain

135,643 items / 1,044,801 views

a new sunday has come
an old sunday has gone
from one week to another
i slept on a dead
bed of thorns
soliloquizing silently
the soul of my song
my body is weak
my spirit not strong
in a hired dead body
my pathos my pain
my anguish belongs
fighting despair
as my demon
my story lifelong
like a pet dog
on a chain
slavishly
comes along
my stiffing stay
death loves
to prolong
a poem
within
a picture
reptilian
remorse
a tear
from my eye
my slithering
swan song
i maybe right
my luck
all wrong

The Macho Miya Male

135,642 items / 1,044,461 views


begging
on the soul
of adversity
a poor muslim
female
walking
the ramp
of street life
the miya
macho male
this is real
not a fairy tale
ashamed
of her bad times
in silence
she let out a
painful wail
i heard it
through my camera
a lady broken down
hammered beaten
sickly and frail
my poem on her trail

Horn Please Dont Overtake Dead Body

135,641 items / 1,044,442 views

I was in a ricksha and at the back of us was an ambulance in a hurry with a dead body and the ricksha was not giving him side so he pulled over and blasted my rickshaw guy..

I apologized on behalf of my ricksha driver and let the ambulance over take us..

Than I took the shot of a unknown persons last journey.

Perhaps I thought the unknown person or dead body was a dead poet like me wanting to say good bye to me , maybe he was a Facebook subscriber had tried to add me as a friend and in my fucked mental state I kept hitting the ignore button.

And now for one last time he made the final attempt to add me and I obliged..

May His Soul Rest In Peace .

He will be happy as I add him to my Facebook Wall pictures ,a gallery of Hope within Despair sometimes a dead friend among the living you share he wont comment like your post I swear..

Blogging The Soul of Humanity

135,639 items / 1,044,402 views

It is raining heavily as I blog this here , and the picture I shot a few days back it was only drizzling than , so imagine her plight now as I document her pain , she lives on the street close to my house and her only shelter from the vagaries of monsoonal fury is the umbrella in the picture , she does not say a word when I shoot her pictures I give her money and she is fond of my grand daughter Marziya who gives her money too.

I call her the Umbrella Lady of Bandra Reclamation..

She is not a beggar but real hard harsh times have caught up with her karmic fate.

Now you know why such pictures human stories escape the newspapers luckily they have left us the untouchables of life to shoot ..or I would be cursing my camera for lying idle at home on a rainy day.

Sometimes being a prolific photographer you are a positive spam too.. on the soul of drugged humanity.


And I am a poet which is a bigger fuck up too as positive poetry spammer

Under The Umbrella of Allah

135,638 items / 1,044,382 views

under the umbrella
hand held by Allah
over our heads
we are his children
we are all one
maligned
misinterpreted
scriptures
divide and rule
the soul
of Islam
in the muzzle
of a gun
round
the waist
of a suicide
bomber
a misguided
jehad of hate
a nubile virgin
for a loved one
muslims
love killing muslims
just for kicks
just for fun
the rogue mullah
on the run
if only we could
live in peace
as muslims
beyond shias sunnis
sectarian strife
under the universal
canopy
of Allah
may his will be done
the battle of peace
the victory of truth
could have already
been won
as a peace loving
humanity loving
ethnicity
we would
have been No1
unfortunately
in the womb
of our motherhood
it is a killing machine
we churn tears
ashes
in the soul of the urn
a lesson
we do not wish
to learn
along
with the world
we burn
we burn
we burn

In The Wastelands of My Mind

135,637 items / 1,044,251 views

sometimes
i wonder
if i cut open
my head
what would
i find
cerebral chaos
littered used
condom like words
repeatedly dead
resurrected words
distempered words
defecated deleted
discriminated words
scribbled notes
fuck words
bad words
sad words
all glaring
at me
accusingly
in the waste bin
of my mind
seminal
germinal
words of all kind
like a torn tattered
dictionary
time has
been unkind
in the wastelands
of my mind
cosmic chaos
the soul of mankind
gray matter
brain cells aligned
a pedestrian
poet his bathos
going bad to worse
fucked from behind
dog eared pages
of love letters
my love gone blind
the soul of my poetry
my anguish
my pathos
to the fires
consigned
a garbage dump
on the mound
of Venus
irritatingly
inclined
what i
never owned
can never
be mine

The Long Winding Road of Pain

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I am a street poet who shoots pain as it shoots my insides too.

And mind you I am crazy I could go stand next to them look like them to make you feel what they feel.. yes this is what it means to shoot the children of a lesser god.


I have begged along with the rafaees from shop to shop I have begged along with the Naga Sadhus with my Naga Guru Shri Vijay Giri Maharaj of Junagdh Akhada at the Kumbh.. eaten left overs and felt like a beggar so I know the humiliation at being a beggar..

Begging is not about humility it is about humiliation being human in an inhuman world.


And I began shooting beggars recently after I met Dr Glenn Losack MD my menor and now my extended family a white man and an American Jew.

I have shot beggars before instilled the photography of beggars as poetry, I shot beggars at Hussain Tekri Jaorah Ajmer and Lucknow but those pictures were pictures my new pictures of the beggars are poem evolving the poetry of my own soul in flight meaninglessly wingless perhaps.


And shooting beggars is shooting your own beggarly soul.

This lane in Bandra is very depressing and I dont come here to shoot pictures I come on work and pass this way , and some of those who beg here live on the roads near Bandra Reclamation or Lal Matti as it is called.

One place I meet hordes of beggars is at Pitru Pakaksh Hindu feast at Banganga Walkeshwar but I avoid shooting them as I am busy shooting the street barbers there.

The soul of India has the shadow of the beggars ingrained on it there is no escape whatsoever..I dont go out of my way to shoot beggars the come my way I shoot them as they light my poetic soul..

The only person who seeks alms and I dare not call him a beggar is Appu the limbless guy..he sits like a tree stump of despair you give him money he takes you dont give him money no big deal.
He is a good friend of Dr Glenn Losack MD too.

And honestly my heart is not into blogging poetry or photography I am going through the worst phase of my life but I blog so that the pain does not kill me eventually.

I normally post my pictures as I shot them I try not to show of my borrowed creativity but sometimes a picture demands it , and so I have desaturated the soul of my picture adding more pain to my own monochromatic morbidity

Its not easy being a blogger you cant be a blogger if you have nothing to say photo blogging is not micro blogging or farting a tweet it is narrating with or without words the story of the man on the street and through him your own too.

Now you know why you wont read this at all in Hindustan Times .

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