Khushi Is The Poetic Passion of My Hijra Photography, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
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Over the years I have been shooting hijras I have tried to capture the restlessness of their androgynous soul, and I have met so many hijras you will be surprised that I hardly talk or inter act with them.
Nisha my hijra friend the surrogate hijra mother breast feeding her child was the only exception , I give her a lot of respect because whenever I meet her she will pamper me to death , that she calls me Firoze Bhai is understandable given the seniority of my age and status.
And than Khushi , I first met and shot her at Madh Island at Simran dancers birthday , she was plump and bursting out of her jeans but she is an agile dancer.
Later on I met her at Haji Malang and Ajmer Sharif through my hijra guru Laxmi Narayan Tripathi.
And it was only this year that I spoke to her at length on my return from Haji Malang and invited her home to meet my family and my grand daughter .. so this is Khushi a reticent private person , hardly voluble or cacophonous like the rest of her hijra brethren.
Her chela Puja whom I call Kareena was not at the Urus this time.
I can go on shooting Khushi it is a fusion of her soul and the two spirited soul of my camera too.
Actually Khushi was not going to cme to the Urus as her mom was unwell and there was a niyaz at her house but her mother coaxed her to go.. and she came to Haji Malang ..
Her finery is her cultured background, that I call Adab Tehzeeb.
She is extremely polite soft spoken but you dont mess with her she is street smart too..and a survivor.
She has seen life ups and down and holds her head high , and this attitude one might consider as arrogance but she is too down to earth.
Her at the hijra sandal, it was not men ogling at her and I was protecting her , it was women and kids they were all over her touching her to make sure she was real..
I dont think they really cared if she was a hijra.. she was a woman caught in the throes of timelessness.
I have shot some of the prettiest hijras and the most ugly ones too but I shot them as human and never try to divest their soul from its dichotomy or from its origins as an Androgyne.
So I must confess Khushi stands out large as my Hijra muse., she has what other pretty hijras dont have she has class , humility and and a healing touch..
Even her smile heals , she might be sexy to others but to me she personifies ethereal womanhood.
She is affluent rich but poor at heart.. I saw her giving money to beggars discreetly and quietly ... her flamboyance her flighty strides when she walks reminds me of an angel in flight.
Falling in love with Khushi well a poet always loves his muse.. and this is the detachment of a realty kissing the feet of Imagination.
So I continue with my hijra uploads all shot because of my cosmic fate attached to the soul of the hijra.
I shot Raveena the Hijra seductress changing her clothes that I have hidden from public display but it was a seamless situation , without titillation , it was art for arts sake and sculpting the hijra soul with magic of spectral light.
Yes I shoot hijras not as a photographer I shoot the hijras a poem without words and that is why my hijras are different devoid of the lacuna you see in hijra pictures elsewhere...
I give respect to the hijra soul and thereby get respect from them and they can be Khushi or Laxmi my hijra guru or the poor beggar hijra at the Turner Road Traffic signal or the prostitute hijra at Peela house in the red light areas of Mumbai.
