To A Devotee of Malang Baba Called Yomesh Khergaonkar USA, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
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I met Yomesh through the internet , he is an avid viewer of my Haji Malang pictures and today I confess much of Haji Malang I shot with his eyes..he only sends me messages during the Haji Malang Urus otherwise I never hear from him at all..
I am posting a few of his messages and sharing his love of Malang Baba wiith all of you.
Thanks for the images of the URS at HaJi Malang...in my living room in New Jersey...
Was there last year...then after Ajmer...during last Ganpati celebrations..enjoy Ganesh after 16 long years....
Next time I will contact u...hope u hv time...then yomesh
Saw ur pictures of Shree Makhdoomshah Baba Urs at Mahim...do u know someone by the name Bhagwanbhai...they call him baba at the Mahim dargah...he lives in Goregaon now...originally from Carter Rd, Bandra..
Extremely well known at Malanggad...with the Muzawars and also the senior Kelkars...
yomesh
He is too old now..they celebrate the URS at his residence..
he gets the Holy Saint in his body...they call it "sawari"...starts speaking in Urdu/Arabic...right from Bakhtwar Shah Baba to Sultan Shah to the greatest boss of "Konkan Region"..."Haji Malang"...
The reason I asked is I read that u sit behind the dargah...he used to too...till recently becoz of ill health...
I am happy to hv come across u...
yomesh
I try to avoid..seeing "the bosses picture -- Shree Abdul Rehman Sahibs" picture...at normal times...might get a "convulsion" for all you know...
The same applies to Sarkar Makdoomshah, Bahuddin Shah Isfahani (Bombay Hospital), "Hind Vali" Sarkar Khwaja Moinudin Chisti and ofcourse the "Super Boss of All" "Sarkar Ghousul Azam -- Jinnewal Inz"...the Master of All...
Regarding behind the dargah -- I meant Mahim dargah--
there is a Kabrastan behind the Mahim dargah...I m told...Bhagwanbhai is/was allowed there all the times including the "infamous" Mumbai riots...
As always some of ur pics esp Haji Malang--my first trip 1974- I was just 3 yrs old then...dirt roads then from Kalyan -- are the best...
my Salaam to U
Let me narrate a story to in short...I met Bhagwanbhai in his native Gujarat in 2007...I approach him and he says...congrats...I say for what...he says dont look at Dad...look at me...u r going to hv a son in ur house..."wife was 2 mnths preg in the USA"...nobody knw wife was preg
Then he approached our devout Muslim driver who had been teaching us how going to Dargahs is "shirk" for him thruout our journey from Mumbai to Gujarat..(we were visiting several dargahs in Valsad etc...he would just wait out)....
he approached him and said..."tum raat ki namaz nahi padate ho..woh pada karo...faida hoga...that guy fell out of his chair"...kept asking who is this character...
When we approached Mumbai...we offered him dinner..he said "no..I am going to pray"...
Anyway now Bhagwanbhai it seems is very old..and keeps saying this mite be his last URS celebration...
He was very close to the senior Ketkars and used to sit with them at times in "Bamanwadi" at the foothills of Malanggad in his "hay days"....
We hv a snow storm and a blizzard...here in NJ...sitting tight...trust everything is good with u and family...
God Bless always
yomesh
Yes sure...u can ask Abhijeet...or his elders...remind them about "Vasantbhai" the Hindu Khadim of old times who passed away from cancer. They will visit an "era gone by"--yet still in the "glorious hills" of "Malanggad".
You can also ask "Yunusbhai" seniormost Muzawar at Haji Malang...next time
If u visit Mahim dargah the first steps on the compound leading to the dargah---the phoowallah on the left side...he is the last phoolwallah b4 u entire dargah premises...sometimes an elderly gentleman with tasbih in his hands sits-- mehndi clad beard. U can ask here too...
Have a great weekend...heading out to make snowman with the kids...
Gnite to u in good olBombay...oops sorry Mumbai
yomesh
Hi Firoze:
Hv been thinking and looking for Hussein Tekri and Jawrah( thats the way I used to spell it uptill now on the internet)....but in vain...
Today thinking about the URS at the Haji Abdul Rehman shrine at Malanggad...that led to You....thinking you will put pictures of the URS....
But what I see now is the pictures of Hussein Tekri on your website....Great....Thnk You...so much....
Yomesh and family !
So now that you have read his messages you will now knbow why I walk barefeet up and down the Malangad mountains shoot Haji Malang with another mans eyes..so back home at New Jersey a Malang Baba devotee can recall all those memories.. and I thought this was important to make a private conversation public as I wont be shooting Haji Malang Dargah thanks to Yunus Bhai of Haji Malang Dargah Trust who humiliated me for giving importance to Hijras at Haji Malang more than the Holy Shrine..
I shoot with my camera , my time my vision and not from the offerings of the Haji Malang Dargah Trust..he perhaps forgot..I dont know why he said this simply because I am more friendlier with Kumar and Abhijeet Ketkar than the others..
For me as a Shia Muslim and not a Sufi adherent I could have just shot the hijras moved away , but ,Malang Baba touched me as he touches everyone else.. he touched me as a human being a photographer and as a poet.
