Humility Thy Name Is Barber

Humility Thy Name Is Barber, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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This is where I have my hair trimmed , he feels honored refuses to take money but I insist I give him Rs 50 / he returns Rs 35 back.

And I cant say anything to him as I am literally growing my hair that like this barber in all humility refuses to grow.

Because of the furrows of the kama matam , the ritual of cutting my head during Mohram , there is a bald patch in the front, but because I wear a turban most of the time it is not noticeable.

I used to wear the turban pathani style with the kulha but I stopped it there is a fear psychosis in society regarding people from the north west..and I have nothing to say.. a friend asked me whether I will ever visit Pakistan I said no never not for any reason simply I have no wander lust towards Muslim countries , I wont visit Saudi Arabia simply because my God lives In India and I am comfortably at home with him luckily my God is not under house arrest as he is out there.

I wont visit Iraq because if I do get a free ticket or a paid one I will give it to someone more deserving than me , yes my Hussain lives in India too... my birthplace is my Karbala too.My Hussainyat begins here and ends her too..without being restricted by visa emigration or geographical boundaries.

Glenn wants me to come to Manhattan , but I am happier in my own country and I am not into travel photography, and yes I prefer shooting the streets in Mumbai.

I dont drink I dont smoke I dont fornicate , poets hardly fornicate save in their imaginations, I dont sell pictures I was born broke I will die broke .. I have no savings I have not even saved what I have posted on the internet.


I am an impulsive mouse pusher and I poetize life after death on earth... heaven or hell dont interest me.

My religiosity is individually inclined I am not a congregational man , I am congregational during Moharam only , I am one with the Shia crowds I passionately shoot ..or during Lalbagh Chya Raja Visarjan I walk barefeet with him to his journey towards the sea I become one with my cultural inheritance I become one with a Hindu deity I passionately shoot for all my Hindu friends .. and I still cant repay for all they have done for me when I was undergoing bad times .. they helped me each time I fell so I shoot their faith I shoot the Christian faith and this is the least I can do as a photographer.

Why I shoot the Hijras is one query I cant answer perhaps its part of their Karma and my Dharma.

This barber shop is my hope beyond darkness I shoot him I am inspired by positive thoughts and hard as I try I always bang into Hijras on the street .. they cant stay away from me I cant stay away from them.

I shot a hijra beggar yesterday , and we chatted for sometime after I took 3 shots than I spotted an old lady with a jhadu, I shot her for kicks, and she entered a shop , the shop guy Mr Parmar of Advocate Tailors later told me she was a hijra she comes every Tuesday to his shop.

This was one hijra that did not look like an hijra at all.

In a few minutes I shall walk to my workplace through the slums, away from the internet and the computer that is the fulcrum of my surreal existence.

And away from a written word photographed as a blog .. read as poetry written as prose..