Once Upon A Time In Ajmer - Heena Hijra

Once Upon A Time In Ajmer - Heena Hijra, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

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Ajmer is spiritual city of peace love humanity and human emotions , and the Holy Saint of Ajmer Khawjah Garib Nawaz presides over it in total humility, he is King , but not a pompous king he is a king of the poor the needy the disfranchised , he has wealth but it belongs to his people , and because of his true nature as a humanitarian people in pain from all walks of life come to celebrate his annual Urus

I come her barefeet , head bowed for me as a Shia the Khwajah represents Hussain in the most noblest form.. etched on the soul of a million hearts is words embossed at Bulund Darwaza

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 HussainAnd a rough translation -

Ruler is Hussain, Emperor is Hussain,
Faith is Hussain , guardian of faith is Hussain .
Offered his head and not the hand to Yazid.
Indeed, Hussain is the foundation of La-ilah (the declaration that none but God is Absolute and Almighty) from friend Raza Rumis post

The transgender community of India , too have the highest regards for Khwajah Garib Nawaz , and this is one moment of a lifetime they will never miss, they come here leaving everything behind to start afresh, to revive flagging hopes and much more.

This was shot at Ajmer a few years back, and Heena , was the enchanting spirit of the Hijra community, we met at Peela House Red Light area Hijra cages Falkland Road so many names and its notoriety to fame as the flesh pot of Mumbai...

We became friends , I visited Heena several times and she liked me as I came to her quarters barefeet , just me my camera capturing the pain outside and inside.. I shot her extensively and she was the face with my Hijra Guru Laxmi Narayan at Dus Ka Daum show of Salman Khan the only Bollywood superstar she loves for his humanity ..

She would call me many a times update me on her life her dreams her hopes , and than one day the line went dead.. this year I met her Guru Lakshmi , and this is not the same Laksmi as my Guru , but a pretty lady who is a chela of Ma Madhurima head of the hijras of Park Site Vikhroli..

Lakshmi her Guru told me , that I had made Heena famous with her pictures poems my blogs.. but I think Heena was famous much before she me the day I came here to shoot the rotten life of Indian prostitutes , the only area of human life used abused and the government did nothing to change their lives or their inhuman conditions, I always felt only a Healer at the top of the government can change shattered lives , politicians have no life and it is money big bucks and construction hotel hospitality building hill stations as their priority so why should they care for prostitutes .

And I am a few hours away from Iftar or my fifth fast as I add text to a blank post, most of my pictures are blanks and words come mystically..

I missed Heena both at Haji Malang and at Ajmer , and I have not gone to Peela house I got sick and tired shooting the same street the same pain new faces instead of old , the same cages the same shame my neglect apathy, and now towers will come up and this hijra world world of prostitutes wont exist anymore simply as folklore.


Heena was alway keen on visiting my house meeting my family but it did not come to pass , and being a lover of Hussain she really amazed me with her faith her devotion during Ramzan..

And so I dont know why she came to mind and why I pen these lines for her , perhaps she wanted to poke me Facebook style..she is the only hijra I have given 100 copies prints ,of pictures I shot , normally I dont make prints for anyone.. I hate prints , they are minus the soul of the person I shot..

This year I took a pledge became a Dam Madar Malang with my dear friend Marc De Clercq and we both shoot Malangs and the Hijra community , and I learn a lot from Marc , we climbed the mountains visited the Graves of the Hijra Saint and his biological son this year after our Taragdh sojourn , and I climbed the mountains barefeet.. a moment I will never forget all my life .. my barefeet too wont forget this feat..

Bloggers digress there is madness inherent in ever word that comes from the inner kundalini of our pathos and pain , so back to Heena , I dont know if I will ever meet her again , because she always wanted to meet a nice guy marry settle down.. and she is well off ..she always told me several times if I was down broke needed money to call her but I would tell just one thing , my name is not written on your money which she took as her final humiliation to her profession as a hijra prostitute..

It was Heena who invited me to Park Site to shoot the ceremony of 40 days Memorial Service of late Ragini Nayak..without her I dare not enter a very private hijra event ,by the hijras for the hijras only.

And so I end this blog with hopes of meeting her with her husband one day , before I shut my eyes , she was one human person who touched my humanity in a very nice way and this is my tribute to her in a Holy Month...