Kim Viola And The Barefeet Blogger of Bandra

Kim Viola And The Barefeet Blogger of Bandra, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

I got a message on my Flickr mail and it was from Kim a documentarist from Denmark who wanted some information on the hijras that he was documenting and his message to me was words from a kind man..his message to me

Hi Firoze;

First of all: I am a great admirer of your work, your life, your photos and your gift for giving life to stories and letting peoples voices be heard.

I am a documentarist from Denmark, traveling around in India now for 3 months, hoping to tell the story of hijras from their point of view.

Since you seem to be so wellconnected, I would be most humble and appreciative if you could give me contact details on hijeras in the Mumbai area. I have already written with Laxmi, but now she is in Big Boss reality show and out of reach - so ANY help from you would be a gift sent from above and beyond.

Kind regards and thanks in advance,
Kim Hansen

I sent him a reply and told him I would try to help him but I too am dependent on Laxmi Narayan Tripathi my hijra Guru at home in Big Boss Reality show.

I would be honored to come by and greet you in person; I've always been intrigued by your work and your life as a poet. But only if I am not disturbing, of course.

Kind regards,
Kim

So Kim dropped by at my workplace with his friend Viola a photographer too and an ardent admire of Indian life culture and the hijras..

I bought theM home and my son Saif Shakir shot this picture with his daughter Princess Fatima Zaira in my hands , we had a great chat about the hijras life in general I showed them my Flickr hijra set including pictures of Hijras not for public viewing..

Wife made them tea papad .. and than finally I dropped them in the rickshah..

I spoke to them about Marc De Clercq they were intrigued by his initiation as a Malang like me , I told them about my Guru Dr Glenn Losack MD And they missed having their picture taken by hot shot in house photographer Marziya Shakir my soon to be 4 year old grand daughter out on holidays with her parents and sister Nerjis Asif Shakir