Wednesday, May 18, 2011

agar duniya chaman hoti to veerane kahan jaate

chalo achha hua
apno mein koi
ghair to nikla

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Between Two Lines

186,253 items / 1,467,025 views

a shia blogger
caught between
a fine tuned
cross dresser
a transgender
beauty divine
simran dancer
as heady as wine
her birthday
pictures i shot
posted online
to show you
the hijra
world human
compassionate
benign between
two parallel lines
sorrow and sunshine
a Facebook moment
offline metaphoric
to define prosthetic
poetically designed
boobs plunging
necklines
arched eyebrows
sculpted cosmetic
enhanced jawlines
in his world
of utter darkness
the hijra momentarily
shines a curvaceous
outline for love
he pines surrenders
his flesh his soul aligned
body and cosmic mind
fucked forever
from behind
the hijra
is human
cursed
by inhuman
mankind
racist
unkind

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Yes I Shoot Hijras As Poetry of Life

186,253 items / 1,467,012 views


If I shot hijras as a photographer I would get great images but I shot the hijras a poet and what I got was poetry of their life..I came here barefeet and shot this birthday proceedings and simply because my dear sweet friend Simran dancer transgender invited me here I gave her a string of Iranian turquoise as birthday gift.. and we have been great friends I have never called her a hijra.

Simran is a simple soul no strings attached if she was not a performer she would have been a beautician or a teacher or even an air hostess .. but than unfortunately they have no luck and even Bollywood is racist it looks down upon hijras or you could have a hijra as a heroine and a Khan running after her round the trees but than who would see this kind of film..

The hijras I have shot her paragons of beauty not natural but yet they carry themselves with aplomb.. I know guys who pay ludicrous amount of money to sleep with hijras and I have nothing against man loving another man thats his prerogative his problem..

I shoot the hijras as sensitively as possible and the hijras respect me some hate me for showcasing their myth on the internet but than who cares a sweet fuck..

Simran I meet both at Haji Malang and Ajmer and we get along fairly well I have never been to her house she has invited me many a times .This birthday party was the first time I really shoot the hijra without inhibitions and it was not hijras who came to this party but all friends of Simran normal folks her friends and her colleagues from the performing world.

Simran like Salma is a Hijra activist figting for hijra rights AIDS awareness maybe not as vocally heard as Laxmi Narayan Tripathi but all in all they are doing a fabulous job and I have inundated my Facebook wall with links from this memorable set to show you up close the hijra way of life as humanly as human it is I shot it humanly too..

And I am not a qualified celebrity photographer but yes I shoot hijras differently I dont search for angles I just shoot from the perspective at hand..I shoot what my heart soul mind sees the poetry of the hijra life as a dimension of society the same society that fucks and enjoys fucking hijras but hypocritically shuns the hijras as untouchables..

I am not a hijra activist but through my pictures I show you the invisible hijra humanity love of life passion poetry and pathos and this was a bank post I have just up dated it.

Unfortunately my Shia background with its inimical narrow mindedness put me on a clobbered foot for my children's weddings my family forbid me to invite the Hijras and the Naga Sadhus and I dont blame them..

And its too late for me to marry again and invite the hijras to my wedding ...

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I Am Not Obsessed With Hijras But Yes I Shoot Them With A Unkindled Passion

186,253 items / 1,466,724 views

Hijras dont turn me on , I have no allure to hijra sex sexuality but as a photographer I shoot hijras as a nature lover shoots flamingos at the Sewri mudflats of Mumbai .. their poetic flights their beauty their collective grace and charm.


I cant explain a better metaphor and though among birds I am more fascinated with vultures for reasons unknown to me.. I call them the King of the Bird Kingdom..

The Hijra is a King too but in a more poetic womanly way..and my hijra pictures have not come easy I dont have the money funds or the resources to meet hijra heads and shoot their brood.

The way I dress is what makes hijras wary of me they consider me a tantric who steals hijra souls .. yes I do.. its part of the gift god blessed with me as a photographer and as a poet too.


I have kind considerate human Hijra Guru but I have never twisted her arms to get me pictures of hijras I get them on my own..its a moment known as my tryst with hijras or hijra vardan.


I dont have hijra friends I meet them shot them move along , and among all the hijras I have shot the only hijra that creates magic within me as a poet is Khushi from Mumbai and I only meet her if God wills.

I dont ever stalk hijras but yes most of them stalk me ..they come in my way on the roads at religious events and in trains too.,..I met one in a public toilet simply because I had entered a ladies loo by mistake it was a defunct one so it happens .. sometimes in life we walk with our eyes closed..

Ma Madhurima and Baby Hijra Guru have been my support and have always been there for me I hold them in the highest regard..

I am very close to the Delhi hijras but Delhi is damned far away from where I stay in Bandra..so I meet them at Haji Malang or Ajmer Sharif and its all about trust because they trust me they allow me in the inner circle of their social life and I shoot pictures if they tell me not to shoot I dont shoot.

These pictures the most memorable are in this set Simran Dancers birthday party I shot several years back at Madh Island I was invited by Simran a very highly educated cultured transgender..this is one birthday she wont forget neither will I..

I shot this as poetry and perhaps because I shot this as poetry I have never been invited to any hijra birthday party..and people some of them who come to such parties dont wont to be sen in pictures , some have yet to come out of the closet.. so the fear and the humiliation is always there.

At Haji Malang I see a lot of rich studs toyboys of the hijras who drunk ask me to shoot them with the hijras I refuse..

Hijras want me to shoot them in the raw I am a lover of Art but I politely refuse though I have shot a bit of Raveena , pictures of her changing from one attire to another I have not displayed publically.

I am a poet I shoot poetry I dont ridicule mock the people I shoot they are perhaps more human than I am challenged to because of gender ambiguity and what has their sexual orientation go to do with my shooting hijras..

I dont shoot gay but yes I do shoot cross dressers not the whorish kind but the cultured ones that come from good homes and I shoot them with respect and dignity.. I am not a fashion folio photographer I am a street photographer I shoot them in street kind of way .. cal it cul de sac.. one way entry no pun intended.

I dont shoot lesbians I dont inter act with them or get in their way if I know they are lesbians it is their prerogative and their call its their private thing ..their one to one with god and their sexuality..

And this too was a blank post I added a bit of fuel to fire..

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I Shot Her She Shot Me Too .. I Died She Lived

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You Need More Than Just A Camera To Shoot Hijras.. Fuck You Need To Be A Poet

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My Incomplete Poem of Hijra Pain

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If You Shoot Hijras The Way I Shoot You Will Become a Poet Too

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The Life of A Hijra Prostitute

186,253 items / 1,466,281 views


she curses
she abuses
zindagi
ki bahen
ka bhosda
zindagi ki
ma ki choot
a barren garden
over ripe fruits
madarchods
come and loot
hijdon ke
gand ke bhoot
her anger
her sweltering
outburst
as a poet
i tried to soothe
she took
me up
to her booth
a tiny cubicle
a creaking cot
her lifes route
peela house
fuck lund road
rough not smooth
she stripped naked
showed me her
body bruised
the iron rod burning
marks her broken flute
i saw it all poetically mute
a poetic pain very acute
i handed her 100 bucks
walked out a pain uncouth
the hijda
neither man
nor woman
a missing vagina
a missing clitoris
a martyred chooth

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Do You Know What Is Hunger

186,253 items / 1,466,253 views

an empty
stomach
writhing
in pain
asking
for a morsel
of grain not
the body
its the soul
of man
that life
must sustain
pain interlinked
to cosmic chain
as it knocks
the doors
again and again
licking the plate
its a hunger
sweet bitter
unending pain
down the gutter
like his urine
my poetic
thought drains

poriborton
a cry for change
in exchange
home home
on the range

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My Karbala Is The Country of My Birth Mother India

186,253 items / 1,466,240 views

Every Shia has one wish to see Karbala once in his lifetime and luckily my in laws the Qazilbash of Victoria Street Lucknow made it and as I write this they might be in Damascus Sham than to Karbala they have gone on Ziyarat..

They said they would pray that I make it too , but I told them to pray for those more devoted than me I am happy God blessed me and I am happy I was born to Shia parents in India ..and I would be disheartened if I was born anywhere else Mother India is my Karbala my tryst with destiny.

Whatever flaws the Wahabbi may find with the faith I adhere to I think I would not change my faith as a Shia for anything in the world.If Shiasm according to them is heresy I am happy to be a heretic but believe in Hussain and Humanity.

We bleed so you know we are Shias you understand the pain of Karbaa Ashura and the first family of the Holy Prophet.. the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain..

I am not a preacher I will never denigrate another mans faith I would die first I respect his faith even if he does not respect my own.. and I shoot his faith as passionately as I shoot my own.. My Shia blogs are my pictorial thoughts and for those who get inundated with my feeds at Facebook they should remove me from their feeds ..I am a impulsive blogger I blog anything actually I add text to blogs that were mere pictures nothing else.. and words just come.

I would want to go to Amarnath Kailash Mansarovar and other places of spiritual interest too but it is not possible I have no sponsor I have no funds .. and I would shoot it as you would with your own eyes and every religiosity that belongs to India has a right to be promoted as a message of peace harmony hope and humanity.

And I just hope I make it to Ajmer Sharif for the Urus my chances are very bleak..

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In The Soul of The Irani Lies Hussain And Hindustan

186,253 items / 1,466,231 views

This is Mohomed Ali Aga Zaboli from Iran , he was born in India but later settled down in the country of his forefathers Iran..

I would see him year after year during Chelum in Mumbai I never spoke to him ever but shot his pictures .

And he did matam played the damam bleeding all over and thus years passed.. he was a face of Ghame Hussain and I shot him as such.

This year fate bought me to Hussain Tekri Jaorah and I met Mohomed Ali Agha through Ali Shah we traveled to Mumbai after completing the Chehlum at Jaorah and we became good friends , we both did Chehlum again the following day at Rehamatabad ..

Than Aga came home to see my family and just could not get over Marziya Shakir my grand daughter she shot his pictures and the Irani blood of sincerity and love is such every month come what may he calls me up simply to speak to Marziya and I am crying as I write this..

Agha left his Irani soul behind in the heart of Marziya..and when I give the phone to Marziya she talks to him as though she knows him for ages and she has met him only once.. but than when you connect through Hussain the relationship becomes one of a life time..

Now what drives Mohomed Ali Aga to come to do matam in India when he can go to Karbala Najaf Qoum .. it is a piece of land called Hindustan the same land that Imam Hussain had never seen but wanted to come to , simply because he did not want bloodshed Muslims killing Muslims but fate had something else in mind maybe Imam Hussain did not come to India at all and yet each Moharam he is there amidst us in every city where the Shia lives weeps for him and his Mother.

Mohomed Ali Aga cant do zanjir matam in Iran so he comes to India and though I saw him for so many years it is now we connected ..

I must also tell you something every year Mohomed Ali Agha saves money from his earnings and every year sends a poor Irani to Karbala with all expense paid.. I know he would not want me to mention this but I want to show you the heart of a Irani is his piety his devotion to Hussain his country and the country of his birth.

And I am adding text to a blog that was blank I added words and my tears too.. so blogging is not merely shooting a picture it is shooting an arrow into the heart of every man .. as thoughts poems and memories of pain and love.


And Agha is going to get his son married to an Indian Shia woman he confessed to me , so fascinated and besotted he is with Mother India.

And I dont have a daughter I would have given her hand gladly to this Mans son a Maulaiee and a slave of Hussain like me..

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Shanmugham And Me I End The Marriamma Madras Wadi Series

And I took leave of the Tamils of Madras Wadi walked a distance and caught a bus home..I was exhausted totally drained out..And it has taken me full 3 days to post all these photos 1157 shot from 4 pm to 10 pm..

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The Milk Effect

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Removing The Hooks From The Back

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Removing the Fish Hooks from the Mouth

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The Milk Effect

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Removal of The Rods Madras Wadi


My Madras Wadi Mariamma series comes to an end I had shot 1157 images documenting a unique ritual appeasing the Goddess Marriamma .

From the piercings on the Worli beach to the procession and finally the finale at Madras Wadi where the removal of the rods hooks began a very painful and difficult procedure of extreme pain ..

I thank my friend Shanmugham without him his team mates and the organizers I dont think I could have shot all this.

It was unbearably hot I had removed my upper garments my jewelry and I shot this entire event barefeet with blisters on my feet.


And this is one event I try not miss come what may...this ritual of piercing has fascinated me much before I turned photographer ..

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Self Shot - Reflected Pain Of a Poets Angst

Bohat Chaha Magar Unhe Bhula Na Sake
Khayalon Me Kisi Aur Ko La Na Sake
Usko Dekh Ke Ansoo To Pooch Liye Magar
Kisi Aur Ko Dekh Ke Muskra Na Sake

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The Shia Blogger At Marriamma Temple Madras Wadi Worli

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Beggary Among Muslims Will Never Cease



no effort to rehabilitate them
old beggars such as these
knocking the doors of hope
searching for release
in the name of Allah and Peace
beggary has now become
'a viable profession ..
as is where is to please
beggary on the increase
pay hafta to the local hoodlum
which takes care of the system
the law order and police
to survive as a beggar
palms you have to grease

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Removal of the Rods At Madras Wadi

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Legends Dont Die Long Live Mr Benu Sen

186,019 items / 1,465,442 views

Image courtesy Wikipedia
From Wikipedia

Benu Sen (May 26, 1932 - May 17, 2011) was an Indian photographer from Kolkata, India.[2] He was the second son among seven children of Manindranath and Provabati Sengupta.

He was the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Photography (FIP), the Indian chapter of the Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique (FIAP),[3] and President of the Photographic Association of Dum Dum (PAD).[4]

A Photography Unit was set up in the Indian Museum in 1964 for photo documentation of art objects.[5] Sen was the in-charge of the unit. He retired from the museum as Photo Officer in 1990 and contributed many photographic works both in the field of social & cultural anthropology and museum related photographs.
[edit] Books

Author of Art of Photography first published in 1979.[6] Co-author of Learn Photography and Experimental Photography, published by Photographic Association of Dum Dum.


The Life-Time Achievement award In the pictorialists category conferred by the Vice President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, on 19 August 2010 at New Delhi.[7]

Sen was undergone a private hospital treatment at Barasat near Kolkata, from 7th to 15th April, 2011, as he has been suffering from retention of urine due to prostate enlargement and low hemoglobin count due to his previous heart problem with diabetes mellitus. He was under treatment of Dr. Barun kumar Sinha, urologist. [8] Dr. Sinha suggested for a surgery of the prostate gland as the earliest. [9]

At evening on 19 April, 2011 Benu Sen was readmitted to the previous hospital at Barasat, for a pre-surgical preparation of prostate gland
Several meetings held by the senior persons of Photographic Association of Dum Dum and the hospital personnel on 16 May, 2011 for the health crisis of Benu Sen at Barasat.

surgery. [10] Some physiological problems have been developed due to his old age. [11] On 16 May, 2011 Sen received again serious chest infection leading deterioration of his health and he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). [12] He was under treatment of several doctors leading by Dr. Jawaharlal Banerjee. On 17 May, 2011 he died at 13-50 IST at Barasat.

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My 186,012 Photo Blog at Flickr.com

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The Shia Blogger And The Tamils of Mumbai

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Shanmugham With Tadgolas Attached to Hooks in the Back

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