He said
I am blind
the colors of the world
I cant see
the color of money
lifes priority
at the crematorium
even death is not free
for circumcised souls
the cemetery
the mullah wont spare his fee
perhaps in the next world
without eyes
we might see
a Camelot
no poverty
no religion
no politics
no pride
no vanity
life of a better quality
peace justice equality
dedicated to Dr Robi Ludwig
He pulls the hair from his face and eats it, but he interferes with no one , he talks to himself , he is always smiling , yesterday two kids picked up stones to hit at him , I gave them a chase , cursing and abusing them.. madness is a crazy thing in an oxymoron haste..these are subjects of my street blogs... people you may not see again , so many of them that come live for a few days on this path than simply disappear as though they never ever existed before..
every morning
every evening
i pass this way
this is a garden
of joy
where little
children play
stink
stench
pestilence
disease
in a morbid way
civic
sense
has gone away
bandra
the garbage
queen of porn
till this day
209,326 items / 1,721,848 views
she would have
gladly left mumbai
for good she states
she is a dhoban
a washer woman
the under privileged
migrant
from uttar pradesh
white elephants
statues
in a 700 crore park
sheepishly graze
priorities
misplaced
politics
of appeasement
wrong time
wrong place
politics
on the whole
is a garden
where scams
corruption
are cultivated
raised
Yes the Shia bleed
Do take heed
Unlike the radical Muslim
they dont kill others
or drop bombs
suicide bombers
for spiritual greed
Muslims love killing Muslims
a thought they dont heed
puritanical pristine
So dont just curse the Shias
Curse the Father of Terrorism
Tyrant Yazid
Born of a Serpent Seed
a bigot who killed
Imam Hussain
with his barbaric deed
Mocking Islam
Islamic Womanhood
he had no creed
the Holy Prophets grandson
the Holy Prophets legacy
with his own Ummyad longings
he tried to superceede
we as Shias remind
you year after year
with the chant of Ya Hussain
that Karbala we wont concede
allah ho akbar
shah ast hussain
badshah ast hussain
we will succeed
Hussain is Humanity
indeed
your hate for Shias
Shiasm
nothing but
a cybernetic cancer weed
be what you are
with your poisonous hate
dont mislead
this poetic message
of truth
Ghame Hussain
between the lines
you dont have to read
tune banaya tha kya
main ban gaya kya
mere jute ki nok
pe hai mardon
ka jahan
main marad se
ban gayi aurat
mera nam
hai heena
peela house ki rani
raton ki malka
meri ankhon
se pi
aur sharab chalka
tere bistar ki
chati pe lete
hai chakka
kismet
ka taqaza tha
na pura
na adha
aur
na akha
jo khuda
ne banaya tha
woh main
ban na saka
main us gali main
rehti hoon
jahan rat din
dhandha hota hai
aurat aur admi
mard ur chakka
khatmalon se bhare
palang par sota hai
yahan har koie
paisa deke
nanga hota hai
thukraie hui
kismet par
waqt bhi rota hai
209,308 items / 1,721,504 views
born as men
now women
a transformation
androgynous
soul planned
hijras dark
nubile
suntanned
outside
the cages
as they stand
waiting for a client
to hold his hand
the hijras fight
for survival
the hijras
last stand
hijra world
no mans land
cosmic chaos
sucked in
quicksand
hijra indias
untouchable
brand
her angst
collapse
or expand
short supply
great demand
the pain of unliving
she must withstand
stranded forever
from the mainland
184,979 items / 1,460,425 views
ek khoobsurat
mod
ek khubsurat
lamha
ek khubsurat
yad
ek khubsurat
khayal
heena
lal lal gal
chalakta
hua jam
chalakta hua
seena
jumbish
ranjish
pyas
'pasina
ek nam
ek sham
ek paigham
heena
196,047 items / 1,604,567 views
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...
209,308 items / 1,721,464 views
people with
homophobic hate
hijras are human
vulnerable fragile
women that god
could not create
hijras women
man made
manly
with womanly
traits
bound
to her androgynous
cosmic fate
a word of god
on a broken slate
hijras men
in ladies attire
lady like
girth and gait
used abused
raped
sodomized
by a system
of late
to be treated
on par
with rest of
humanity
a restless
endless wait
