The Siddis of Junagadh Lost Tribe of Africa, a set on Flickr.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Blanked Out
I dont know anything , i hit my head had on the ground and lost all consciousness , I remember nothing I recall nothing..that the guy who had my camera shot this shows that he was as possessed as I was..he needed no instruction manual , he had never used a SLR ..this is the world of Metaphysics Surrealism..nothing exists and yet what does no exist is still part of existence..
Doing Kaif With The Siddis 2009
I had given my camera to a guy from the area and he was kind enough to shoot a few frames..
The beats of the drums of the siddis can hypnotize the human soul made of clay,. they keep chanting gor gor bawa gor..
I have shot a lot of possession pictures yesterday and today, and it is a sad state of affair for the women possessed..I shot the effect of the loban smoke on these poor creatures and how the smoke bought them solace..
The women possessed will ea up the coals in the loban stand, and the colloquial saying is they have a bala on their heads, evil spirit..as photography of the women is not encouraged I manage to add their pain in my frame by using wide..
I went through the same motion of moving my head non stop at Fakhruddin Shah Babas Shrine , and collapsed on the floor.. again the drums led me on constantly //
The Possessed Man's Cry
chained to ancient
satanic law
flapping his chicken neck
in a devils claw
man clings to save
his drowning soul
from a locked jaw
mired waters
hope as
a last straw
as they beat him
from his putrid flesh
his dead blood draw
some who
mock laugh and guffaw
from this world of
superstitious pain
his soul wont withdraw
beating his head
breaking his head
mercy ya allah
reliving life
unliving life
a tragic life flaw
I shot this many years back on Chehlum day at Hussain Tekri Jaorah and he was hungry.. not just for food...
Cry In The Wilderness
a home
no address
streets of pain
life's barrenness
a poem of life
words cant express
failure thy
name is success
man a burden of sorrow
beneath his dress
my pictures
a picture of time
standing still
man in distress
a fall from grace
with a few coins
they bless
poetic pathos
poetic pain
poetic angst
poetic anguish
mans humility
at gods largess
he created chaos
from silence
ahinsa from violence
need i stress
trampled by
karma
in the name
of progress
These are pictures of Hussain Tekri Jaorah , as I am posting the links to Facebook I am re seeing them in a new light call it poetry , I am updating the silence of my post..these pictures tire and sadden me but this is what I shoot and these are pictures I shot before I was influenced by Glenn Losack who shoots pain as poetically as I do..
I could write poems on his pictures as I understood the metaphor of pain in my backyard , and I could not write poems on his pictures of Dominican Republic or Haiti..dont ask me why..I epitomized his transgenders, gay parade people as American Hijdas..
I have been depressed for sometime and this set has made me stronger , I shoot pictures the way I feel I should shoot them , I cant shoot my pictures like you or like Glenn..I could have taken this picture face on , but it was his body language his despair as man without a face I shot.. the form the outline was more important to me it was the essence of my belief in pain.
When I shot this I was raw , quite new to photography ,Hussain Tekri Jaorah is the place I leant photography I learnt to shoot pain..without the trappings of the paraphernalia it carries with it..I shot pain as an outline ..you reached the core on the basis of this premise.
Hussain Tekri Jaorah is a one time experience for the poetry in me I would not burn myself out again, but yes to get this moment of despair I would go to other similar places , my genre is pain devoted to exorcism rituals possession without its study without its notes simply pictures .. you read pain and understand it poetically.
And it is tough shooting pictures like this dressed as I am..but I would not compromise on my dress code..Once a friend of mine close to a thespian of Bollywood wanted me to go to his house to measure him to make a suit but he insisted wear normal clothes I said what my soul would tell a million times Fuck You..
You either take me as I am or dont take me at all.. there are big name in the profession that I am in you can choose anyone its your call your choice,,..I am happy to be what I am..
I dont shock or defy norms I dress simple for a funeral, I wear only black all Moharam , I dont go for weddings or parties .. Moharam is the spiritual frugality of my soul.Moharam in my life will end the day I end..and perhaps live on if my kids dont delete my Flickr Facebook Word Press Blogspot Twitter accounts after my Death..
Its their call ..
I have given them my password too.
But I have asked them to delete all my accounts in the event of my Death
Khuda Hafiz Mehndi Bhai of Lucky Hotel
He left for his heavenly abode a few months back a devout Shia may his soul Rest In Peace
Moulah Ali Shrine Hyderabad.
Perched on top of a hillock is Hyderabads famous Shrine of Hazrat Ali, followers from far and wide come here to pay their floral tributes and invoke the first Shia Imam for blessings.Beneath the Shrine at the foothills is the Shrine of his brave son Hazrat Abbas ..This is my new series I visited Hyderabad almost 5 years back, pictures shot on negatives.The first time I came to Hyderabad to shoot Ashura all by myeslf ,than I came again to shoot the Chehlum, this time with my wife Afshaan.Hyderabad the fabulous city of the Nawabs is grandeur personified , the people of Hyderabad , absolutely honest, hospitable and even the poorer lot totally humble.For the Shias of Hyderabad Moharam is a way of Life , almost Life itself.The Hyderabadi Moharam fervour is a collective ethos of spirtuality.Azadri E Hussain , is awesome here in Hyderabad.Only black shirts and clothes for the mourning period that lasts 2 months , and eight days.I was lucky to have met Sajjad Bhai a Shia cop who was my host , who really opened doors , I have never seen a Momin like him, he carried my camera bag , while I scourged behind the Bibi Ka Alam.I was new to photography , so there are flaws but I am sure you will see the brighter side of a culture , the moods the vagaries of Shia timelessness.Forgive me but I continue with the Shia pilgrimage .Showing you Shiasm captured from a lens of a poet..and street philospher .I tweaked this as it was quite blurry , but man bowing to a greater divinity a thought poetically focussed showing his vulnerability and mortality .
We Are Malangs of Mumbai
This was shot by Marziyas mother and it is scary everyone in my house are now inspired by a 4 year old to shoot good pictures and they all shoot good pictures without any formal knowledge of photography..
Nerjis Asif Shakir 9 month is an aspiring street photographer and a malang like we read each others thoughts including thoughts of people around, I say this in humility as it is a gift, to know what is going to happen next, but we are not astrologers or face readers .. it just comes.
Younger son Saif has taken the Canon EOS 7D manual to shoot better , his muse is his daughter Zaira Saif Shakir my prettiest grand daughter 6 month old..
Marziya Shakir will troop in with Nerjis mornings she moves me away from the laptop and sconces herself with You Tube nursery rhymes ..Nerjis takes my Black Berry calls up people on my contact list by pressing the keys of her choice..
Wife is on a pilgrimage , my pilgrimage is Flickr and Google+.. I use Twittter only via a Flickr button to pimp my blogs .. I dont understand microblogging and I must confess I dont understand Google+Circles .. I am not into groups , but at Google+ for the first time I am part of Jack C Crawfords inner circle .. good people sensitive people and human people..
I educate them about my culture my street pain I get to see their world too I am not into funny pictures I block guys who shove soft porn at my face I am past the age of consent ...
I had worn my Malang clothes and before going to a friends funeral I made sure of taking the blessings of this child Malang too.
Om Mani Padme Hoon And The Barefeet Poet of Mumbai
Om Mani Padme Hoon And The Barefeet Poet of Mumbai, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ[1] (Sanskrit: ओं मणिपद्मे हूं, IPA: [õːː məɳipəd̪meː ɦũː]) is the six syllabled mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara (Tibetan Jainraisig, Chinese Guanyin), the bodhisattva of compassion. Mani means "the jewel" and Padma means "the lotus".
The mantra is especially revered by devotees of the Dalai Lama, as he is said to be an incarnation of Chenrezig or Avalokiteshvara.
It is commonly carved onto rocks or written on paper which is inserted into prayer wheels, said to increase the mantra's effects.
In English the mantra is variously transliterated, depending on the schools of Buddhism as well as individual teachers.
Most authorities consider maṇipadme to be one compound word rather than two simple words[citation needed]. Sanskrit writing does not have capital letters leaving capitalisation of transliterated mantras varying irrationally from all caps, to initial caps, to no caps. All caps is typical of older scholarly works, and in Tibetan Sadhana texts.
[edit]Meaning
Mantras may be interpreted by practitioners in many ways, or even as mere sequences of sound whose effects lie beyond strict meaning.
The middle part of the mantra, maṇipadme, is often interpreted as "jewel in the lotus," Sanskrit maṇí "jewel, gem, cintamani" and the locative of padma "lotus", but according to Donald Lopez it is much more likely that maṇipadme is in fact a vocative, not a locative, addressing a bodhisattva called maṇipadma, "Jewel-Lotus"- an alternate epithet of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.[2] It is preceded by the oṃ syllable and followed by the hūṃ syllable, both interjections without linguistic meaning.
Lopez also notes that the majority of Tibetan Buddhist texts have regarded the translation of the mantra as secondary, focusing instead on the correspondence of the six syllables of the mantra to various other groupings of six in the Buddhist tradition.[3] For example, in the Chenrezig Sadhana, Tsangsar Tulku Rinpoche expands upon the mantra's meaning, taking its six syllables to represent the purification of the six realms of existence:[4]
SyllableSix PāramitāsPurifiesSamsaric realmColoursSymbol of the Deity(Wish them) To be born in
OmGenerosityPride / EgoDevasWhiteWisdomPerfect Realm of Potala
MaEthicsJealousy / Lust for entertainmentAsurasGreenCompassionPerfect Realm of Potala
NiPatiencePassion / desireHumansYellowBody, speech, mind
quality and activityDewachen
PadDiligenceIgnorance / prejudiceAnimalsBlueEquanimitythe presence of Protector (Chenrezig)
MeRenunciationPoverty / possessivenessPretas (hungry ghosts)RedBlissPerfect Realm of Potala
HumWisdomAggression / hatredNarakaBlackQuality of Compassionthe presence of the Lotus Throne (of Chenrezig)
[edit]Karandavyuha Sutra
The first known description of the mantra appears in the Karandavyuha Sutra (Chinese: 佛說大乘莊嚴寶王經 (Taisho Tripitaka 1050);[5] English: Buddha speaks Mahayana Sublime Treasure King Sutra), which is part of certain Mahayana canons such as the Tibetan. In this sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha states, "This is the most beneficial mantra. Even I made this aspiration to all the million Buddhas and subsequently received this teaching from Buddha Amitabha."[6]
[edit]14th Dalai Lama
"It is very good to recite the mantra Om mani padme hum, but while you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast... The first, Om [...] symbolizes the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; it also symbolizes the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha[...]"
"The path is indicated by the next four syllables. Mani, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factors of method: (the) altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love.[...]"
"The two syllables, padme, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom[...]"
"Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable hum, which indicates indivisibility[...]"
"Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha[...]"
-- H.H. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, "Om Mani Padme Hum"[7]
[edit]Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
"The mantra Om Mani Päme Hum is easy to say yet quite powerful, because it contains the essence of the entire teaching. When you say the first syllable Om it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity, Ma helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and Ni helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience. Pä, the fourth syllable, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance, Me helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final sixth syllable Hum helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.
"So in this way recitation of the mantra helps achieve perfection in the six practices from generosity to wisdom. The path of these six perfections is the path walked by all the Buddhas of the three times. What could then be more meaningful than to say the mantra and accomplish the six perfections?"
— Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones[8]
[edit]Karma Thubten Trinley
"These are the six syllables which prevent rebirth into the six realms of cyclic existence. It translates literally as 'OM the jewel in the lotus HUM'. OM prevents rebirth in the god realm, MA prevents rebirth in the Asura (Titan) Realm, NI prevents rebirth in the Human realm, PA prevents rebirth in the Animal realm, ME prevents rebirth in the Hungry ghost realm, and HUM prevents rebirth in the Hell realm."
—Karma Thubten Trinley[citation needed]
[edit]Variation
The mantra: Om Mani Peme Hung Hri
As Bucknell, et al. (1986: p. 15) opine, the complete Avalokiteshvara Mantra includes a final hrīḥ (Sanskrit: ह्रीः, IPA: [ɦriːh]), which is iconographically depicted in the central space of the syllabic mandala as seen in the ceiling decoration of the Potala Palace.[9] The hrīḥ is not always vocalized audibly, and may be resonated "internally" or "secretly" through intentionality.
[edit]Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism
The first known citation of the mantra occurs in the Karandavyuha Sutra published in the 11th Century which appears in the Chinese Buddhist canon.[5] However, some Buddhist scholars argue that the mantra as practiced in Tibetan Buddhism was based on the Sadhanamala, a collection of sadhana published in the twelfth century.[10]
[edit]Sufi variation
This mantra is also currently practiced by Sufis, with some variation, in the Naqshbandi tariqa ruled by Arif Shah, Omar Ali Shah's son and heir. They say this mantra originated in Afghanistan.
[edit]Music
DharmaSound: Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ (see Buddhismo Ch'an/Zen and Buddhismo Vajrayāna)
"Om Mani Padme Hum" by Snuffaluffagus
"Strange Phenomena" by Kate Bush
"Om Mani Peme Hung" by Dead Skeletons
Mani by Mantrasphere
[edit]Literature
"Thoughts Sitting Breathing" by Allen Ginsberg
"I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert Heinlein
Dam Madar Malang And The Buddhist Monks at Chaitya Bhoomi
Dam Madar Malang And The Buddhist Monks at Chaitya Bhoomi, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
I had come here barefeet as the Shivaji Park crematorium is next to the famous Buddhist site and memorial of our beloved father of the Constitution Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
These Buddhist monks are from Kerala and were surprised that though I told them I was a Muslim I carried my Jesus stick.. and I carried my camera being an incorrigible street photographer..I try to capture the poetry of life they invariably end up as pictures ..
After a very long time I wore my black Djellaba and a bit of my jewelry , I am overtly over dressed but I was low key as I was here to attend a funeral of a friend.
I speak a wee bit of Malyali so they felt at home with me.. and one of their friends shot this picture for posterity.
MY HIJRA PICTURES ARE NOT FOR PUBLIC VIEW ANYMORE
Haji Malang and The Hijra Connection..And My Flickr Account, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
A lot of young kids guys mostly come to Haji Malng in pursuit of hijras , to befriend them taken in by their beauty charm and wealth too..
And this is a fact, documented by me as photography, and why not, spirituality may be there as one of the reasons , but hijra stalking ogling goes on unabated , a lot of guys get upset when I dont shoot them but than my frame is full of hijras I am showcasing their real life as it exists.
The hijras are connected to Ajmer Sharif and Haji Malang , as both these Saints are considered as Protectors Guardians of Hijras and mind you the hijras give away everything to the Holy Saints.. without keeping anything back and one bigot Trustee of Haji Malang was upset that I give importance to hiras at Haji Malang..why not I never claimed I was a Sufi adherent I could have come to Malangad shot the hijras gone away but I shot the surroundings the rituals and the holistic healing power of Haji Malang Baba.
And I come because of my friends hosts Kumar and Abhijeet Ketkar Hindu Khadims of Haji Malang and now my extended family..
I may never go back to shoot Haji Malang because of the racist attitude of this Trustee who thinks he is the Babas representative at Malangad.. now it is between the Holy Saint and him..
I became a Dam Madar Malng this year at Ajmer Sharif giving my pledge to Baba Masoom Ali Shah Madari of Gwalior.. Along with me my Belgium friend Marc De Clercq too became a Dam Madar Malang and the Malangs of Haji Malang from Karnatka are a branch of this Order that originates at Makhanpur.. Dam Madar Beda Par.
And I am documenting the hijras without any motive no sponsor no financial backing using the same old camera and I shoot them differently passionately positively and poetically.
I dont sell my hijra pictures I dont distribute them save as links on Facebook Twitter ...so all my hijra stuff originates at Flickr.com .
In case of my death I have asked my children to delete my Flickr account for good..
So this is a gallery with a short life span being a diabetic and death prone I thought it was important for my readers to know this..
Mr Dinesh Pai My Dear Friend Om Shanti Om RIP
The picture of me my dear departed friend Dinesh S Pai in happier times , come what may , and he was aware that my other friend Dr Bhujang Pai invites me to the GSB Seva Mandal Ganesha celebrations at Kings Circle, yet Dinesh bhai as I called him would personally invite me to take darshan and above all shoot pictures and at this venue photography is strictly prohibited ..
I shot extensively and passionately as people at Facebook those days waited for my GSB uploads and I never failed them..Sunil Shenoy and others.
However I left Facebook moved to Google+ so I link a few of my Flickr blogs here ...
I just sent his son Amit D Pai the link to my new set on Dinesh S Pai this includes the funeral and pictures of the past as unforgettable memories.
Death dies but memories remain as pictures thoughts and as poetry of Life .. and this is the purpose of my photography to share .. and this also is the purpose of my blog..to sshocase the angst of Man his life his journey and the end of his journey.. nothing more nothing less .
I Shall Miss My Dear Friend Dinesh S Pai..
Every year he invited me to the Lords Darbar and I came barefeet in humility to document one of the finest Indian communities , the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins .. and they inspired my own beliefs as a Muslim I came to the Lord s Darbar to share his pictures as Hope and Hindutva a Message of Peace and Humanity.
And it is my Hindu friends that made me a good Muslim a good humanbeing without them I would have not been able to reach this far .. and this new set on Dinesh S Pai is my tribute to a giant of a Man..
This morning I was inconsolable I cried I wept and these pictures are testimony of his love for me and I met him through my dear friend Dr Bhujang Pai of Seven Hills Hospital..
I know this is huge loss for his family and the erstwhile GSB community of Mumbai ..
Dinesh S Pai Amar Rahen..
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Shah-e-Mardan Sher-e-Yazdan Quwat-e-Parwardigar Lafata Ila Ali La Saif Ila Zulfiqar , originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1 ....
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Dargah of Hazrat Syed Ali Mira Datar Unava Gujrat , a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr. HAZRAT SYED ALI MIRA DATAR'S G...
