Shahenshah Baba Rafaee

Shahenshah Baba Rafaee, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

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I have known him since the time I began documenting the Rafaees a Sufi order .. he belonged to the Chancawalli Rafaees , and those days they were led by late Sikandar Wali Baba who spoke a smattering of English.. I met the Rafaees through my dear friend Fahad Khalil Pathan whose late father a holistic healer and the Imam of the Makdhoom Shah Baba Shrine at Mahim.

I documented their body piercing, eyeball piercing rituals and even went on their rounds begging from shop to shop , dressed as I was like them but more colorful , women ended giving me money and wanted to take my blessings .. However what I got as a beggar the alms I handed over to late Sikandar Ali Baba.

For sometime due to serious differences with late Sikandar Ali Baba I was expelled from their group and once Sikandar Ali Baba died his successor Handi Sai asked me to come back continue shooting them .

Handi Sai kept urging me to become a Rafaee , he visited me at my shop but I was not rafaee material.. than Handi Sai died at Kota .. I had visualized his death when I saw vultures hovering over his head at Haji Malang.

He was a heavy chillum smoker and addicted to afeem , and that took a heavy toll on his mind body and soul.

Many Murshads came after his death , but Handi Sai the greatest eponent of eyeball piercing , tngue cutting stands out.

Shahenshah Baba was his Man Friday , the kotwal and one of the most inventive Rafaees , his specialty nailing his cheek to a stool that I shot at Haji Malang many years back.

There were many Rafaees who broke of from the main group , Faiyaz Ali , Hassan Ganda and Farukh Rafaee , I meet them mostly at Ajmer Urus and we talk of old times over a cup of tea.. and it saddens me immensely ..

However they are happy that I became a Dam Madar Malang .