Shooting Moharam In Hyderabad Is a Lifetime Experience, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
The Hyderabadis are kind courteous people ,and I shot the blue blooded Nawabs and the man at grass root level and they had one thing in common besides their love of Hussain , hospitality , khulus and respect that we call Athithi Devo Bhava .. guest is god in Indian cultural terminology, the azadar respects the zaireen and that is the crux of Moharam for among those who come to the majlis or farshe aza are the ladies of the Imams house the ladies that stood against the might of mighty Yazid.. and they say if you see the silhouette of three ladies its possible a mother a daughter and a little grand daughter might be the reflection of our pain that we call Ghame Hussain.
Wherever I went I was treated with humility and humility is the essence of Hussainiyat and the Imam did not bully his enemies he did not do what they did to him an his family so it hurts me when I see one Shia unnecessarily finding faults with the matam of another Shia .. heckling him abusing him ..and so I have kept away from Mumbai azadari completely .. my photography does not make me a Shia .. but what makes me human is the essence of respect for others and their faith.. I am lucky I was bought up very differently .. I have lived among Hindus Christians Anglo Indians Parsis Buddhists Sikhs Jains even Jews .. but their association did not mar my humanity or my love of Hussain.
My children my grand children follow the path of peace as taught by my parents..
I came to Hyderabad not merely to shoot pictures but to emotionalize what I saw what I felt , people who gave me shelter , and though I took limited sum of money I had to spend nothing on food .It was free Niyaz e Hussain.
I bought a bunch of memory cards and I still returned home with a unused amount of Rs 2000.
I should have not traveled by bus I am a diabetic , kidney stones but I had to get back to Mumbai my work my commitments , my responsibilities.
And today I am happy at heart on seeing my grand daughters Marziya Shakir and Nerjis Asif Shakir return from Lucknow after 25 days.
And they love me a lot.. I took Nerjis to the bazar and I realized she knows everyone shaking hands waving out to all the shop keepers .. this young street photographer waiting in the wings.
So shooting pictures and blogging are two different ends of a spectrum..
