This Year I Was Not Destined To Shoot The Urus Of Fakhruddin Shah Baba, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
I have been shooting the Urus , almost every year on Mahim main road and strangely I passed the Holy Shrine on the day of the Urus I had work in town and by the time I completed it and came home it was far too late ..
And these are rafaees bawas fakirs beggars street side vendors selling aphrodisiacs herbal medicine beads gemstones who sit across adjacent to the refurbished renovated Dargah..and they are looking at my Asa , a carved wooden metal stick with a swans head.
It is very heavy and I have a good collection , some that were gifted to me by malangs.. this year at Haji Malang I bought a lot of beads and ended giving to my Peer and friends at the Makanpur Urus .
I also bought a fiber beggar bowl..the original ones of coconut shell cost from 15000 to rs 50000 .. I use my on my Urus trip I beg and eat in it with the other Malangs .. it is crushing all ego and a important lesson in humility ,, I carried it to the Maha Kumbh too.
And I carried it to Ajmer Sharif ..The cosmic beggar bowl of a beggar poet.
Shooting the malangs rafaees naga sadhus is shooting the other side of a very exotic vibrant India .. every frame is a learning and self experience I met foreign Naga Sadhus , at Sector 4 Allahabad Maha Kumbh.
The most interesting was shooting the Hijras taking a dip in the Sangam..I was lucky to be there .. and capture the mystical side of the Indian transgender .
Than at Ajmer shooting the Hijra Bawas ..hijras who have renounced life and taken the path of mystics , healing and dua tawiz..
