The Dead Come Alive On Pitru Paksh Day At Banganga, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
I would have never shot this feast at all.. as I never knew about it .. it was a picture by Ranjit Shashank of PSI ..Photographic Society Of India my camera club , many years back that got me hooked completely and I began shooting it in earnest,, I tried never to give it a miss and I think I began shooting this from 2004 or earlier ,,,
Attached to this was another ritual, I shot this barefeet and after I completed my shoot I would go to my Guru Mr KG Maheshwaris old ancestral home Maheshwari house , after washing my dirty filthy feet in his lavish garden.. and than pay my tribute to this Grand Master Yousef Karsh of India and his wife,.
Of late I have not met them for many years ,,,but we keep in touch he is not as active on the Internet .as he has not been keeping well ..Mr KG Maheshwaris is in his 90s ,,I want my grand children to be blessed by him,, so I pray everyday for his speedy recovery.
So it was with sad nostalgia I finished the shoot this year , than our bike accident at Teen Batti.. with Pratik Koli my friend and our eventually coming out unscathed ..
This picture was shot in 2011..and this ritual has all the qualities of photogenic splendor , but you should know when to stop, I came early shoot in good light and then within an hour was out,,, the silver lining is the boat shots ,, the boat guys dont take money from me because they know I love Banganga its pristine heritage as much as them.
And this a part of peaceful Uttar Pradesh , a glorious message of peace hope goodwill and captured by me a born Shia Muslim , the reason I am mentioning this is why do people hate kill murder plunder when both sides are Indians ,,, I reiterate my stand my upbringing,, and I have lived in Mumbai since I was a year old living with my parents in the slums of Kurla..
This city of Migrants gave us much, gave us even what we did not ask, it gave us hope took us from the slums to Wodehouse Road , to Breach Candy and finally to Strand Cinema ,, till I branched out on my own with my family to Bandra..
So perhaps life has come a full circle and my 50000 blogs on Hinduism as Hope and Hindutva a Message of Peace Hope Humanity is the result of my mothers teachings of living with peace with my neighbor , respecting his religion faith and Ideals,.. and this is the greatest gift of my parent that I have much before my death bequeathed to my children and their children.. and this is an Indian quality of Oneness ..
Media only writes about Muslim Hindu hate animosity but will never speak of Muslims living in peace with all community .. media has to sell and hate sells faster than love or Mutual coexistence ..before building toilets temple we have to build the broken down walls of our inner hearts where the hate of one Indian for another Indian lies ,,
I am not much of a writer I prefer a few words and I type with one finger but without my Hindu gurus , my Hindu friends and others I would have not reached this far each one picked me up when I fell.. and are still helping me to find my way home.
Thank You Ranjit Shashank.. you showed me a path.. I found my destination..
