Monday, December 2, 2013

The Birth Of A Camera .. In The Hands Of a 2 Year Old Child



From the time Nerjis Asif Shakir began shooting pictures I held the camera , while she hit the trigger , but she always placed the camera strap around her neck, a habit that stuck.. yesterday I took a chance let her take the camera Canon EOS 60D ... and shoot the picture herself .. she shot her favorite Uncle Assad who took this shot on his mobile phone,,,

I had taught Marziya too, but Marziya learnt from all visiting photographers at my house ..but Nerjis Asif Shakir learnt with each shot she took.. and it is this humility love towards the camera that gave birth to her confidence and her awakening ... call it vision or whatever ..

I could easily have taught her all this on the tripod , but I wanted her to hold the camera like a baby doll gently lovingly and it paid off...

I love my grand daughters all three but Nerjis Asif Shakir is far too special, knows all the names of the fishes in the tanks , loves beggars and Fr Juan of St Peter Church..

The Retired Street Photographer


i am
depressingly
sick and tired
of shooting
the same
things
over and over
again..seasonal
driving me
psychotically
insane
i am held
to my cosmic
camera like
a dog on a
rusty chain
i come back
the same
place where
i am held
my poetic
pictorial pain
on the emulsion
of the memory
card of life
is what remains
diminishing
vision my eye strain
what i had what i
lost i do not wish
to regain..

shooting
the footsteps
of jesus
the chariot
of ganesha
the motherly
stance of gauri
the visarjan
of durga
through
the windowpane

on 10 day
of ashura
40 day of
chehlum
i become
one with
hussain
humility
humanity
on the
window
screen
of my
cosmic
brain

The World Of Dam Madar Malangs ,,,


shot by malang marc de clercq ...

www.flickr.com/photos/marcdeclercq/

The picture was sent to me a few minutes back by my brother Malang Marc with a nostalgic note , Marc is more family than friend thanks to the camera that binds you with blood sometimes ash or vermilion..

Marc and I have traveled a great length through the corridors of the mind of Man , recorded his angst on the emulsion of thought , that I call poetry of Life.

Marc is a great photographer I am merely a novice my pictures are accidents of my karmic thirst to understand my spectral surroundings the darkness and the light...

Over the years since 2005 I have learnt to demystify my emotions , capture it in another mans angst , remorse despair and..the struggling soul chained to a mortal body.

If somebody knows me truly well as a street photographer besides my human side it is Marc De Clercq..we shot together side by side the streets of Ajmer Haji Malang and the Maha Kumbh..

We are both part of a peacful Sufi Order Dam Madar Malangs and we documented the 896 Urus of Hazrat Zinda Shah Madar Makanpur , we were both initiated as Malangs in the same year same month at Ajmer , first me by Peersab Masoomi Ali Baba Madari Asqan.. than he took Bayt after me and actually it was Marc who involuntarily inspired me to become a Malang..

This picture shot by him rekindled lost memories ...evocative illusions ..shimmering soliloquy of silence ...

I dont know whether I will go to Ajmer or Makanpur I follow my fate if it leads me where it wants to lead me as a slave of time and space.

The Common Man Gave His Vote


soon after
the elections
when the netas
come to power
he will be crushed
completely you
will note ..he
was smote
though the
system of
corruption
valiantly
he fought
waqt sab se
bada madarchod
dil pe lage ghav
atma ne khaie chot
bandhe hath dabe
hot..ab agar bach
gaya kabhi nahi
doonga vote ..
tuh mujhe mar le
mera gala ghot
ja thane main lkha
le report ..phata
poster nikla aam
admi ke pakit
se bacha dal mot

The Retired Street Photographer

Nerjis Asif Shakir Shoots Uncle Assad And Me

The 50 mm Magical Lens

Our House Majlis 2013

Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Taking The Blessings of A Malang ..Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Abbas Kazmi Sab at Our House Majlis 2013
Abbas Kazmi Sab at Our House Majlis 2013Abbas Kazmi Sab at Our House Majlis 2013Abbas Kazmi Sab at Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013
Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013
Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013Our House Majlis 2013

Our House Majlis 2013, a set on Flickr.

Abbas Kazmi Sab at Our House Majlis 2013

Abbas Kazmi Sab at Our House Majlis 2013

Taking The Blessings of A Malang ..

Our House Majlis 2013


Our annual Moharam house majlis was held today , recited by Maulana Abidi Saab , and the ladies were gathered at my house , and the gents at the house of Hadi and Tehseen Mukadam our dear friends ..All my three grand daughters decided to be with the ladies , and as there are many majlis around Bandra at the same time the attendance was adequate ,..

Maulana Abidi Sab talked at length on the Tragedy of Karbala , the decapitation of Imam Hussain by Shimr and the pain of Ahle Bayt and his sister Bibi Zainab who witnessed the tragedy .of the Grandson of the Holy Prophet Of Islam .. and Imam Hussain was murdered by a Muslim .. and it is a fact and my personal poetic thesis that Muslims love Killing Muslims ..

Karbala exists even today ad the persecution of the Followers of Imam Ali and the Mourners of Imam Hussain continues everywhere in Arab states and in Pakistan Afghanistan and Iraq.. and the Minarets of Hate are silent ,,,the so called custodians power brokers of Islam prefer a divide and rule policy, and it is the factionalism that has even seeped in the soul of Shiasm.. we are divided among our own, one Shia faction bent on destroying the soul of Hussainiyat..and in Mumbai maligning individual Shias by Shia bigots has become the norm , finding faults and judging him without proof simply on hearsay....why are such Shias taking such officious stands against other Shias beats me completely ,,, why cant we be united in Ghame Hussain , instead of politicizing the meaning of Hussainiyat ... and it hurts me deeply .. so the Masaib of Maulana Abidi Sab was about our loss our collective pain , our mourning and the Tragedy of all times ..and when Death draws near , the Azadar is judged for his mourning his tears is the crux of the meaning of Ghame Hussain..
I was weeping like the rest and it is our tears without color bias , our tears whether we are poor rich affluent that become a stream of thought for the generation Next.. a bolder more wiser generation ,cyber say and thought provoking.. Azadari and Ghame Hussain keeps the Flame of Hope Humanity alive .

There was Matam e Hussain and Niyaz that wife had specially made at home , galauti ke kebab and roti and Yakhni Pulao..

A lot of my friends did not turn up, and a a few passed away into the next world .. we missed them dearly..

One of my sons shot the pictures this time .. I took the camera at the end ..and this is the first Moharam documentary I have shot of Mumbai Azadari at my house ..

I shot Ashura in Delhi at Kashmiri Gate and might shoot Chehlum in some other distant city.. where it is Ya Hussain Labaik Ya Hussain...

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