Sunday, June 29, 2014

Muslims Love Killing Muslims Even During Ramzan



power lust and greed
misplaced martyrdom
killing fields , iraq syria
afghanistan dead bodies
evil needs ..on carrion
vultures feed as blood
mingles with dust
bloodied weeds
raping young women
part of their creed
the minarets the mullahs
all silent no fatwah
on their misdeeds
children of a serpent
seed within the silhouette
of darkness and yazid

No Hands No Legs Appu My Friend



I first met Appu at Chor Bazar he begged a few blocks away near the sweet shop close to Bohri Mohalla . and he sat here on Fridays before Namaz time , with a few Masjids o this road ..I came here those days to the street side Friday Chor Bazar flea market .

Initially when I shot his pictures , his guardians were upset thinking that I would sell his pictures to the foreign press make a lot of money giving them nothing but loose change.

I was hurt and was moving away when Appu called me apologized for his guardians behavior , and I was barefeet looked every inch a Malang.

We became good friends and I met him every Friday , but than he disappeared , and I stopped going to Chor Bazar completely .

I also shot him on Shabbarat night at Rehmatabad Shia cemetery..drenched in the rains ,,,begging with his sister .

i never saw him after this for a very long time ,,,

Than I met him accidentally sitting on the lane at Mahim that leads to St Michael Church , on Novena Wednesday,I gave him Rs 100 and he deserves it ..My friend Glenn Losack loved him the moment he saw him , and I took Marziya Shakir my grand daughter to meet him Marziya was perhaps two year old..shot their pictures .

So Appu has been part of my pictorial genesis , and I refuse to call Appu a beggar .

Appu also used to sit outside Minara Masjid I shot him there too.

I have not met Appu this year he hails from Assam , he wears a Muslim cap and the hard staunch Muslims who like a Muslim to look like a Muslim made him sport a beard too.

And now I have two grand daughters Marziya and Nerjis both want to shoot him .. but I have to find him first ..

Appu my friend
on a flat wheel cart
he sits watching
moving legs that
pass him by
happy and contend
he has no hands
no legs a wretched
torso a broken
tree stump
god sent
he disappears
for long periods
leaving a vacuous
thought my end
i ponder i wonder
my prayers for his
safety i extend

a poem in his
his memory
i have penned
to all my friends
happy weekend

Under the Shadow of His Wings











He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou find refuge: his truth is a shield and buckler.
psalm 91:4

I once had my workspace at St Peter Road close to St Peter Church Bandra and this is a road that is narrow , traffic from Bandra Bazar Road spills out at Bandra Hill Road near Balaji Restaurant , and traffic from Hill road takes this path as a short cut to Bandra Reclamation or Mount Mary.

This road borders the St Stanislaus grounds and the St Peter Church and against this wall you will find all the garbage of Bandra , it is garbage hotspot , those who drive by the ricksha throw out their garbage here , there is a spineless notice that says a Rs 10000 fine will be levied if you are caught throwing garbage has not stopped this menace..

By and large this is one of the filthiest lanes of Bandra perhaps even our MP and MLA s pass through this short cut off Baba Nagar....Brian of Bandra Speaker fame lives here , he is King of Speakers locally made and handcrafted by him..The other famous Brian is Brian Cable but he lives at Somnath Lane Bandra.

Well every time I was down depressed sad , unromantic mood and self destruct I used to take my Nikon those early days of my tryst with photography and shoot the Church , quadrangle , interiors and I dont think anyone , even a Christian could have shot St Peter Church as much as I have , I shot Jesus and the Holy Spirit trying to get some semblance of order in disorderly Bandra .

I shot the graves of the East Indian pioneers lying in the bower , the Jesuit priests in slumber , and sometimes moved ahead shot the St Staislaus school the race events , iconic feasts held there.

Once in the good old days of Fr Lawrie Serrao I would be invited to St Ignatius Loyola feast and all the old fogies thought I was a proud Stanislite ,, but their faces puckered when I told them I was from Holy Name and the Wodehouse parish,, It is another matter I wanted to become a Christian when I fell in love with a Goan Girl , heel over head was what I got from her mother , she told me over a glass of feni and water pickle I was welcome in their family but Firoze Fernandes sounded more lyrical than Firoze Shakir ,, I attended mass , I was at my best Christian self and now in retrospection married grandfather of 3 I still cant resist shooting Churches Crosses and Shrines .

Fr Jaun from St Peter Church is my godfather , and I have had some great friends among Catholic priests ,late Fr Leslie Ratus and Late Fr Stephan Nazareth of St Joseph Parish RC Church.

And this picture I had it blown up and presented to to Cardinal Oswald Gracias at Archbishop House as my love for the Christian Community and a Church called St Peter where God lives .

I am still living in a gaothan fighting for the rights of East Indians and hoping they are given the respect as the first early inhabitants of Amch Mumbai.

And this is a photoblog you can never read it in a camera club , the culture of camera club desists from using the word blogger a very derogatory term in their Ivory Tower of Fine Art Photography ,,



Pitru Paksha

I shoot pictures , as I see them eclipsed on the soul of my poetry , I shoot Hinduism pictorially but I have limited knowledge , so for my foreigner friends followers I borrow text from Hindu blogs .

I have been shooting Pitru Paksha or Pitru Visajan since many years at Banganga Tank Walkeshwar .

I try not to miss it for two reasons , one I like Banganga , and secondly I like shooting street barbers , and mind you this event where the North Indian migrant from Uttar Pradesh comes in hordes to Banganga to appease his dead ancestors and participates in religious tonsure , shaving his scalp , beard , armpit , even nails of his fingers are clipped , and barbers are here in large numbers , even those guys wanting to make a fast buck become barbers for a day, cutting up the North Indian migrant badly ,,

The puja performers are predominantly North Indian Brahmins , the puja articles are sold by the Maharashtrian local ladies the pindis etc,,

The Banganga residents local leaders try their utmost to keep the tank clean, boats are used and the puja materials are immediately removed after immersion..you see a lot of photographers here documenting this feast.. but Bipin Kokate of Midday is always energetically in the forefront ,shooting the aesthetics of spiritual decorum and dignity.

I am a known face I shoot this event barefeet and shooting this ritual has been cathartic to my body mind and soul.

All this is part of my album Hope And Hindutva ,,and my 57000 blogs on Hinduism..a rich path of Wisdom Peace Hope and Harmony.

And for once I pray to God to open the windows of Mr Subramaniam Swamis congested mind , that even Muslims like me contribute to the richness of our culture despite our diverse ideologue ,,we are two sides of a single coin Mother India ..even parrots can recite Vande Matram but nationalism comes from within deep down of the fountain of our origins ,,


The ritual of sraddha
From the Mahabharata
Anusasana Parva, Section LXXXIV + Sec.XCII
Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli

Bhishma said: When my father Santanu of great energy departed from this world, I proceeded to Gangadwara for performing his Sraddha. My mother, Jahnavi, coming there, rendered great help.

Having with a concentrated mind performed all preliminary rites as laid down in the scriptures, I set myself to duly offer the obsequial cake. Reflecting then, by the light of the scriptures, the conviction soon came upon me that the ordinance does occur in the Vedas that the cake should not be presented into the hand of him whose Sraddha is performed. The Pitris do not come in their visible forms for taking the cake.

On the other hand, the ordinance provides that it should be presented on the blades of Kusa grass spread on the earth for the purpose. What I did was perfectly consistent with the scriptural ordinance.

In making offerings at Sraddhas a share is first offered to the deity of fire(Agni). If a portion of the offerings be first made to the deity of fire at a sraddha, Rakshasas of regenerate origin
cannot then do any injury to such a sraddha. Beholding the deity of fire at a Sraddha Rakshasas fly away from it.

The ritual of Sraddha is that the cake should first be offered to the deceased father. Next, one should be offered to the grandfather. Next should one be offered to the great-grandfather. Even this is the ordinance in respect of the Sraddha. Over every cake that is offered, the offerer should with concentrated attention utter the Savitri Mantra. This other Mantra also should be uttered, viz., unto Soma who is fond of the Pitris.

A woman that has become impure in consequence of the advent of her season, or one whose ears have been cut off, should not be allowed to remain where a Sraddha is being performed. Nor should a woman (for cooking the rice to be offered in the Sraddha) be brought from a Gotra other than that of the person who is performing the Sraddha.

While crossing a river, one should offer oblations of water unto one's Pitris, naming them all. One should next offer such oblations of water to one's deceased friends or relatives. From them that cross a river on boats, the Pitris expect oblations of water. Those that know this always offer oblations of water with concentrated attention unto the Pitris. Every fortnight, on the day of the new moon, one should make offerings unto one's deceased ancestors. growth, longevity, energy, and prosperity become all attainable through devotion to the Pitris.

Even this is the high ritual in respect of the Sraddha. Through Sraddhas performed on earth the deceased members of ones race become freed from a position of misery. I have thus,
O prince of Kuru's race, expounded to thee agreeably with the scriptures, the ordinances in respect of Sraddhas.

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