I Am The Keeper Of Memories

moments i shot
fleeting moments
through the cosmic
holistic lens i caught
some memories did
now want to be held
captive in the soul
of my camera i fought
was this gods idea
of my cosmic plot
even a weed gives
joy to hope where
 it rots everything
in this world has its
pre destined slot

only the skeptic
who does not
believe in natural
science says
fuck so what

,

Syed Rafiq Ali Baba Maulaiee ..

I have been shooting the Dam Madar Malangs since 2005 , and I liked them as photo subjects and they were very different from the highly combustible hot headed rafaees , and I found the malangs simple austere and both Rafiq Baba and Masoomi Baba  never objected to my shooting them nor did they ever makes overtures but they were aware of my Shia background my roots .

Every year I came to Ajmer shot the Malangs , and I found peace in their company..and than my friend  Marc wanted to become a Malang and I became one too..

In 2013 I visited the Holy Shrine of Zinda Shah Madar at Makanpur and thoroughly enjoyed the spiritual experience and documented it fully.

In 2014  I could not attend the Makanpur Urus but I attended the Ajmer Sharif Urus.

My work does not give me the freedom to go anywhere , my wife by the Grace of God visits Karbala almost every Moharam thanks to her children and well wishers .. my Karbala is India and I am happy the way things are I am a by product of my Karmic fate Destiny or whatever you call it ,, I only go where I am destined to go, this might sound fatalistic but I am happy with the status quo..

There are places next to my house and I am unable to visit them I did not go to Haji Malang or Makhdhoom Shah Baba or Fakhruddin Shah Baba .

These are the only three dargahs I vist in Maharashtra but this year I went to Jhadwale Baba at Santacruz SV Road west shot pictures too.Did he call me perhaps I dont question the callings of my fate .

I visited SOBO to meet my good childhood friend brother Ramesh Mulchandani after a very long time I was accompanied by my wife she had some work in town.

And after a long time went to visit my brother Zaheer Shakir at my parents place at Strand cinema  ,.. where I spent mot of my childhood adulthood till marriage ,,

Everything appeared different even the Gateway of India which is about 10 minutes from my parents house looked different ,, the colorful buggies and Arabs enjoying the rides and the unpredictable Mumbai rains .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENN BELL

om mani
padme hun
live long
live well
love from
marziya shakir
who was than
eight month old
in 2008
now six year old
2014
how time flies
with time you
cannot fight
or rebel

nerjis asif shakir
three year old
wishes you happy
birthday in my
grand childrens
hearts you dwell

when will you
anthony posey
bernie come
to mumbai
they keep
asking me
what do i tell


the 3 american
 musketeers
will run away
if they see
our garbage
dumps filth
stench our
living hell
the beggars
that in
our area
dwell ..
bernie
ben posey
please bring
sweet serene
 my lovely angel
(sarah) has dreams
wont sell ,,she is
sitting besides
the wishing well

meet dr glenn losack
my grand childrens
godfather and uncle


firoze shakir
happy birthday
to a fine human
 being upright
benn bell

Now Why The Fuck Would I Want To Go To The Municipal Office In Shorts

to shock demoralize
their women staff
a midday article
that burst my
seams made me
laugh ..we are
so superstitious
even wearing
shorts is like
witchcraft ..
the potholes
on the roads
the dirty filthy
garbage are
not seen by
their staff
how daft

www.mid-day.com/articles/colonial-bmc-bars-man-entry-for-...

The World Famous Ear Cleaners Of Bandra Talao

The ear cleaners of Bandra are polite humble courteous than ear cleaners found anywhere else in Bandra those near VT near the public loo are lazy louts rude and abusive .

But the Bandra ear cleaners are my good friends and love it when my grand daughter 3 year old comes and shoots them they feel blessed they tell me .. and they say they feel they are being recognized by society finally ..

These guys are Muslims uneducated but are proud to have seen their pictures on the net , a guy little smarter among them tells me.

And really I would rather shoot these guys than shoot the shit that most newspaperwala photographers shoot ..sheer crap and sheer eyesores for the fat salaries they get ,,,and its not their fault they try to ape fine art photographers and foreign press photographers .
.
We bloggers ion the other hand have no editorial constrains dont have to go down under the desk of a photo editor we shoot with the love of our city and strangely when we shoot another city we shoot it better than our own city..

We the ear cleaners are great photo subjects provided the guy having his ear cleaned does not object and ear cleaning is like oral sex where the ear becomes a vaginal orifice and you end up listening to the Vagina Monologues from your male body all the ritualistic pattern of having sex is there when you get the hole of and passage of your ears cleaned ,, a prick at a time saves nine .

Bandra Talao is Also A Haven For Drug Addicts

The drug addicts or the Gardalus of Bandra work as scavengers , digging for wealth in the garbage bins in and around Bandra Bazar road or other Bandra bylanes .

And you can see them near the Bandra SV Road Petrol pump shooting drugs or taking brown sugar on the pavement in public view the tragedy is what we see only the Mumbai Police dont see or are not interested to see .. and despite Mr Rakesh Marias good efforts at clean policing , Bandra does not seem to come under this purview ..and cops are now jumping out of their houses with Rs 10 Lacs in suitcases is not a good news is sad as it demoralizes the good cops and good efforts and if you remove the Senior for negligence what about those above him are they aboveboard ,,I dont understand this form of justice removing  senior cops and not removing crime .

And I am a street photographer but also a concerned senior citizen and my blogs would die of shame if they were part of a newspaper ..newspapers are nothing but ads and money making time machines ..the good old newspaper integrity is all gone ,, and good newspaper writers columnists are now hitting out  their failed angst on Twitter within 140 words .

And I shot all this yesterday on my mobile phone,

And I was away from the internet and Twitter almost all day yesterday .