Why Nerjis Asif Shakir Will Not Be Part of Regressive Camera Club Culture

Please note this was shot when Nerjis was One year Old ,, now three she shoots the streets of Bandra like a Pro,,,


A message sent to a fellow photographer ,..as forward to Wishes for World Photography Day Aug 19

Promoting photography is good  but what disheartens me is nothing has changed the same lighting the same slavish following the old masters and a few pseudo old new masters  whose world has disappeared and a new brave world highly digitized more , enervating takes its place , new approach, new perspectives greater use of poetry as a imaginative tool and we at camera club level have no desire to be part of this change and these are my personal views , see one camera club newsletters the images are the same , the lighting the same and than I wonder are we really photographers are  mere copycats wanting to remain cowardly backwards ..regressive in time warp and time lapse..

And I hope all this changes one day .. it has I have made my grand daughters both one year old and 4 year old Canon EOS 60D users to see the world as it exists .. without adding or subtracting from the restless angst of the poetry of life.. they shoot and unlearn photography.

You Cant Take People For A Ride For More Than 15 Years

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln

Bandra where I stay is a haven for slums and politically powerful slumlords , you dont see them but they see you , and there is lot of money in the slums illegal water power connections , and as one slum comes under the slum rehabilitation project , those who have tailoring embroidery workshops , caterers move towards other slums ..and the rents are always on the higher side in Bandra West as compared to Bandra East .

But Bandra East has a lot of clusters Garib Nagar , Behrampada , Bharat Nagar , Maharashtra Nagar  Valmiki Nagar Gyneshwar Nagar .

Bandra Wet has the infamously famous for its dirtiness  Nargis Dutt Nagar , and even empty spaces beneath the flyover has makeshift tents , the Lal Mitti slums all allowed to proliferate as vote banks for various politicians a few have already bitten the dirt .. than you have Bangarwadi slums , Indraji nagar slums that refuses to be called a slum , Rajiv Nagar and so on.

Once the CRZ opens up all these slums will go and in their place you have will have the rich mans condominiums towers and superhigh rise .

Slums is fodder for all politicians they need the slums and the slum dwellers need the politicians

The in between s , the political touts keep the line open between the slums and the politicians and the slum vote is a collective vote ,,it can move either way with or against the wind.

The change in Bandra was visible to all , we knew it much before the clarion call, fancy brochures testimonials fail, try as much as you want when your time has come to go you have to go.. and even God cant save you ,, as here on Earth the Voter is God , you fuck him once you fuck him twice but hey you cant go on fucking him forever ,,

And so another one bites the dust..

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you, too
Another one bites the dust

And The Winner Is Advocate Ashish Shelar ,, BJP

The Beggars Cry Will Never Reach The Ears Of The Politicians Of Our Country

the politicians of our country
every five years hands folded
begging at doorsteps they
appear once they win they
completely disappear ,,
no time for our problems
or our tears ..sitting at their
elitist clubs sipping ale and beer
our system this democracy
that after we vote gives us
a kick up our rear ..religion
the basis of governance
law and order takes a back
 seat here ..our ministers
will come home to roost
once the elections draws
near ..with a new smile
a new facade new veneer

If Mr Narendra Modiji Our Respected PM Was To Come To Bandra Bazar Road .. You Would Not Find This At All

this place would be thoroughly cleaned
made to look hygienic first of all with due
respect to his Swach Bharat call but than
our Bandra Bazar is not Bharat our problems
even with a BJP MP remain unresolved
Dengue free Bandra is not as important
to them as Congress Free Bandra promises
huge and tall ,,Sabke Sat Sakbka Vikas
says the writing on the Wall.. open gutters
a filthy market without a ladies toilet for
the Koli women says it all 15 years blessed
by a hand that saw its bastion fall ..i feel
the pain when I walk my grandchildren
a dream that lies battered mauled

What will happen tomorrow ,,,
God alone knows ..we will be
staying close to this garbage
dump after all  on the soul of
my beggar poetry a deathly
pall..Good Days we wait for
is all I can hopefully recall