There was once a time I was fanatically crazy about shooting churches , and this was more while shifting to Bandra .. I started photography late and it was St Peter Church Bandra that I shot prolifically thanks to Fr Jaun , Fr Lawrie and Fr Gerard ..
St Peter Church is my favorite Church and I bought my grand daughters to shoot it too .. there is something unique about St Peter the light filtering in through the stained glass and I learnt photography here shooting the Church altar with a tripod and Velvia slide film..I experimented with my shots ..whenever I bought a new lens I tried it out in the Church hoping for the Blessings of the Holy Spirit .
After St Peter it was St Andrew Bandra I shot this church thanks to Fr Peter Drego and this Church has vivid memories I had run away from home , my dad had thrashed me for stealing mangoes from a neighbors garden I took a train to Bandra and walked to the Church asking directions as my godfather Fr Stephan Nazareth had been transferred here he was my mentor and a teacher .. he tried to teach me the guitar but it never worked .I met Fr Stephan told him I had run away from home and did not want to go home .. my house was at Colaba a very long distance , he rebuked me fed me and bought my return fare put me in the train back to Churchgate he gave me Rs 10.. that 10 bucks changed my life forever .
I kept in touch with Fr Stephan even when he got transferred to RC Church and shot his pictures .. he through a friend got me the permission to shoot Afghan Church.
He died unsung.. never saw him again.
The next was Mount Mary Basilica thanks to Fr Neris Roderiques I shot the midnight mass , Xmas mas and I loved this place and during the Fair I bring my grand daughter Nerjis to shoot it too.. Nerjis is now 3 she shot the Mount Mary Fair when she was 2 . Marziya now 7 shot the Mount Mary Fair when she was 3 ..so my fate has been cosmically connected to the Roman Catholic Faith .. and in school when I had a Christian girlfriend my mom would warn me she will one day end up making you Firoze Fernandes ,, lol
I shot St Michael Church the interior but I preferred shooting the beggars outside and my dear friend the limbless just a torso Appu ,, he has disappeared .
And I shot the hijras coming for the Novena , and I shot Jesus begging on the road in the rags of a beggar ... and I realized Jesus would run berserk living in the opulence of the Church when his brethren his true followers were outside the untouchables shunned by society including the white cassock priests ..the beggars of Mahim .
And all this even learning Catechism in school made me a good Muslim and I think a better human being .. I am unlearning I am changing through the lessons I learn from people and places I shoot through the Cosmic Eye Of Shiva in my Camera .
