More than the Indian photographers its the foreign photographers that have documented the Malangs , foreigners from Poland France Holland walking with the Malangs from Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah Delhi with the Standard of the Great Saint Khwajah Garib Nawaz till Ajmer though most of the Malangs like Masoom Ali Baba Rifaee and the Qalandaris walk from Kalliar Sharif Panipat via Delhi to Ajmer Sharif,, this is an age long tradition once they hand over the Standard the following day the Ajmer Urus begins ,,
The Makanpur Urus of the head of the Madariyya order does not have many foreigners as there is no boarding lodging near the Shrine people live in makeshift tents and some in rented houses but it it totally totally packed ,, here it is complete Malang territory , Malangs are initiated upgraded , and they are made Khalifas of their order even the new initiates have to go to a river near the Holy Shrine get cleansed and the rituals start , the new initiate begs from the crowds..
I have documented all this when I was here in 2013 .. the Malang lifestyle is austere , simple and caring for the poor the needy ,, feeding them giving them spiritual guidance so the poor of Uttar Pradesh come in hordes to the Urus of Zinda Shah Madar.
Syed Masoomi Baba my Madar Guru is the most famous well known person here , and highly respected , scholars , Islamic teachers students all throng to him and there are a lot of Shias attached to the order of the Madariyya Sufis.. I met a lot of them.. and they all wanted to meet me to find out from where I got my kama for cutting my head during Moharam they had seen my Kama matam pictures on the net.
As a photographer I love shooting the Malangs ,, I shoot other ascetics mendicants , bawas but the Malang photography gives me a high..these simple people who have renounced life their homes their families to be with the poor ..they have no belongings and live at some Dargah in their hometown or nomadic on the move from one Urus to another ..all over India.
