The Bandra Bazar Beef Market Is Back To Normal With Buffalo Meat

I shot this video today the first day after a month long protest I spoke to Mr Intezar Qureishi the owner of the butcher shop and on of the main person leading the fight against the Beef Ban and its draconian stringent laws  possession or consuming beef is 5 years jail and Rs 10000 fine.

 And this is Sab Ka Sath Sab Ka Vikas ,, The Christians of Bandra are happy with the opening of the beef shops , it has bought a smile on their faces before Easter ..

 Intezar Bhai was really busy this morning but he was outspoken and hurt that his butchers were jobless for such a long time ,,

video

I Cried For I Had No Watch Till I Found A Boy Who Had No Hands

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
Friedrich Nietzsche

I have shot a lot of beggars as a photographer I have lived with beggars I have broken fast with them on the roads at Bhendi Bazar ,, but all theses years even after shooting Appu my friend who has no hands or legs ,, this boy hit me the hardest with his hard stare accusingly piercing my soul and thrashing the poetry within me ,,

And maybe he could not understand why I was shooting him , and here I was barefeet and the hot floor was really killing me as I took a few shots I gave him money but my money was not special , simply because everyone gave him money ,, it was my camera that had caught him unawares .. I wish I was more human if I could sit down by his side and feel his pain his innocene of living without raising his hands towards the skies ,, he will never do what other kids do and if you think about all the acts we do with our hands ,,, his life is tragically doomed ,

Maybe if some rich man could take charge of him , give him a better education a better life and prosthetic s but than those who come to Ajmer Sharif fill the coffers of the Holy Shrine ,, and expect rewards in return,,, like my friend Alex W said  women in his world are more busy with lip jobs boob jobs and removing wrinkles Botox shots and souls like this child keep falling into an abyss .

I never spoke to him, he was not inclined to speak to me I looked like a bawa in my long robes and turban and my spiritual sartorial serenity that may have seen out of place to him with my obtrusive cosmic camera .
I shot him in 2013 but never saw him in 2014 and I searched most of the lanes of Ajmer Sharif ,,,I wanted to meet him talk to him. but my thoughts remained within myself.

And this is Ajmer the city that bestows hope on such beggars and even beggars like me ,,we have hands but at times we are impotently limbless in our aspirations our search incomplete .

I could force a poem here but will it change the pain of this child .. it would change nothing ,, and he has a guardian hidden from my camera view , who watches over him , feeds him washes him and perhaps uses him as a merchandise to bring in more money I know nothing ,,,does he feel left out when he sees other beggar kids running around with plates in their hands for begging ,, does he feel left out when in the spare time the other beggar kids play Gilli Danda ..or Koyba with marbles or rotate the top..


This is perhaps the only beggar kid who left me defenseless to his gaze  this is the only beggar child who aborted my dreams .. this is the only beggar child who made me feel like a limbless child too ,and I felt agonizingly ashamed of the camera in my hand .


Jack Tolaram ,,I hope you read this  and strengthen your spirit ,, you have more than two hands cher ami..

What Does A Beggar Want Out Of Life ,,,

80000 Views yesterday on my pictures at Flickr and the only interesting thing the degradation of human life I have shot is Beggars ..I am not into Travel or Tourism.

I dont proselytize my religion or yours but I showcase the intriguing nuances of all faith as it touches Mankind via Rites Customs Rituals .


I shoot the simplicity of Life , simple things without intricacy without metaphorical interpretations ,,my poetry is my own thoughts emanating from the pictures I shoot ,, I live from one day to the next ,, I now  enjoy seeing my granddaughter Nerjis shooting pictures , there was a time I had to help her hold the camera but now she does it on her own , before she takes the camera the first thing she does is to place the camera strap around her neck.

And she is moody impulsive if she does not want to shoot she will not shoot at all. so we both add content to our Bandra Blogs .

Bandra is her Wonderland and her Disneyland ..


And today I am in a beggarly mood ... I am thinking reliving beggars ...

Ajmer The City Of Hope For Beggars ,,,,

And first the Malangs will start out on a long walk from Kaliar Sharif meet the Malangs of Nizamuddin Aulia and as more Malangs join them they will reach the Holy City Of Ajmer Sharif a day before the Urus of Khwajah Garib begins,,

The city will be decked up and as you make your way from the station through the bylanes you will see beggars beggars , vying for your attention , some yelling out in pain , others mute with fire  in their eyes and the blind the lepers the deranged , the dwarfs every type of beggar is here in Ajmer and they have come with hope , they live on the roads , near the mountains there are beggar colonies in makeshift tents ,, they are the chosen ones of the Holy Saint ,, there is a beggar mafia too unseen that brings beggars to this holy city and makes big bucks paying the beggars their daily wages ..

There are con men too posing as beggars and there are crooks stealing purses from the overcrowded lanes leading to the Holy Shrine ,, and despite holding this Fair for years the government of Rajasthan does not know about crowd management , the devotees lying outside the Ajmer Railway station and the Railways have no idea how to control or manage the Surge ,

No effort is made to make the Urus memorable or make it International, the Ajmer Shrine lanes dirty filthy ugly ,,, it saddens me nothing has changed at all.

I become on with the beggars and each one is unique , each carrying the burden of his Cross on his bent shoulders , and beggars are beggars Muslim beggars or Hindu beggars they are one in their Pain.. and the Holy Saint provides ,, there are good humanbeings that feed the beggars give them money clothes and walk away ..and Compassion is the other name of Ajmer Sharif.

And I can talk volumes about the beggars of Ajmer and another lot of beggars with open wounds , at Taragadh, beggars that have pored hot oil on their wounds to fester them the more pain the more money .. newborn kids lying in the sun on a mat begging unaware that from the mothers womb they have entered Hell on Earth.

So my Muslim Beggars is a set of Pain and Suffering and some Deliverance

Why Do Beggars From All Over India Come To Ajmer

a great spiritual fair
the holy saint garib
nawaz removing
tears from faces
of the poor needy
taking them under
his care ..for every
beggar that comes
to ajmer the holy
saint is everywhere
from every nook
corner his bounty
with everyone he
shares .broken
hearts broken
souls he repairs
removing obstacles
saving those who
are demonically
ensnared ..
thanks to the
khwajah there
is a refreshing
spirituality in the
air ,,home away
from home ajmer
the beggar enters
where angels fear
to dare ..a holy
saints holy lair

Hypocritical Muslim Society Has Created Muslim Beggars

with a triple talaq
her life ended as
a beggar on  the
streets .it is only
leftovers she eats
outstretched hands
tired feet she is on
 the verge of defeat
cheaper than a goat
for sacrifice her life
held by a slender
thread for survival
competes ..her
cosmic fate she
could not cheat
begging on the
streets of ajmer
a dying heart beat

her face covered
hiding her shame
her life an empty
box of sweets ..

Once A Beggar Always A Beggar

He is my beggar friend from Dhai Djinn Ka Jhopda Ajmer and he comes here during the Ajmer to supplement his earning , he has a wife and family too and he has a mobilephone ,  He told me his name gave me his number but I misplaced it .. He is from Murshidabad W Bengal most of the beggars I have met in Mumbai too are from Murshidabad ,, What kind of place is Murshidabad I dont know ,,

This crippled beggar with deformed legs , waits for me where he sits , and he hugs me when he sees me , treats me like a royal guest , he will call the tourist photographers to take our pictures a keepsake for his family and he gives crisp notes to the photographer .

While I sit with him , sip tea that he has ordered for me , we talk as I have known him for many years ..the place gets crowded , and people come to me kiss my hands ask me to bless them, as I look like a saintly Bawa , holy man ,,,they give me money and I collect all this my earnings and before leaving I hand it over to him.. and he is moved to tears , he is a very soft hearted humanbeing,, and we have a cosmic relationship we both are beggars he begs from so many gods I beg from one ,, he begs from the crowds I beg within my loneliness .

This picture was shot in 2012 I did not meet him last year and I wish I had not lost his number I could have called him ,is he well is he in hospital..and its people like him that give me the inner spiritual strength life cant be as bad for me as it is for him..and than I wish I had shot his video.. my video craze is new it goes into the soul of humanity of the people I have begun to shoot , the earcleaners the street barbers and there are so many untold stories waiting to be shot..

Ajmer is a city that is Hope for Beggars , the hopeless the homeless thanks to the Holy Saint appropriately called Gharib Nawaz One Who Blesses The Poor ,,Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti Al Sabri .

And I have been coming to Ajmer since 2005 and my host Peersab Fakhru Miya of Hujra No66 and his two erstwhile sons Farid Miya and Qambar Miya treat me like family , they give me food shelter and if things ae bad my end they buy my return ticket to Mumbai and once to reach Ajmer I was desperately broke I sold my prime Nikon 80- 200 2.8 Lens this is the craziness , and than one is forced to say Yeh Toh Khwajah Ka Karam Hai.

And I dont sell beggar pictures because this is what people in India think instantly ..and I have yet to find someone who buys beggar pictures I would give him the entire lot and give the entire amount to the poor children of my country.

I am in Ajmer for two or three days if there is time I pay my tribute to Lord Brahma and see my two friends Raj Tilak and Niru,, and buy a new dagger from Raj Tilak to cut my head during Moharam.. last time I bought four and gave it to a few Shia kids ..

Once I spent a lot of time with the Hijras at Ajmer but that passion to shoot hijras has subsided I shoot them if I meet them..but instead I prefer shooting the Rafaees and the Malangs being a Malang myself and the Urus is the best time to bond with man and God.


Ajmer is a momentous memory a memory that never ends or fades and you can only go to Ajmer when you are called this is spiritually known as Bulawa or Calling ,,

Will I be Called ,, Only Khwajah Garib Nawaz can answer that ...

The Tragic Story of This Vegetable Seller

I respect this man a lot , and I have known him for  several years since the time I accidentally shot his elder daughters wedding procession that was passing by my house ,,, now he is a grandfather too.. and I always get a smile when I pass him by..

He recently lost his only son of  20 years old  , a young lad  who died due to a cardiac attack.. and he has faced this irreparable loss with a lot of strength of character .. he says it was Gods will and goes silent ,, all those years of holding his only son watching him grow from school to college  , those dreams of seeing him in a good paying job,  all gone .. nothing remains and believe me his son was a strapping handsome lad,,  totally polite and well mannered boy ..

And as a father I can understand his immeasurable pain and I shoot his pictures try to understand his fatherly pain and loneliness ,, I dare not how his wife is taking the loss of their only son.

May His Soul Rest In Peace ..