I Shoot The Incredible World Of Hijras Only For Myself

She was sitting with a young lad  in a tiny lane and having a very private chat I could not resist shooting her I shot two frames to my collection documentary on Hijras or transgender ,, 20000 and over images of a mystical community hidden completely from public view ,,every type of hijra I shot the mujra queens , the hijra whores , the bardancers , the beggars , the beggars on local and long distant trains , hijra performers at Muslim weddings, hijra shamans or bawas , hijra kids , hermaphrodites, crossdressers , and the androgyne ,

I still meet them as though they are forced on my camera consciousness , and because they know I respect their gender , I dont do it for a few minutes fame , or money or coffee table book ,,I thought their story was to be told sincerely without cliches and without pompous pandering of their sexuality.. its conflicting confusion and ambiguity , trapped women held viciously in mens bodies ,,but than what others wanted was not their story simply their pictures to misuse them cheat them of their identity and commit fraud cheat the gullible  the naive who they honey trapped with an evil agenda.

I decided let others tell their story shoot their pictures I shot it for my eyes only..I wrote poems eulogizing their fight against the draconian colonial anti human law Article 377 ..but my poetry went silent as my poetry is less words more picture .

The biggest blatant stealers of my hijra  pictures are on Flickr and than Facebook because Facebook Share legitimatizes it all..

This is resized picture of a hijra at Bandra Bazar road as I was going to meet a friend I met another hijra rushing to a country bar.. most of the poor ones love to drown their sorrow in hooch..and if  they die .. even by accident their death a is a tragic travesty of misplaced gender ,, no nor even God genderless to defend her ...

Laurent Salisse at Advocate Ashish Shelar Ganpati

The Malang From Mumbai Shot By Laurent Salisse

As mentioned before Laurent Salisse my French photographer friend came first time to Bandra to meet and shoot me on his Mamiya 6/7

I went to fetch him from Bandra Station than we cut through Nandi Gully I introduced him to the ear cleaners from there I picked up bloodworms for my flowerhorns from Sweet Home Aquarium through several short cuts bought him to my house ..than we went below my building where Laurent placed the backdrop cloth hand made by him , he took several shots on the Mamiya and on his miniature digital but in the chaos and confusion there was a technical hitch , it began to rain heavily so he waited and re shot everything again.. he does not compromise , does not get agitated ..

He met my MLA Advocate Ashish Shelar visited his Ganpati Pandal at Bandra Reclamation than I put him on a bus to go back to his hotel Carlton behind Taj Mahal Hotel.

The camera bestowed me a vision not to just see pictures but also gave me some great friends , a few friendships soured out but all in all I met some great photographers at Flickr ,,and some on Facebook ..

Laurent is a freelance photographer and a hardcore Indophile ,,loves India magnificently and this was his first visit to my house since we met in Lucknow Ashura Moharam in 2007.

We will be shooting a lot together next year ,,Inshallah.

GSB Seva Mandal King Circle 2015

I shot 435 images at the GSB King Circle Pandal most of the very beautiful close ups were not shot by me as I cannot access the Lord on the stage .. so I gave my camera to three of my GSB friends Raghu Kamath in house photographer , Sunil Shenoy my buddy from Duba and a young photo enthusiast Girish Kamath...he kept on thanking me for trusting him with my camera and he took some good shots.
So this series ends ..I was given prasad 3 Bags that I carried in the rains till King Circle barefeet and reached home safely .

I gave one bag the following day to Advocate Ashish Shelar head of BJP Mumbai my neigbor , another to my humble Tennis coach Mr Surendra Pawar and the last will go to Mrs Punam Sinha Mr Shatrughan Sinha and Sonakshi and family..The Sinha family and I share a very long beautiful relationship.

Nitaantikaanta Dantakaanti Mantakaanta Kaatmajam
Achintya Rupa Mantaheena Mantaraaya Krintanam
Hrudantarey Nirantaram Vasantameva Yoginam
Tameka Danta Meva Tam Vichintayaami Santatam.
Meaning: I constantly reflect upon that single tusked God only, whose lustrous tusk is very beautiful, who is the son of Lord Shiva, (Shiva, the God of destruction), whose form is immortal and unknowable, who tears asunder all obstacles, and who dwells forever in the hearts of the Yogis.
Thus ends my Ganesha GSB King Circle Yatra..