Wednesday, May 11, 2016

My Friend Francois And Antoine Visit The Kinnar Akhara To Meet Guru Laxmi Narayan Tripathi



I met Francois my French friend at Ram Ghat shooting the Shahi Snan and Francois and I and another friend Boaz had shot Ashura Moharam in Hyderabad .
So Francois was indeed very happy that we were meeting again at Ujjain..however I had shot enough footage of the Shahi Snan with my Naga Guru so I moved on and Francois and I connected again a day after the Shahi Snan ,, they came to our Akhara to visit my Guru and than decided I should come with them to shoot Mosques at Ujjain.. I was feeling a bit uneasy as I wear only saffron at the Kumbh and did not have any other clothes ,,
Than last minute I decided why not go and shoot the Kinnar Akhara as Guru Laxmi and I are very close friends and this would be a great chapter to our Ujjain Dairies .
So we took a ricksha and were lucky that Guri Laxmi treated us lavishly ,, great lunch and a very lovely time shooting her and her Kinnar women.
This entire documentary of my tryst with the Hijras at the Kinnar Akhara I have restricted from public view and ,,,we shot a lot for almost 3 hours ,, We listened to the fight struggle that Guru Laxmi had to set up the Kinnar Akhara at the Ujjain Kumbh ,.some of the hardcore Sadhus were not in favor of it despite the fact that the hijras get their spiritual sustenance from their relationship with Shiva ,,, Ardh Nari Nareshwar.
Guru Laxmi had invited me for her Holy Dip Shahi Snan on 9 May but I was unable to go...this was a great regret ,,they wont be taking art in the last Shahi Snan 21 May 2016 .
From here Francois and Antoine left Ujjain to shoot Hussain Tekri Jaorah ,, the spiritual mental hospital of the possessed of India ...
I returned to Mumbai with my Naga Guru..
Like other photographers I too want to shoot the entire Kumbh but I cant afford it I have newspaper or magazine support and no sponsor ,,, and all this requires money,, but I am happy I shot what I was destined to shoot ,,
I shot Swami Avdesh Anandji taking a dip I shot over 60 videos ,, I think that was enough for me.

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