I have been shooting the Eid Namaz ,, both Ramzan and Bakra Eid or Eid Ul Zuha every year at the Bandra Station,,,it is an extension of the proceedings at the Bandra Station Mosque and is organized by them as the Mosque gets fully packed on this auspicious occasion ,.
I have been shooting the Eid namaz much before the Bandra Skywalk made its appearance and from the skywalk you get a great view ...otherwise we stood up on the railings of the bus stop to get the top shots ,
Those early days a lot of great photographers dropped by to shoot the station namaz ,, my favorite was late Mr Anil Bhartiya photo journalist...I miss him nowadays ,,
Much of the motley crowd of photographers are photo journalists from various dailies and I had a great rapport with a few of them like Pradip Dhivar , Nitin Sonawane .Saatish Malavde and others ,.
And we met twice a year covering both the Eids .
This year none of the above were shooting the Eid Namaz at Bandra Station skywalk,
This year Eid Ul Fitr namaz was made tough by the Mumbai cops of Bandra and Khar they were very strict and did not want photographers crowding the skywalk for security reasons ,,
This was perhaps the first time in years that the senior most Dr Dorje Cherring IPS took two rounds of the skywalk with a huge contingent of cops ,, he knew us all smiled but the rules could not be changed and accredited photo journalists from powerful dailies too had to shoot without complaining .
I had taken a corner as I was the first one to arrive on the skywalk . despite my serious leg injury that I had in Khamkhya Assam recent shoot .
I shoot the namaz barefeet as a tradition of respect for the namazis praying directly under the skywalk from where I shoot .
And almost all the Miya s from Bandra know me as I am the only Miya shooting the Eid Namaz regularly ,,,other Miyas maybe shooting it but not as colorfully dressed like me ,,
I shot the namaz story board this year I left early and spare the photo journalists their manipulated forcing kids to hug called Eid Hugging pictures instead I moved out shoot the Eid in th Shastri Nagar slums and a huge horde of Muslim beggars ,
And those non Muslim tribal beggars that clumsily wear hijabs to pass of as Muslims and I know most of them as I was shooting them when they were toddlers carried on a sling to the waist of other child beggars ,, and they know I know ,, who they are .. they give me a grin.. lol
This year I walked a lot .. limping my way barefeet in dirty slushy waters of the Bandra slums and back home ,,,
I did shoot Garbage outside both the Shiv Sena and NCP offices close to the Shastri Nagar Municipality parking lot of dumpers .
Frankly the Bandra Municipality does not much care for Muslim slums , I know slumdwellers who pay out of their pockets to get the garbage removed .
Modijis Swach Bharat is a total failure in all the Muslim slums and the eponymous Bandra Bazar Road the battleground for reclaiming the Municipal Corporation seat from Congress Mr Tanvir Patel.
So just a few months before the elections all the big guns of the BJP will arrive and blow the bugle of Acche Din v/s the Existing Dustbin.
And Advocate Ashish Shelar the blue eyed poster boy of BJP Bandra will try to steer this ward to victory to make a hat trick..at all 3 levels of Governance of our city .
Ms Poonam Mahajan our erstwhile MP rules here by remote control.. that has been generously placed in Advocate Ashish jis hands ,, we have not seen Madam in our area for a very very long time maybe at flag hoisting only at the Bandra Reclamation promenade ,,
