Life taught me a lesson and it has stayed with me all these years ..without a teacher or a guru you are a rudderless paper boat ..at the mercy of the vagaries of the waves and the unfriendly shoreline of fate .
I realized one needs a Guru and I was lucky that I have several gurus ..two of my photo gurus passed away but they still guide me in the ethereal sense .
And may God give my photo guru living legend Shreekant Malushte a very long life .
I have a Naga Guru who is a male but during a certain feast he takes on the avtar of a woman I am told his form his voice all change he becomes a receptacle for a Devi ..and Shri Vijay Giri Maharaj Juna Akhara does ling kriya at every Kumbh before taking the holy dip.
I have a Chishtiya Guru Peersab Fakhru Miya Ajmer Hujra no 6 I am grateful for him to my tryst with Sufism Malangs Rafaees and Qalandaris .
He is the door that led me into green pastures of metaphysical thought and retrospection .
I have a Jesuit Guru Fr Jaun and I won't ever miss his Latin Mass on Easter Sunday never .
My androgynous guru of all good things is Laxmi Narayan Tripathi I simply call her Guruji earlier I used to call her Laxmi but she has reached an elevated plain after founding the Kinnar Akhara at Ujjain ..
Thanks to her and her inspiring push I have shot the Hijra community up close
.I met some very interesting folks only because of her and one is my Malang brother Marc De Clercq..I refreshed my photography gave it more depth watching Marc shoot we are both urban mystics ..he is urban white I am rustic brown .
The next Guru is Syed Masoom Ali Baba Asqan my documentary on Dam Madar Malangs would have not been possible without him and to reach out to the Malangs as a photographer I became a Malang too ...
I recently met Aghori s at Khamakhya crematorium spent several nights with them shooting their rituals but kept my Diksha on hold ..I am not ready as yet ...I leave it to my cosmic fate .
And now last but not the least my Tennis Coach Guru Surendra Pawar has changed my vision my life making me play tennis not just physically but holistically too this is one Guru who has grown on the parched poetry of my soul ..he nourishes me and gives me a reason to breathe freely .
I have great respect for Tantric Samrat Sai Kamakhya Agnitantrik Kaulacharya.. Sailalji ..he gave me food shelter and took care of my needs at Khamakhya peak without charging me a single cent ..I call him Guruji ..and Gurus are the life-force without a Guru you are nothing but a dead piece of shit .
And than I have one greatest Guru my beginning my end and he is my breath my body my soul he is none but ..Man Kunto Maulah Imam Manasto Name e Ali .
Just a single call Ya Ali Madad and I am saved ...
Happy evening from Bandra Bazar Road .
