Friday, September 22, 2017

Raju Earcleaner Bandra Talao




My notoriety to Fame on my You Tube channel is firstly because of my documentary on ear cleaners or wax removers .
I began shooting them to save them from being evicted from Bandra Talao when it was being refurbished .
But I found there is a huge segment of people in the world obsessed with ear wax removers .. as some would object to my shooting them I began to sit and shoot the proceedings on my mobile phone selfie mode .
People are in awe of these humble ear cleaners of Bandra that are now globally known.
And they reflect Hindu Muslim amity Raju is a Hindu and his seniors Nabi and Kasim Muslims ,, from Karnataka they do ear cleaning and take a break to till their fields both are farmers .
Every Eid I invite them to my house give them sweets money and a set of clothes .. they have made me famous too.
They are part of my street stories .

Earcleanervideos

The Mountain shook I rejoined Facebook




This was a blank post at Flickr that found its place in Explore and has generated 4468 views shot on 19 Sept 2017 .
Sometimes you shoot a picture that is a poem devoid of words words have a tendency of stilting the true interpretation of ones creativity ,,my poetry slam or street poetry is mere juggling of words pushing them in blank spaces .
This is a poem that came out of the blue .





Sodom and Gomorrah
poetically posturing
as Twitter Facebook
hate is more powerful
than love everywhere
you look earlier my
naivety forum of peace
Facebook I accidentally
mistook i shut shop for
one and half years Flickr
remained my most comforting
friendly nook...photography
is storytelling photos become
nostalgic storybook
fishes swishing past
pebbles in a brook...shooting pain
remorse dreams cavorting with misery
mans fate his struggle survival from
his cosmic destination cannot be
unhooked ..
a thought that needs to be seriously pondered
life begins as a blank sketch book..
i live i die held in captivity of my karma dharma
faults failures shortcomings overlooked

this was a blank post i added my poetic angst
letter by letter a task my inner self undertook


The wound is the place where the Light enters you.
Oh Rumi my Master My Teacher My Only Text Book


Facebook

A Fistful Of Sky




Posted at Facebook


I thank those who sent me friend request normally I hesitate to add people I dont know and read this carefully you add me without reading my profile but than I am more than the pictures I shoot .
I am not just a Shia or just a Muslim I am the Religion I shoot and my photography is not to generate money or goodwill .
I am a 65 year old man I am as sensitive as opinionated as you are I dont socialize I dont use social media I have no vested interest I have a humble request to all of you if my pictures hurt your sense sensibility please Unfollow Me .
I cannot have your vision your thinking your parentage I shoot what I like your preference is not the criteria of my shooting a certain subject people on Facebook most of them are overzealous more about their Faith than Humanity .
That is why I go into a Rehab I have deactivated Facebook many times to tell myself I can live without Facebook it does not govern me I am proud of my roots my bloodletting I would never sell my soul to get a Blue Tick mark here on Facebook or on Twitter .
I dont interact much I dont comment I dont use the Facebook Like button I try not to tag people but Khalid Babu Qureshi bhai is a close friend I am his fan and have known him since his school days so I added all his friends without deleting a single request ..and I am not into politics or Party for me your political views dont bother me .. but if you ridicule people s religion that I shoot I will block you without giving reason.
At my age I can live without friends ..friends that can be harmful or injurious to my spirituality .. my spirituality is my own my personal prerogative so it should not divert you from your goal of Life .
I shoot India only India I live in India I breathe India I shoot the vivid tapestry of all Faith that makes this beautiful weft and warp of India .
When I shoot Hinduism I dont go dressed in a skull cap I have never worn a skull cap so I wear turbans ..
When I shoot Sufism I shoot it in a Malang or Qalandari attire .
When I shoot Shiasm a Shiasm I inherited not from the Musllah but in my mothers womb I wear stark black ..
I am not a congregational man at all I live life on my own terms ,,
I will exit Facebook the day I feel choked and suffocated .
Perhaps the real me is a chimerical apparition wandering at Flickr with over 450000 images shot since June 2007 .
Or I am on You Tube among my videos 3250 that I began shooting two years back.. with over 8 million views .
I dont know video editing but I shoot raw emotions .
I do not like posting pictures as Facebook and if I post too many Flickr links Facebook suspends me as Spam.
I thought those who added me newly should know a little bit about me .
I need a picture to post my poems or my thoughts ,,
This is my favorite picture ..I stole his soul ,,,but despite his Tantric power he could not steal my Soul.
Today is First Moharam in a few days I will leave to shoot Moharam Ashura in Chennai after a gap of 7 years .
Happy Morning From Bandra

Cliched ..






when I look around the pond
of cosmic imagination.
people's birds blooms flowers
I am happy that I shoot the angst of remorseful street
beyond the vortex of Golden Hour ...
I am happy shooting garbage that is part of my civic heritage
in my photographic bower
I shoot the phallic always erect
rich man's towers .
My camera silent makes sure my vision is  real grounded come what may won't sour ..

It's my holistic self engineered
imagination keeps the camera
empowered.


a thought
woven within a thought
he calls it his I call it mine
it is collectively our

Shot on my mobile phone from a moving rickshah at Pali Road Bandra ,

a moment sweet and sour

A Mother By Any Other Name Is Mother - Ma Durge




Durga, also identified as Adi Parashakti, Devi, Shakti, Bhavani and by numerous other names, is a principal and popular form of Hindu goddess.[3][4][5] She is the warrior goddess, whose mythology centers around combating evils and demonic forces that threaten peace, prosperity and dharma of the good.[4][6] She is the fierce form of the protective mother goddess, willing to unleash her anger against wrong, violence for liberation and destruction to empower creation.[7]

Durga is depicted in the Hindu pantheon as a fearless woman riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon,[1] often defeating the mythical buffalo demon.[8][9] She appears in Indian texts as the wife of god Shiva, as another form of Parvati or mother goddess.[8][10]

She is a central deity in Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, where she is equated with the concept of ultimate reality called Brahman.[11][6] One of the most important texts of Shaktism is Devi Mahatmya, also called as Durgā Saptashatī, which celebrates Durga as the Goddess, declaring her as the Supreme Being and the creator of the universe.[12][13][14] Estimated to have been composed between 400-600 CE,[15][16][17] this text is considered by Shakta Hindus to be as important scripture as the Bhagavad Gita.[18][19] She has a significant following all over India and in Nepal, particularly in its eastern states such as West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and Bihar. Durga is revered after spring and autumn harvests, specially during the festival of Navratri.[20][21

Durga, also identified as Adi Parashakti, Devi, Shakti, Bhavani and by numerous other names, is a principal and popular form of Hindu goddess.[3][4][5] She is the warrior goddess, whose mythology centers around combating evils and demonic forces that threaten peace, prosperity and dharma of the good.[4][6] She is the fierce form of the protective mother goddess, willing to unleash her anger against wrong, violence for liberation and destruction to empower creation.[7]

Durga is depicted in the Hindu pantheon as a fearless woman riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon,[1] often defeating the mythical buffalo demon.[8][9] She appears in Indian texts as the wife of god Shiva, as another form of Parvati or mother goddess.[8][10]

She is a central deity in Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, where she is equated with the concept of ultimate reality called Brahman.[11][6] One of the most important texts of Shaktism is Devi Mahatmya, also called as Durgā Saptashatī, which celebrates Durga as the Goddess, declaring her as the Supreme Being and the creator of the universe.[12][13][14] Estimated to have been composed between 400-600 CE,[15][16][17] this text is considered by Shakta Hindus to be as important scripture as the Bhagavad Gita.[18][19] She has a significant following all over India and in Nepal, particularly in its eastern states such as West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and Bihar. Durga is revered after spring and autumn harvests, specially during the festival of Navratri.[20][21]


Devi's epithets synonymous with Durga appear in Upanishadic literature, such as Kali in verse 1.2.4 of the Mundaka Upanishad dated to about the 5th century BCE.[31] This single mention describes Kali as "terrible yet swift as thought", very red and smoky colored manifestation of the divine with a fire-like flickering tongue, before the text begins presenting its thesis that one must seek self-knowledge and the knowledge of the eternal Brahman.[32]

Durga, in her various forms, appears as an independent deity in the Epics period of ancient India, that is the centuries around the start of the common era.[33] Both Yudhisthira and Arjuna characters of the Mahabharata invoke hymns to Durga.[31] She appears in Harivamsa in the form of Vishnu's eulogy, and in Pradyumna prayer.[33] Various Puranas from the early to late 1st millennium CE dedicate chapters of inconsistent mythologies associated with Durga.[31] Of these, the Markandeya Purana and the Devi-Bhagavata Purana are the most significant texts on Durga.[34][35] The Devi Upanishad and other Shakta Upanishads, mostly dated to have been composed in or after the 9th century, present the philosophical and mystical speculations related to Durga as Devi and other epithets, identifying her to be the same as the Brahman and Atman (self, soul).[36][37]

Origins[edit source]
The historian Ramaprasad Chanda stated in 1916 that Durga evolved over time in the Indian subcontinent. A primitive form of Durga, according to Chanda, was the result of "syncretism of a mountain-goddess worshiped by the dwellers of the Himalaya and the Vindhyas", a deity of the Abhiras conceptualized as a war-goddess. Durga then transformed into Kali as the personification of the all-destroying time, while aspects of her emerged as the primordial energy (Adya Sakti) integrated into the samsara (cycle of rebirths) concept and this idea was built on the foundation of the Vedic religion, mythology and philosophy.[38]

Epigraphical evidence indicates that regardless of her origins, Durga is an ancient goddess. The 6th-century CE inscriptions in early Siddhamatrika script, such as at the Nagarjuni hill cave during the Maukhari era, already mention the legend of her victory over Mahishasura (buffalo-hybrid demon).[39]

European traders and colonial era references[edit source]
Some early European accounts refer to a deity known as Deumus, Demus or Deumo. Western (Portuguese) sailors first came face to face with the murti of Deumus at Calicut on the Malabar Coast and they concluded it to be the deity of Calicut. Deumus is sometimes interpreted as an aspect of Durga in Hindu mythology and sometimes as deva. It is described that the ruler of Calicut (Zamorin) had a murti of Deumus in his temple inside his royal palace.[40]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga

Religious Tonsure Documenting Street Barbers of India








When or why I started shooting street barbers I dont recollect but Barberism Barbers Religious Tonsure Mundan is a prolific documentary shot by me housed at Flickr .
But there is a incident that pushed me into shooting Religious Tonsure I met a young couple from Andhra they were deeply in love and their parents were not happy they went through hell they came to Haji Malang invoke the Holy Saint if their marriage happened they would give their hair as their homage and the Saint answered their prayers so instead of going for a Honeymoon they came to a street salon and were having their heads shaved I was not into videos those early days so I shot their pictures , the lady was very beautiful and I saw her evolving in front of my eyes as her strands fell at my feet,,both were in spiritual bliss both staunch Hindus .
The guy told me his Love story and today after almost 10 years I am absolving myself for having kept it close to my heart..so I began shooting barbers my granddaughters Marziya Nerjis Mundan Akika .
I shot several street barber stories I shot faceless Billu Badshahs ..I shot barbers in Lucknow Hyderabad Delhi Latur ..it was not a obsession but I wanted to tell their stories and barbers have Shifa holistic healing hands hey touch and bless you ..
I shot barbers on the banks of Ganges Allahabad Maha Kumbh Nasikh Kumbh Ujjain Kumbh.
But the guys that really contributed to my barber documentary were the street barbers of Lal Mitti Bandra Reclamation ..Hindu guys from UP and Jharkhand .
Mostly the street barbers or even barbers runnning street stalls are Muslims most come from Badayoun..and other north Indian cities .
I was close to a Kashmiri barber too,
But Pitru Paksha pushed me completely into shooting street barbers as here on on this auspicious day I could shoot hordes of barbers at Banganga that became a Planet of Bald Heads .
I have been shooting the street barbers on Pitru Paksha for several years I must be the only photographer shooting them barefeet ,..but it was the first time I shot them in the rains and there used to be a few Muslim barbers from Bandra that joined this bandwagon but I did not see them.
As my thread of life that goes beyond just poetry passion and pathos it is bound to Hindu Muslim amity at all costs this is the essence core of my photography and its Indianness ..
Similarly I shot the Muslim kite makers all Muslim that makes kites and Hindus joyously fly them in Mumbai during Makar Sankranti.
There are a lot of stories waiting to be shot all you need is a mobile phone and effort to tell it through your narrative ,,,I think what is essential and fuck blogging is Original Content I would smash my camera move out of picture taking if I had to copy paste another mans picture or his story and I think Facebook LIKE and Twitter FAVORITE s so degenerating fucking juvenile .
But more than Flickr it was Twitter that contributed to my fragmented creativity I had locked up Facebook for personal reasons and the entire Chadiyan my walking trip with the Malangs from Delhi to Ajmer 550 km in 13 days I documented via Twitter .
So though I have taken a sabbatical and also sent a direct message to Mr Jack Dorsey about Twitter a forum of peace I joined in 2008 inspired by Biz Stone the guy who baptized me as a Blogger has now become diabolically a House of Hate .
I have 230000 tweets all photo related.
I moved out of all Blogging forums ,,it is just Flickr You Tube Blogspot ...Blogspot is my graveyard of over 5 blogs ,,,
Th only way of becoming a good photographer is shooting pictures as stories ,, pictures as pictures is is the distance from asshole to eternity ..
Merci

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