Friday, February 23, 2018

108 Year Old Syed Masoom Ali Baba Asqan Madari..







Loved revered by his followers held in high esteem by the Hindus of Panihar where he stays he has built clinics schools for them they call him an avtar of Shiva because of his dreadlocks ..long hair.

For them he is the pride of Panihar promoting love peace humanity between both Hindus Muslims in mutual co existence ..

Presidents ministers flock to him but he lives in austerity as I mentioned earlier I met him in 2005 at Ajmer Sharif he liked me and I respected him ..all my foreign photographer friends were totally in awe of him many drank the pyala from his hands and along with a Belgian friend I too drank the pyala ..my purpose was to document them truthfully sincerely and so I became a Malang in 2011 .

Many journeys later and in 2017 he surprised me making me his Khalifa at Makanpur ..and he is one face I can go on shooting it mesmerizes me fascinates me the calmness the holiness and his sanctified grace ..

He is felicitated by his Khalifas at Makanpur and Khalifa Iqbal bhai from Runiza does it beautifully offering him a shower of rose petals sweets turban cloth his new garments ..
His confidante companion is Syed Rafiq Ali Baba Masoomi my Murshad from Gujrat .

I dont think anyone has documented the Dam Madar Malang as I have prolifically and poetically ...

Both Syed Masoom Ali baba and Syed Rafiq Ali baba call me Maulaiee .. follower of Ali.


Twice a year I meet the malangs both at Makanpur and Ajmer sharif ,,,I cannot deny I love shooting them..it has nothing to do with their spiritual ideology or mine own..


I was lucky to shoot them both at Vasai East when they came for the funeral of one of their Khalifas at Kurla .


My connection with Syed Masoom Ali baba is cosmic..I bask in his humility and I found peace and though a Shia Muslim I partake share the sweetness of the Madarriya Silsila and Sufism..through my pictures ..my pictures are cryptic words seeking you out ,,, 
I learnt photography I honed it as a holistic art shooting diverse faiths in bloom in this beautiful garden India . country of my birth and my worth...


 “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop” – Rumi


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