My fascination for rituals , overcoming pain , is intense , not merely as a curiosity , but as a spiritual factor in the communities I shoot , and here the hook is inserted in the back,.It seems very easy , but it is the most painful procedure , to ease the pain that will follow a man holds the devotee tightly , a lime is placed in the mouth of the devotee to bit in if the pain increases ..
Shanmugham my Tamil friend is an expert , he does it with precision , and he is huge tough , but at times inserting the hook requires 4 to 5 people pushing it in , as my video shows , here while pushing the second hook in the back, it broke , and now they had to pull it out , the mans back began to bleed , so they decided they will put the second new hook again after the pain subsided .
This is the Magic of India , and this is the genre that I enjoy to shoot as a street photographer , I wear a blindfold I am not interested in dogma , or why they are doing it , it is their faith belief culture ,I shoot it clinically , quietly , as I have shot people of my own faith cutting their heads with swords daggers and overcoming pain for their Imam..If I had money I would go to shoot the 14 Stations of the Cross in Philippines where they actually nail the man to the cross I envied a Spanish couple who had shot this and dressed in black accompanied by my dear friend Ladha Ali they shoot the Chehlum in Hussain Tekri Jaorah..
And I never ever forgot them,,,I have taken my foreigner friends to shoot the Marriammen Festival at Mahim Maccchimar Colony , and several foreigner friends to shoot Moharam wherever I went ,, I wanted them to see that spiritual facet of Unseen India and showcase it better than me ..I am overwhelmed by the people I shoot , More important than my photography, is the people I shoot , without ridiculing or making fun of the people I shoot , I moderate my vision try not to hurt people but they do get upset specially if it is my head bleeding ,,,or a child s head bleeding I dont glorify blood , but than every drop speaks out vehemently against the oppressors of Islam.. and Oppression in Islam will never End ,, it is the History of Islam.. and Karbala keeps repeating itself all wherever the Shias and other minorities are persecuted ..
The Tamil Hindus dont have this belief in their rituals ,, this is their way of appeasing liberating the flesh from the soul ,,, to Mother Marriammen.
I have decided and I did tell Shanmugham that one-day I will pierce my cheeks with with an 18 feet rod and it has nothing to do with Religion but to show my solidarity as one Indian to another ,,, and I still wont ever forget my Hindu friend who cuts his back for Imam Hussain and all my Hindu Blogs over 61000 are dedicated to his mother ,, A Shia from another time and place may not understand this , luckily my parents were not bigots and this is India ,, of Peace Hope Humanity .. tolerance and Hindu Muslim Christian amity in Mumbai... This is the power of religious faith that binds is what I shoot , the humility and hospitality of my India ,,
And I am lucky for once that my grandmother , or my family did not take the Train to Pakistan like the rest of my mothers relatives ... Need I say More ,,Muslims sadly will keep on killing Muslims till Armageddon,... is what hurts as a humanbeing more than anything..Some only kill all ethnicity for the pleasure of killing and Misplaced Jehad .. I will die if I post a GIF ..or a picture from another mans timeline ,, I shoot Original Content ,,
And so I shoot my countrys religions ethos my cultural inheritance .. without profit or gain without fucked watermark.. sometimes I wonder what you steal from me does not even belong to me ,,Even I dont belong to myself.
So mind you this is a blog .. resurfacing in all its raw wildness through a picture a moment I shot and now you know why I stay a million miles away from Indian camera clubs ,, Yes Fuck F Stops
Lastly the 4 Sunni youth who went to fight for ISIS , brainwashed radicalized , would they ever show the same intensity fervor ,would they give up everything to go fight for their own Country ,, Fuck Never ..So when Midday and the newspapers glorify them I puke all over my shirt front and this is about these youth and not about the Sunni faith ,,I have the highest respect for all Faith but not for motherfuckers who betray their country with misplaced zeal and give excuses , I am sure they went there to kill Shias Yezdis Armenians and to rape rob murder and not simply to play marbles ..
