I Shoot Dreams Etched In Reality And Blood

droplets that kiss the mud
on the soul of humanity
causing a flood undying
protest rising from the dust
bleed we must in god we
trust ..he quenches our
thirst..we wont corrode
we wont rust ..lanats
on the followers of
yazid accursed ..

Moharam In Hyderabad

I do not have a Hyderabadi bloodline connection and my ancestors were from Lucknow , my dear departed father called himself Moghal Pathan.

My mother was a Syed from Lucknow Pata Nala  her father Daroga Nabban Sab was a descendant of poet Mir Anis..My fathers father had accepted Shiasm by marrying a Shia lady my grandmother Khurshed Begum,of Vazir Ganj near Khakhan Manzil.
My maternal grandmother Nazmi Begum a Syed too  was my matenal grand father Daroga Nabban Sabs second wife..

I discovered Hyderabad very late in life I came to Hyderabad first time to attend a shoot of Govindas David Dhawan film with Karishma Kapoor , I was called there by Mr Chinni Prakash for Govindas look..for a dance sequence .

After that destiny or my cosmic fate pulled me to Hyderabad in 2003 with help from Halu Bhai of Bandra I visited his relatives Sajjad Bhai and Kazim to participate and shoot Moharam i Hyderabad , I was hooked to Hyderabad ,, I liked the city the people the Shia ethos I came back to shoot Chehlum but I was faced with the ire of some Hyderabadi spiritually arrogant Nawab who had more hate for Shia photographers than even stray dogs ,,

I kept away from Hyderabad being sensitive by temperament and nature I did my kama  matam here .My wife had accompanied me too we stayed and savored the hospitality of Abid Bhai  Painter .

After that I visited Hyderabad shot Ashura in 2009 and than again the last time in 2012 .

Much as I tried to come to Hyderabad it just would not happen I wanted to shoot Chehlum in Hyderabad 2013 could not get a rail ticket till the end I did my Chehlum at home ,, as I do not participate in Mumbai Azadari for personal reasons , this was my first Chehlum in the darkness of my house and my soul.

Ashura 2013 I had to come to Delhi as my American friend cancelled Hyderabad last minute he wanted to be in Delhi so I came to Delhi and documented the same.

And I yearn for Hyderabad I have made some great friends and Qayam son of Akthar Bhai Naqi Bhai Lutfi brothers and Sajjad Bhai Abid Bhai make me feel at home.

I have another friend in Hyderabad Zain Hussain Sab I have never met him but he is cosmically attached to the impoverished poetry of my beggar soul.

And so I am reblogging these Hyderabad Ashura pictures for the Shias of Hyderabad their hospitality the love I can never repay save by this token of Memories of Ghame Hussain.

All this was shot in 2012 at Hussaini Koti Hyderabad. on 8 Moharam..