Happy Birthday Salman Bhai @BeingSalmanKhan

Waiscoat designed  by me for Mr Salman Khan for his Ad

Yes I have something to say ..

Fate controls our lives our moments our destiny .
From the second day that Marziya my first granddaughter was born I bent down on my knees beneath her cradle and thanked God for this generous gift of life love and truth .
And by the time Marziya was born 9 years back from this day I had given up boozing I was absolutely clean in mind heart and soul when I took my grandchild in my arms and when I put her back in the cradle she gave me a godly smile .
So the first thing Marziya saw on 25 Nov was my face and Shiva's third eye holding sway in my camera .
She was born with the umbilical cord choking her neck on ,24 November ..and I was at my studio on 29 Road Bandra I had not seen my first granddaughter I was crying and here you won't believe what I am about to say even as a Muslim ..a few Naga Sadhus walked in as they loved coming to my shop for my blessings before leaving for a pilgrimage ..these ones mystics seers were going to Ganga Sagar.
I had told them nothing my face was wet with my tears ..I wish I can say in Hindi what they told me ..Congratulations don't cry she has come with Shiva's serpent round her neck she will be fine your granddaughter ..I was stunned and thanked them and this is the magic of India ..
Well there are many stories connected to Marziya I have shot over 16000 images of Marziya sadly those days I did not know how to shoot videos ..
Marziya and Nerjis after living for years in Bandra both are Bandraites have moved to their maternal grandparents house .
And now you can imagine the void loneliness of my wife s heart and my longing for my grandchildren.
But at this stage they have relocated and we talk to them. My son was out of the country but the day he arrived he left to see them he was going to spend his days with them and will return today .
I have most of Marziya images on Flickr as a set album .
But my back up is on DVDs so I bought a DVD player and last month began the task of retrieving her childhood memories and via the Windows Movie Maker began showcasing them as slide show on my You Tube Channel .
My only humble gift as a photographer to my first grandchild ..I sit late and go about it ..I told her about it but they don't have WIFI ..but she thanked me and I began to cry again ..
I spent the best years of my life with Marziya Shakir ..be it the Church Shia Mosque Ram Mandir I showed her all the places where Man hoarded God ..and taught her to see my world through the third eye of Shiva .
I made her shoot St Peter ..I made her shoot our Ram temple ..I made her see Mogul Masjid I made her shoot Ganesha Durga and I made her shoot the legend of Mr Rajesh Khanna at Ashirwad...and Kakaji loved her the most so did Salman Khan .
I made her shoot Moharam Shia kids scourging at Almeida park..I made her shoot beggars Hijras I made her shoot the poetry of my vision and bequeathed it to her ..
Zain Hussain presented her the Nikon DSLR she was barely 3 and he added to her cinematic fortitude but like me she is tired of shooting stills and wants to shoot stories people and her surroundings ..she will have her own You Tube channel soon .
So I made it feasible for her if she Google her name get childhood would come to life. Even after I am peacefully dead and gone living again in the eyes heart kidney liver of a beggar .
Happy Morning from Bandra .
And Marziya Shakir will never forget her gurus Dr Glenn Losack .Viola Marc De Clercq and Manuela Nessi.

Memories Etched In Blood

I shot him many years back on Eid ,, Bakra Eid and I was fascinated by blood gore , I shot goat bull Kurbani ,,,I also shot the goat kurbani in the slums ,, but this year my taste for shooting blood and gore has subsided ,, After I came back shooting the Eid Al Adha Namaz 2015 at Bandra Station I requested the owner of Mastan the Wise Goat of Bandra Bazar Road to call me as soon as Mastan was to be slaughtered , Mastan is a huge white Andu goat , a very horny goat and no pun intended ,,I shot Mastans video on You Tube a few months back , he was fed pista , kaju and the best of dry fruits pampered by the owner , who treated him like his only child ,, and I used to wonder how he would feel when the time came for Mastan to be slaughtered ,
I was uploading my Eid Namaz pictures and after a lunch of chickn biryani and Lucknowi flat kebabs I fell asleep .. till my wife woke me up that guys had come to inform me that Mastan was going to be slaughtered so I got ready to go and shoot the Last Moments of Mastan .. I took my granddaughter Marziya Shakir she has been shooting Kurbani since the age of 3.. so blood does not really scare her as such.
Mastan died terribly as the Maulana who was to give the Sala the first stroke could not handle this huge goat despite half a dozen guys holding it and the Maulana had got a knife that must have lost its razors edge ,,Maulanas here in Bandra make extra bucks doing the Salla plus they take the skin too..
I shot two videos and Mastan after the first bad stroke was not willing to die ,,this is my Bakra Eid Kurbani rendition.. two video and some stills will post after I finish the storyboard of my Eid Namaz , documentary..
Many years back I shot a Kurbani of a red and white Goat Jimba ,, it was Marziyas favorite pet it was under the care of Mohomed Ali the owner of Mastan but was slaughtered by his brother in the Indraji Nagar slums ,, and it was one very sad story of his slaughter I shot in pictures ,, even Jimba did not die easily looking deep into my eyes searching desperately for Marziya in the crowds ,,
And when I reached home I told Marziya she was 3 year old that Jimba was no more all Marziya did mystically put her hand on her throat indicating that Jimba was slaughtered ,, so I took Marziya now 7 year old to show her the Kurbani of Mastan.. not an easy visual too see feel or experience ,,

Marziya Shakir My First Grand Child Changed Me For The Better

This was shot by my wife on 30 Dec 2007..

And from the day Marziya Shakir daughter of my eldest son Asif , was born , I saw her on her second day at Holy Family Hospital I could not stop shooting her .. even when she came home it was my camera that welcomed her I shot every movement of her hands , her smile and it gave me joy ,not as a grandfather but as father reborn.. I had never been so excited or sober so to speak ..Marziya changed my vision of life  , she was the tonic of my emotional longevity..she added a few years more to my shelf life..

I was addicted to alcohol when my kids were born just could not get ride of the urge , I thought foolishly stupidly that my sartorial creativity , [I was into Bollywood fashion ] came from drinking and wisely I drank myself to death it was Old Monk Rum.. I needed as fish needs water ..so while my kids were growing I was just drinking ..I never dreamt I would one day give up drinking , I would leave alcohol but would the genie in my Old Monk ever leave me.

However I gave up booze and took up photography , so my earliest timeline was drunken with the camera as the new bottle .. it was that bad I shot like a drunkard anything everything ,, but Marziyas birth gave me a focused view , a new path and I became more adventurous every new day , every new month every new year her birthdays it was Marziya my muse .. I showed her my world , and by the time she was 188 month she had seen so much of the camera that she could shoot pictures while she took the camera strap round her neck I held the camera she began clicking my world , the beggars , the hijra on Bakra Eid , and loving animals cats Lucky Omkar Shelars Labrador was her best friend he would buckle against her moods , she would bully him with her finger and I realized dogs are more intuitive than mankind .If Marziya did not come down he would go into a shell but being a huge dog he would never lick Marziya , never overpower her because her parents like other Muslims have a different view of dogs ,, I felt Lucky knew it and it was Lucky And Marziyas pictures that my old friend on Flickr late Jeff Lamb liked the most ,, and Jeff loved Marziya ..Marziya in Mumbai Jeff in Ann Arbor and my eyes are wet as I write this .. the ultimate power of photography to reach hearts where even even angels fear to resist..

So Marziya Shakir is a 17000 photo documentary of her bbirth and her formative years this was my gift to her , as she grew older she would browse through her pictures giving me pangs of nostalgia , pictures that she saw , she would have never seen if someone had not shot it. I was lucky more LUcky than Lucky to have documented it all .

I made another set on Flickr of her tryst with photography pictures she shot of the beggars , Mr Rajesh Khanna and all the visiting photographers that came to our house , she watched them as they shot her she observed minutely and finally decided that it Viola she would follow and ape , shooting pictures from a sitting position.

She shot the football marathon I had just one camera , I let her shoot running behind the footballers from a safe distance ,,
I took her to St Peter Church and Fr Jaun my godfather became her godfather too made her shoot the Church St Stanislaus School on Republic day and made her shoot Fr Jude Mascrenhas

I made her shoot the Crosses at Bandra the Ram Mandir and I made her shoot Moharam dressed in a hijab.. she shot the scourging boys and ace photographer Habib Nasser .

I got her a Flickr account a Twitter handle and a Facebook that I have deactivated since four years now .

Marziya Shakir is  7 years old now born 24 November ..2007.

She is net savvy like her dad a web programmer , but also religious she recites the Namaz with her Grandma , goes for Arabic classes and religious studies after school at the Bandra Shia Mosque.

Marziya now older wears the hijab when she goes out , and is modern cultured , watched CID her favorite show or Doremon .
And Nerjis is her sister 3 year old .. and Zinnia my younger sons daughter is also 3 I have documented their lives on the net but nor as prolifically as Marziya Shakir .

Marziya is  waiting for her passport to visit Karbala with her grandmother , this is her ultimate wish.

So I think sometimes more than the wife or the kids it is the first grandchild that changes the course of the river of Life .
And this post is dedicated to a more adventurous grandfather than me more jovial more funloving .. Alex W ..

.

Marziya Pics

Marziya Shoots

This Was Shot On The First Day Of Ramzan 2011

I was bringing Marziya Shakir my grand daughter from her playschool , and these were tutorials , exposing her to street pain , she had inculcated the love of dogs , cats , goats as a 9 month old , but this was a serious level..the very poor downtrodden Muslim souls on the streets , faces covered with the hijab thereby saving the ignominy of being recognized as a beggar .

Most of these Muslim mother child came from far flung suburbs like Mumbra and strange even those days I never talked to them just  documented their life , gave them money or rather made Marziya hand over my money to them.

Marziya used to feed beggars on her birthday before this so she was aware of their life style..and these are all part of my Ramzan blogs from 2007 till 2014.

Now Marziya and I hardly go out , but I am sure she will remember all this and all this has given her a tender heart , she is sensitive to pain and feels it now.


So street photography in many ways became her text book at an early age , a camera is not a bag of heavy books on the already bent back of a child ,,I always felt if you taught a child photography even with a point and shoot camera  took her for an excursion she would learn much faster.

Ramzan Ka Chand Badliyon Main Chupa Tha

phir mudat bad

nazar aya ,garib

ne hath phailaya

khuda ne amir

ke ghar se garib

ke ghar khana

bhijwaya ..

lo ramzan mubarak aya

ramzan mubarak aya

Ramzan is hope for beggars , and Muslim beggars like this bountiful month , I remember a beggar lady once told me why cant Ramzan last forever ,, the values of Ramzan should last forever , charity piety devotion dedication ,,

But Ramzan time you will find cheats with tiffin boxes , tempos blaring for charity and guys in skull caps knocking your door for Chanda Donation.. there may be a few genuine souls but very few ,,

And I shot captured the holistic power of this Holy Month , and this picture was shot on the first day of Ramzan many years back but does it matter and Marziya is now 6 ..it is her sister Nerjis soon to be 3 who shoots Muslim Beggars of Bandra.

I have cut down on shooting the foodlanes of Bandra hence I clubbed all my Ramzan sets like a collection from 2007 to 2014....

Ramzan is about the glimmer in a beggars eye , give food ration to a poor Muslim family in the slums and you have added hope and a smile on the receivers face.

And the biggest irony is those Muslims Non Muslims rushing to gobble Ramzan delicacies at Minara Masjid and the beggars watching you greedily ,,,even left over food for them is a feast ,, and once I broke my fast with beggars with this food and realized that the fasting stomach is happy adjusted to whatever it gets ,, Rizak that is what the Muslims call it..

The Beggar considers Alms Barkat his efforts Rozi..

Bara Handi , Nali Nihari , and Korma Paya for you but the beggar is happy with whatever is thrown in his beggars bowl.

So shooting beggars in Ramzan is shooting God in disguise ,,

I maybe wrong you maybe right ,,,it all comes down to that hungry bite ,,

Happy Birthday Zain

Happy Birthday Zain
From Marziya Shakir .. Worlds Youngest Street Photographer and her Grand Father

zain
versatile
humble
good man
dedicated
devoted
family man
a friend
in need
a kind man
amitjis
number 1
filmy fan
friend
of bollywoods
most wanted
dam madar
malang
a crazy man
barefeet
blogger
but definitely
not a press
man barely
alive a living
dead man

7 May 2013

Marziya Shakir Thanks StringFly In Humility and Gratitude

Marziya Shakir Thanks StringFly In Humility and Gratitude, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

226,726 items / 1,878,432 views


Marziya Shakir 4 year old street photographer gets a mention in a blog post at Stringfly..

http://www.stringflylive.com/home/139-holi


Holi - Through the Eyes of a 4 Year Old Street Photographer - StringFly


Thursday, 08 March 2012 20:52
Written by Eric Taubert

Today is March 8th, the end of the winter season on the last full-moon day of the lunar month. To the Hindu population of the world, today is the festival of Holi, the storied Festival of Colors -- a religious spring festival in praise of Lord Krishna.
This is the day where anyone who is brave enough to walk the public streets becomes fair game for the colored powder and water, which are a hallmark of the festival of Holi, to be smeared and sprayed all over them.
Holi is a joyous day of relaxed social norms. Every year on Holi, the media is full of colorful images taken by professional journalists who enter the psychedelic fray of colors, risking their expensive camera equipment in the process, to document the unrestrained excitement and fluorescent fun.
Today, we take a different approach. We draw your attention to Bandra, a suburb located in the northwest of Mumbai, India -- where, through the magic of StringFly, we are able to show you what Holi looks like from the perspective of a very young child.
At four years old, this StringFly user -- chaperoned by her grandfather, is the youngest street photographer we have ever heard of. Her photos show great promise...and her story is one you won’t soon forget.
THIS IS THE DISCUSSION I HAD WITH HER GRANDFATHER...

Thank you for helping your granddaughter to upload her images to StringFly. Amazing to think that these serious images were taken by someone so young. Our users would love to hear more about you and your granddaughter. How did this hobby of hers begin?
My name is Firoze Shakir. My granddaughter, Marziya Shakir, was born in November of 2007. She saw a camera for the first time on the second day of her life.
Her teacher and guru is an American Jew from Manhattan named Dr Glen Losack, MD...he gave Marziya the Nikon D 80 she uses. She also has experience using a Canon EOS 7D. Marziya began actually shooting hand held pictures at the age of 2. She has her own website - and she is active on social media, with my help and under my guidance.
I am an experienced street photographer, and I make every attempt to pass down some of what I have learned in my photography to Marziya. I have educated her of virtues like pain, charity, humility and love through the camera.
Many of the photos you two have uploaded are shots of today’s Holi festival in Bandra. What was the experience like, taking your granddaughter out into the streets to shoot these images?
Holi’s feast of colors is a festival of human touch, love and humility.
As a 4 year old child, Marziya did not envy the fun the other children were having. We are Shia Muslim, and we play Holi on March 21 for Nowroze (Persian New Year).
These Holi pictures were shot on Marziya’s Nikon D 80. The revellers were tempted to throw water colors on the camera and lens -- but my presence kept their thoughts at bay. I am highly respected in Bandra. I am a fashion stylist and manage a fashion store called Badasaab. My boss Mr Kishore Bajaj owns the franchise of Brioni Italian clothing and Hakkasan and Yuatcha Dim Sum -- an international restaurant chain.
When it comes to photography, Marziya shoots without hesitation. People and surroundings don’t intimidate her at all...she shoots clinically.

I don’t need to delete what she shoots and she knows every heart beat of the camera she holds in her tiny hands -- be it the Nikon D 80 or the much heavier Canon EOS 7D
I noticed that you uploaded some photos which show that your granddaughter is capable of tackling more serious and grown-up subject matter as well. Talk about some of this other photography.
Marziya has been shooting beggars, hijras (India’s male to female transgender population) and street life from the age of 2. Marziya shoots life as is where is - in people and places where change has yet to come. This is a photo she took of street barbers, who are mostly migrants and eke out a living on the roads doing human service -- grooming the common man.
In the next photo, Marziya captures the angst of womanhood, on International Women’s Day (March 8th), through hopeless and homeless women living through life’s struggle on the streets.
I am also teaching photography to my second grand child Nerjis Asif Shakir. You might think this all sounds crazy, but we are camera friendly and we believe pictures are the greatest instruments of self healing.
I thank StringFly for their passion in promoting peace, hope, and humanity through technology, news media and photography.
We have to encourage our youth, our younger generation, therein lies the success of our human race... it’s the least we can do. They are our future and that is what I believe in completely.
See more of Marziya Shakir’s photography at StringFly.

WHAT IS STRINGFLY?

Take photos. Be social. Win rewards. StringFly is the app that harnesses the true power of your smartphone camera. From breaking news, to fun assignments, to brand sponsored rewards -- this is your life...unfiltered.

You Either Have It Or Dont Photographer Are Born Not Made

http://marziyashakir.blogspot.com/

The Birthday Girl Turns 3 - Marziya Shakir

The Birthday Girl Turns 3 - Marziya Shakir, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

154,437 items / 1,206,589 views

among her
best friends
her best friend
barbie
hope happiness joy
on both their faces
you can see
marziya shakir
soul of poetry
street photographer
capturing the soul
of humanity
unlearning
photography
the world in
her open palm
glistening
like a dew drop
of hope harmony
the birthday girl
turns three

About Marziya Shakir Worlds Youngest Street Photographer 3 Year Old

About Marziya Shakir, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

99,182 items / 599,440 views

Makhna is the head scarf that little Muslim girls wear to cover their heads as per Islamic tradition..as they grow older it is the Hijab or the chadar.

Marziya is my 23 month old grand daughter .I began shooting her from the second day of her birth 24 Oct 2007.
Marziya got her name from her parents , Marziya means Allah Be Praised ..and is also a name of the Holy Prophets daughter Princess Fatima or Jannabe Syeda.

Marziya is comfortable with the Makhna but as it is polyester base it gets hot and so she removes it after some time..

Marziya uniquely changes with what she wears , she can be a tomboy or a cute Muslim girl..at 23 months old she knows most of the by lanes of the Bandra West slums , she knows every path that leads to Rajiv Nagar, Indira Nagar Hanuman Nagar or Khoka Chawl..

She knows most of the denizens too..she knows the Fish Market , Shia Mosque , the Umbrella lady, but one person I want her to meet is Appu the limbless guy who begs at Mahim.

Marziya knows most of the tuition classes that are held at homes in Bandra .

Lucky the Labrador is her friend Lucky will not touch Marziya but acknowledge her presence from far, , she loves goats , cats and hens..

Riding horses at Almeida Park is her favorite past time.

She can use my Nikon D 80 with some help from me , and she knows how to measure you for trousers or shirts..

Being born in a Shia family she is totally tuned with her culture and does Matam on the Shia days of mourning..

The amazing quality she has a total camera eye that takes me by surprise..

She loves my jewelry , my head gears and has her own Press Card too..

Her favorite at home she cant do without ever is her Uncle Saif next Assad and my daughter Samiya.

She likes me as I take her around the world that is Bandra ..she is adept with my comp as is adept with her fathers lap top.. she knows most of the commands..

At this young age she has seen all that I have shot , hung on my waist..nothing scares her..I have yet not taken her to a pool or the zoo..

Marziya has her own gmail account,her own website..but she will have to wait a bit longer to come on Facebook..



Marziya recites nohas , she prays with open hands for me at the House Imambada ..Allah Dada Ko De..God give my grandfather ..than she will say Paiche that means Money..in her lingo..

Yes with Marziya we all have been blessed ..

Next month she will turn 2.

http://marziyashakir.blogspot.com/

What is Moharam?

What is Moharam?
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

Moharam means different things to different people.
Moharam is the new year.
Moharam means remembering the rebirrth of Islam cleansed by the blood of its martyrs, led by a single man called Hussain on the burning sands of Karbala.
Moharam is a page tattered and torn by Yazidiyat, a black page in the history of Imam.Some call this a political battle , yes the Caliphs in the name of Islam did vie for political power, a power they needed desperately , a power that Imam Hussain the grandson of the Holy Prophet did not need.
If he needed political supremacy than I think the Battle of Karbala was uncalled for he should have shook hands with Yazid and history would have been read differently.
Moharam is a month that brings forth all these thoughts , throws us back into time , our earliest childhood memories.
This is what seperates a Shia Child from the child of the majority community.
Moharam is memories that live and relive year afrer year.It has the brilliance not found in any other Muslim feast on the Calendar .
We remember Idd, our first Roza, we remember Bakra Idd the Bakra bought to the house for slaughter, but Moharam we remember through Bakra Idd too, because here to the slaughter is depicted vividly, and as we watch the butcher place the knife on the Goats throat, that has had its last drink of water, we remember Hussain and Shimr straddled above him decapitating his head , the same neck that was kissed many a times by the Holy Prophet and his daughter Princess Fatima..
Yes Moharam we can never forget it is embedded in our cosmic comciousness passed on from mother to daughter , father to son.Yes you have to be a Shia to understand our Pain, our immortal tears , for the outsider it is an event , but for us Shias Moharam is a state of Mind.Its a continuance of a Pledge.A pledge that is marked as Hussainiyat.
A Shia child from the day sheis born or he is born is carried by the mother to the Majlis, Matam, and this grief becomes part of the childs Heritage.
Yes this is Moharam, its my grandaughters first Moharam, and I am shedding tears as I write this..This spontaneous shedding of tears of a grandfather is called Moharam.. and I can imagine what the Grandfather the Holy Prophet felt when he saw Hussain for the first time.. and when he looked at the snow white neck already silhouetted with the traces of blood.. Yes this is Moharam..
The Shias are a unique race and I am proud that my Grandfather a Sunni born accepted Ahle Bayth gave up his ancestry , his home his wealth.. my father too followed the tenets of his father , so did I and there is no looking back..
Yes this is Marziya Shakirs first Moharam..
We have come a very long way..and Karbala is not very far its waters drop and flow from the pitchers of our eyes..
Yes Ya Hussain two words that surmise the meaning of Moharam..
Ghame Hussain , the Tragedy of Karbala is our path that brings us closer to our Maker..
Shah ast Hussain, Baad Shah ast Hussain,
Deen ast Hussain, Deen Panah ast Hussain,
Sar dad na daad dast, dar daste Yazeed,
Haqqah ke binaaye La Ilaha ast Hussain!