Ivan Photographer Waroda Road Bandra RIP

Ivan lived in a quaint bungalow at Waroda  Road Bandra I was introduced to him by Rev Fr Lawrie and dear friend Darryl many years back when I had my workspace at St Peter Road Baba Nagar .

I would meet him both at  St Stanislaus school he shot the events there or at St Peter Church he shot activities feasts functions related to the church.

He was humble polite kept to himself but he liked me a lot as I gave him lot of respect he was a traditionalist old school photographer .He was my senior too in age .

He had almost retired but if I met him at Bandra Bazar he would light up and talk to me and chat about old times ,

He will certainly be missed he died last month Feb 2018.

Farewell My Friend Ivan

Under the Shadow of His Wings

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou find refuge: his truth is a shield and buckler.

psalm 91:4

I once had my workspace at St Peter Road close to St Peter Church Bandra and this is a road that is narrow , traffic from Bandra Bazar Road spills out at Bandra Hill Road near Balaji Restaurant , and traffic from Hill road takes this path as a short cut to Bandra Reclamation or Mount Mary.

This road borders the St Stanislaus grounds and the St Peter Church and against this wall you will find all the garbage of Bandra , it is garbage hotspot , those who drive by the ricksha throw out their garbage here , there is a spineless notice that says a Rs 10000 fine will be levied if you are caught throwing garbage has not stopped this menace..

By and large this is one of the filthiest lanes of Bandra perhaps even our MP and MLA s pass through this short cut off Baba Nagar....Brian of Bandra Speaker fame lives here , he is King of Speakers locally made and handcrafted by him..The other famous Brian is Brian Cable but he lives at Somnath Lane Bandra.

Well every time I was down depressed sad , unromantic mood and self destruct I used to take my Nikon those early days of my tryst with photography and shoot the Church , quadrangle , interiors and I dont think anyone , even a Christian could have shot St Peter Church as much as I have , I shot Jesus and the Holy Spirit trying to get some semblance of order in disorderly Bandra .

I shot the graves of the East Indian pioneers lying in the bower , the Jesuit priests in slumber , and sometimes moved ahead shot the St Staislaus school the race events , iconic feasts held there.

Once in the good old days of Fr Lawrie Serrao I would be invited to St Ignatius Loyola feast and all the old fogies thought I was a proud Stanislite ,, but their faces puckered when I told them I was from Holy Name and the Wodehouse parish,, It is another matter I wanted to become a Christian when I fell in love with a Goan Girl , heel over head was what I got from her mother , she told me over a glass of feni and water pickle I was welcome in their family but Firoze Fernandes sounded more lyrical than Firoze Shakir ,, I attended mass , I was at my best Christian self and now in retrospection married grandfather of 3 I still cant resist shooting Churches Crosses and Shrines .

Fr Jaun from St Peter Church is my godfather , and I have had some great friends among Catholic priests ,late Fr Leslie Ratus and Late Fr Stephan Nazareth of St Joseph Parish RC Church.

And this picture I had it blown up and presented to to Cardinal Oswald Gracias at Archbishop House as my love for the Christian Community and a Church called St Peter where God lives .

I am still living in a gaothan fighting for the rights of East Indians and hoping they are given the respect as the first early inhabitants of Amch Mumbai.

And this is a photoblog you can never read it in a camera club , the culture of camera club desists from using the word blogger a very derogatory term in their Ivory Tower of Fine Art Photography ,,