One Man Army Babu of Moghul Masjid

One Man Army Babu of Moghul Masjid
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

Babus story is tragic, of pain and human calamity , and unpredictable path of human destiny.
Babu had polio on one of his legs and moved about on crutches reciting Noha and taking his Anjuman based at Moghl Masjid to different parts of the suburbs of Mumbai..
The Shabbedari of his Anjuman takes place at Moghul Masjid..
Being an invalid never stopped Babu from Shia traditions, I have a lot of love and respect for him,the moment he sees me he lights up..
Not very long ago his other good leg was smashed in an accident at Lucknow, I came to know of it I rushed to Habib Hospital, he was in tears when he saw me, and begn to cry saying he must have hurt someone that he is being punished and took this with stoic faith in the Imam..
Babu is human quality, kindness, that you rarely see these days, Babu lives with the dignity of his affliction..Not just me others love Babu more intensely, he is the mascot of our pride in our Shiasm, because it will take him time to reach the entire distance of Amin Imambada from Mohgul Masjid I saw one of his friends lift him up and cradling him with care dropped him at Amin Imambada..
Yes this is Shia bonding , layers and layers of lessons to be learnt..
Babu does not know I am writing this story about him, I am not witing a story of Babu , but yes I am crying as Babu is writiing the story of my Faith..
Crying is a very poetic human emotion, we all laugh and consider laughter a medicine , but crying is holistic healing , we Shias were born to cry for Imam Hussain..
This is our pledge that we call Maksade Fatima for a Maksade Hussain..
Tears from the pitchers of our eyes like the running waters of Euphrates flowing from the leather pouch of Hope called Mashke Sakina - and not far away you will notice Abbas Alamdar with his hands chopped , lying on the beachy shores ...away from the trials and tribulations that the women folk of Imam Hussain will face at the court of Yazid, shamed , snatched ridas and chadars, all from the first family of the Holy Prophet mocked taunted and ridiculed by the Yazidi hordes.
This is a black chapter of a misguided shame filled moments of Islam under Yazid.
Yes Shiasm is a emotional display based on humanity kept alive after death by a single sacrfice of Imam Hussain..
To understand Shiasm you need to be human -throw away your blinkers read the message beneath our blood that we shed year after year..

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!

Thank you Word Press Whizz Kids

Thank you Word Press Whizz Kids
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

photo courtesy


www.chatstat.com/manual/assets/images/wordpress.png

Free Space to Three Gigabytes
Much of the work we do at Automattic is behind the scenes, infrastructure you’ll (hopefully) never notice or see, but we’re always thinking about how the improvements we make to the foundation of the site will allow us to build more interesting things on top of it.
Today, one of those developments comes to fruition — everyone’s free upload space has been increased 60x from 50mb to 3,000mb. To get the same amount of space at our nearest competitor, Typepad, you’d pay at least $300 a year. Blogger only gives you 1GB. We’re doing the same thing for free.
Our hope is that much in the same way Gmail transformed the way people think about email, we’ll give people the freedom to blog rich media without having to worry about how many kilobytes are left in their upload space.
How are we able to do this? Over the past year we’ve developed our file infrastructure, replication, backup, caching, and S3-backed storage to the point where we don’t feel like we need to artificially limit what you folks are able to upload just to keep up with growth. We’re ready for you.
What about the space upgrades? They’re still important. You still need a space upgrade to upload certain file types, like movies, and we’re also increasing the limits of the paid upgrades, so if you bought a 1GB upgrade before it now adds 5GB for no additional charge.
Posted: Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 8:56 am
Filed under: Milestone, New Features.


wordpress.com/blog/2008/01/21/three-gigabytes/#comment-36013

1. photographerno1
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 am

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Thank you WordPress Whizz Kids
You guys are the top of the line.. you are the coming future of photo blogging..I wish you best wishes and more success..
had you doled this earlier I might have not migrated to Flickr..
But I cross blog to Word Press from there ..Thank you Matt and Mark,,

9th Moharam Amin Imambada-Blood Letting

9th Moharam Amin Imambada-Blood Letting
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

I want my pictures on this segment 9 th Moharam in Mumbai, to speak for themselves, so I have shut my radio, besides I take you the non Shias on a photo journalist pictorial journey..a journey even you as good photographers of this genre wont be able to shoot , as these are private places and private Shia moments covering the pain of Hazrat Imam Hussain, that their forefathers kept alive for over 1400 years, this new generation more educated, more knowledgeable, more net savvy, more introspective, more in command of themselves are in the forefront depicting their traditions of self inflicted pain..this is not a chillum smoke , nor a trance.
The blood is real the pain is real.
I earlier posted my pictures at Word Press and it was a site that gave me my creditibility as a serious photoblogger.
I could not afford uploads , so I posted the pictures at my photographerno1 homesite copied the URL at WordPress all of last year.
Till I rediscovered Flickr , unlimited posting at a price that was affordable, so I discontinued posting at my homesite as I had to pay for upload space .
All my Moharam pictures are at Flickr.
Selected posts I cross blog from here to my Shia site ...
shah-ast-hussain.com
photographerno1.wordpress.com
photographerno1.blogspot.com
firozeshakir.blogspot.com
and my Kumbh Mela site
firozekumbhmela.blogspot.com for Naga Sadhu related stuff..I still have CD s unposted and no time..

My homesite is a photo gallery and is not blog friendly..
the stats from Dec 2005 till 21 Jan 2008


8279 files in 58 albums and 1 categories with 0 comments viewed 725776 times

All this would have not been possible without the help and encouragement of my eldest son Asif Shakir ..
he got me my latest poetry publishing site..though I first blog my poems at Flickr

www.firozeshakir.com
Moharam as a photo capturing event means a lot to me, last year after an attack on me by vested Shia Wahabbi youth I had decided not to shoot Moharam, so went to Delhi to shoot the Arbaeen or Chehlum..where I cut my tendon wth a sword while cutting my forehaed that put me out of circulation, I type with the index finger of my injured hand, I cannot do flagellation , as I have a frozen shoulder on the same side of the injured hand.
I cut my forehead on Ashura day this year, on the roads, and it was luckily that the guys snatched the dagger from my hand I am a severe diabetic and the bleeding takes time to stop..
I also did not cut myself at Kaiser Bagh as I wanted to shoot pictures that I share with you..
Even this Moharam for a split second I thought I would go to Hyderabad again and capture Moharam, but business committment made me stay put in Mumbai..I also thought perhaps Dr Glenn Losack MD from America might just come to Mumbai at the last minute to shoot Ashura.. He did not come .
I had a comment from a Shia person on my Flickr post that she does not think it is right for the Shia children cutting themselves up..
Normally I would delete such a comment, but I did answer it in humility..
I have been shooting Moharam for about 6 years , kids doing Matam fascinates me , because my dad late Mohomed Shakir kept me away from all this blood letting, he could not stand bleeding , though he watched it from the Imamiya Sabil where he was a founder member , the sabil belonging to his maternal uncle..Late Maqbool Bhai..a staunch Shia from Lucknow a philanthropist and soldier of the Imam.. working for rehabilitation of the poor in the shia communty..

I did zanjir matam in my teens and than when Alcohol came into my life I gave up going to Moharam events for about 17 years, its just recently after I gave up , that my doctor suggested I take up a hobby that would make me forget my alcoholic cravings , I took up photography a crazy mans expensive hobby film era , met Habib Nasser and Baqar Nasser and returned as a born again Shia...via photography.
Started seeing events had never seen before Athvi in Lucknow,Athvi in Mehmoodabad,
Moharam in Kolkatta, Hyderabad, Hussain Tekri Jaorah..
In retrospection I think Mumbai is the best clean clear cut Azadari with no untoward controversies, no Shia Sunni clashes, just Game Hussain as the core pivotal subject.
Well about kids doing the flagellations and forehead cutting, its a tradition and will never go, no kid is coaxed once he grows up, the little kids in arms that have their heads touched by the sharp blade of the dagger with a gash very tiny one is a Mannat thing..and the parents prerogative..a baptism by blood..
I have been shooting kids, I have captured a kid pictures I will post later, at Kaiser Bagh he made several attEmpts with a dagger of all sizes but his head would not cut..
and he came back again and again and Munna Bhai in charge of the Kamazani never coaxed or humiliated him,letting him have hs chance..
Kids are the backbone of the Shia community..I know mothers who are protective about kids but come Moharam they know the child is under the Spiritual Insurance policy of Akka Maulah Hussain..
My children Asif And Saif also do not partake and I have never told them to do it.. they are much better as Shia than me..

Yazidiyat Murdabad

Yazidiyat Murdabad
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

This is the Cry of the Unborn Shia Child ,
oppression and tyranny that the Shia is against and fights Yazidiyat tooth and nail...
A note that no other thought can derail
no we nor our coming posterity
will ever forget on lifes mission
as we sail
Hussainiyat is our Holy Grail
YAZIDIYAT .COM
We shall overcome
We are already on its trail
Allah ho Akbar
Cybernetic hate
on E mail

Hussainiyat Zindabad

Hussainiyat Zindabad
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

This is the Cry of a Shia Soul..
Life is incomplete without Hussainiyay..
Yes Hussainiyat is our Nativity and her ancestral birthright .
It is Ashura and Karbala combined- The Legacy of Hussain..

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!

This is dedicated to the oft-unremembered successor of Imam Hussain (a.s), the one who though hidden from the eyes, is ever in the thoughts… Imam Mahdi (May […]

Mohsin Hallori Kama Veteran

Mohsin Hallori Kama Veteran
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

Mohsin Hallori was my ex -staffer , a good looking lad, a Shia devout.He left me to dabble in real estate..
Mohsin belongs to Anjuman Sadka e Sakina .
I have yet to see the kind of Kama Zani he does.His forehead is mark of Faith .
His younger brother to is intense but not yet as Mohsin Hallori.
He visits my shop and I know that Mohsin is a very focussed Shia an asset to our community -He is one Hallori and the other my friend Cassim Hallori...

Ashura in Mumbai -2008

Ashura in Mumbai -2008
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

This morning I left my house in Bandra at 9.30 am to shoot Ashura at Bhendi Bazar..
On the way I saw the runners of the Standard Chartered Marathon moving towards
Bandra Reclamation..but I took a left turn towards Mahim Matunga which is not the Marathon Route and reached Amin Imambada .
The most important segment of Mooharam Ashura is played out here by the migrant Iranians,..this is like a passion play depictin the scenes of the Battle of Karbala, Shimr the Commander of Yazidi forces of the Ummayad Caliphate is played by an Iranian all dressed in red..
Than another Iranian plays Imam Hussain, saddled on a horse, how Shimr mistreats him , and how he mistreats the children of Imam Hussains family presumably Ali Asghar the 6 month child of Imam Hussain..
As soon as the this starts the Iranian drums begin to play the scourgings and the kama matam start..
For the first time in my life I shot this from below because of my injured hand..
There was a guy from Malad Malwani who had just made flagellating blades 3 on a chain widht 3" and length 24" this was a great shoot..
I shot Shimr and the few sequences.
Than outside the quadrangle was another scene my friend Habib Nassar scourged with vicious blades totaly cut up ,than the famous sword of Babula tank came out, the Iranian drums began to play and Habib slashed his back that he does each Ahura at Amins..this time he took 200 stitches.
The Juloos ends and the Iranians break the Ashura fast by eating Khichda that I too had with my Iranian friends Mr Mohomed Reza of Colaba and Prof Hussaini of Lucky hotel.The Mumbai Iranians are the finest people loving , friendly but if you rub them the wrong way God save you from their hot headed Iranian Wrath..
I shot over 320 pictures and thanks to videographer Imran had them downloaded on a CD at his office at Pydhonie.. It took about an hour and from Pydhonie I walked to Zainabia where Maulana Bilgramis majlis was going on , as it ends the next segment of Ashura starts the impressive juloos fro Yaqoob Gully to JJ Hospirtal junction and from there to the Shia cemetery for the Majlis by Maulana Athar Saab,this is the last Ashura Majlis called Shame Ghariba..
The Juloos had Habib Nassars Anjuman Zulfiqare Hyderi doing the Iraqi kama
matam non stop, with Baqar Nassar , Ghulam, Kalu and a Bohri friend of Baqar Murtuza who was bleeding profusedly ..
I had not scourged or cut my forehead upto now becuse of my equipment , here I gave my camera to Habib took a daggar and cut my forehead too..
Habib pulled the dagger away from my hand as he did not want me to do hard core matam because of my diabetes..
From here I entered the Rehmatabad Shia cemetery met Maulana Athar Saab his son Maulana Yasoob..
The Shame Ghariba started , lots of crying wailing and before the Majlis could end the hardcore Kama and Zanjir matam began I shot this being careful not to get hit I hot over 500 pictures of the Juloos and the Matam inside ..I will dowload tomorrow I am tired and exhausted..
I took a cab and thanks to the political rally of Mr Narendra Modi there was total traffic mess I had tod ivert the cab via Dharavi 90ft road it took me two hours to reach home..
So ends Ashura.. in Mumbai..
I shall complete the 9th Moharam series and than show you my Ashura pictures..
My Nikon D70 again went dead on me I had just had it repaired at Subhash Solanki so I shot the pictures on Nikon D80..
7 and 8 Moharam pictures of Kaiser Bagh are on hold...