The Temple in my Cab /Some Stray Thoughts

The Temple in my Cab /Some Stray Thoughts, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

This was a shot of a tiny temple in the cab and I realized I cant get away from shooting Godliness ..he beckons me.This ends my series on Hope and Hindutva a message of Peace.
Promoting Hindutva as a cultural ethos, as values, as humanity, as mutual coexistence is what endears its inherent kinetic force to people of all communities, but using it as a weapon to break heads in Kandhamal does not pay in the long run.

Be it anyone , even if he is the young Prince of Darkness.

You dont have to be a Hindu to understand and feel Hinduism as healing touch, a Muslim can feel and impart it too..and this is the binding element on the canvas of my Flickr photostream where all religions meet..

I dont do this for money, for gaining cookie points, I do it because India is not a travel brochure , it is much more unfortunately the Ministry of Tourism or the Ministry of Information will never realize the contribution of a photo blogger to promoting peace goodwill and a hospitable view of diversity the spinal column of Indian spirituality.


The BJP spent a bomb hitting out at the milieu with a negative message on each and every ad on the blog sphere , showing an old man calling another old man weak.. without realizing it was the public that calls the shots ..the results are in front of you.

The people that gave tickets to candidate in the BJP are to be blamed , imagine trying to bring Priya Dutt down, through Mahesh Jethmalani, who not a single slum dweller be it a Hindu or a Muslim hardly knew . I shot their rally's ..I saw it all.

Maybe the Sindhis the Punjabis might have voted for Mahesh Jethmalani but the common man went towards peace , law and order and development.
This is how I saw it as a layman..and did mention it to Mr Ashish Shelar BJP Corporator who stays in my building who slogged from morning to night for a candidate that did not know a single by lane of Bandra as Baba Siddiki and Rahebar Khan knew ..the Congress had entrenched itself into the heart and soul of the poor.
It was a Congress Win much before the first shot was fired.

As for Bhaijaan of the BSP party ..he should have stuck with NCP..you dont become tall by riding a white elephant painted black,, Ye Public Hai Yeh Sab Janti Hai..
You cant Fool the Public.. Ha Ha

Shanmugham and Me at Madras Wadi Worli

Shanmugham and Me at Madras Wadi Worli, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Maryamma Feast Madras Wadi 2009- 400,183 views

Maryamma Feast Madras Wadi 2009- 400,183 views, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

I receive over 400000 visits on my Flickr site from 10 June 2007.

I have posted 77699 images till date.

At Blogspot I would have been considered a positive spam and Word Verification stuffed up my rectum...

The Maryamma Feast Madras Wadi Worli 2009/Some Stray Thoughts

The Maryamma Feast Madras Wadi Worli 2009/Some Stray Thoughts, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

I have now put another batch of 98 pictures for upload I still have some more in my camera, I have to finish all this by today or tomorrow ..I will undertake another shoot on Sunday.Uploading pictures is like emptying put the reservoir of my spiritual angst..at Flickr.


I have another story a very painful one I normally shoot two urchins not beggar kids who stay at the Garbage bin with their alcoholic mother and a useless father.

Last week or a week before the mother ran away with another man.. and the kids are totally clueless , I give them money , buy them sweets cold drinks etc.

I spoke to their father he said that she had left 6 kids in Chattisgarh, ran away to marry him..more than that he would not divulge..

Their life is in a real mess, I will talk to Rahebar Khan our Bandra Corporator to rehabilitate them in an institution.. if he can..and he is a good man.

Man is a Miracle - Hooked to Faith

Man is a Miracle - Hooked to Faith, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

man is a miracle
that god made
born of faith
a faith he wont trade
over embers of fire
bare feet he will wade
man only by man
betrayed
yet it is god
who comes to mans aid
man may die
but mankind wont fade
in one hand a holy book
another hand a grenade
man against humanity
an unending crusade
to preserve peace
man another mans
country will invade
weapons of mass destruction
in his own house displayed
war and peace like two hooks
on the shoulder blade
man an evil face
in total masquerade
man his religiosity racist
his religiosity bigotry
hate home made
man born a coward
becomes a giant unafraid
womanhood
childhood
motherhood
brotherhood
he has disgraced
man a miracle
playing god
playing a satrap
a man misplaced
man from the path
of mankind has strayed

Maryamma Feast Worli Seaface 2009

Maryamma Feast Worli Seaface 2009, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Raja is a professional rod piercer, even the human juggernaut is prepared by him, where the participant is pierced with hooks back front and sides like a peacock..

Raja charges for the piercings..I am told, but than he desrves it , as he does it with an inborn passion, he was last year at Fishermens Colony Mahim and at Juhu too this year.


All the Maryamma event pictures are at my Flickr photo stream, last year I blogged it at my photographer no1 Wordpress site , this time its just Flickr.

They are all in separate sets..

Shooting Faith Without Boundaries

Shooting Faith Without Boundaries, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

My Guru KG Maheshwari known as the Dronacharya of Indian photography, and the Yousef Karsh of India, who has shot Mahatma Gandhi during the Freedom struggle as he stayed at the Birla House and finally married a fairy princess of the Birla household..always reprimanded me during public meetings or event at our club , Photographic Society of India for being trigger happy with my camera, and each roll I shot was a Velvia or a Provia or an Ilford Delta 100 the mother of all black and white films, and it cost money , a lot of money plus processing contact sheet and prints , and I was a million light years away from the computer and the internet.

I opted for photography as I had come out of a chronic alcoholism, the psychiatrist had warned me to keep myself busy , and to take up a hobby that would keep me in a drunken state..or a similar passion as I had for Old Monk Rum..I drank two bottles to keep my wretched body alive, I read books but I had not got into writing poems or my thoughts ..nine years back..Blogging began in 2005 and love on the Internet made me a pedestrian poet of sorts ..my second polygamous marriage would have been an American from Alaska ..luckily the kids and the wife tied me beat the shit out of my dreams..And I am fairly sane now ..Flickr has added to my sanity.

Well I shot a lot , the first time I shot Moharam, at Amin Imambada I shot 40 rolls on a single camera , I shot as though there was no tomorrow, I was shooting Shiasm the sect I belong to after 17 years not only as a photographer but as a Shia through the viewfinder of my soul.I was never into religious congregation..

Joining the PSI Mumbai Photographic Society of India , my three Gurus , Shreekanth Malushte , Prof BW Jatkar and Mr KG Maheshwari changed my life forever..I never looked back..

Than a trip to Khwajah Gharib Nawaz at Ajmer Sharif and Lord Brahma in Pushkar changed me further from a mere photographer I became a blogger thanks to Brandon Stone of Photo Blogs Org..I joined Blogspot and Buznet , Fotothing Webshots..I was a Flickr member too I deleted my first account, I found I have another account an old one here as Fotographerno1.

The rest you know I joined Flickr back again in 2007 ..now 77,174 items / 398,466 views, in retrospection I have continued shooting pictures , I cant be like a hot shot photographer from the media who takes a few shot and moves away, I shoot a lot, I shoot with my eyes closed its a Sufi saying .. I know what I shoot will be perhaps for the last time I am mortal my body ravaged by diabetes.. I dont want to miss out anything yes I am an alcoholic when it comes to Photography and I am shocked by my moderation.


I have not gone back to my camera club, I stopped all Salon participations , competitions, I dont make prints, I dont give prints, I dont sell pictures , and I share my world with all of you as you out there who shoot tomatoes covered in cloth that look like monks running towards a Path of Peace..Thank you Arrowlakelass ..I learn a lot from all of you.. only you dont know it..

We all contribute to each othe as brother photographers and if you are a photographer there is no way you can be a bigot.. only a poet at Poemhunter can fall into a trap of becoming a racist..or a bigot.

Those who shower me with hate comments on my Shia and Hindu pictures are not photographers , they are propaganda nuisance of free membership without transparency as promoted by Flickr to be one up on Facebook.

I know somebody who wanted to recruit me into another sect of Islam.. made me really bleed all over again..puritanism makes me puke all over..

I belong to an Islam without hate, I belong to all religiosity that have Faith without borders ..on a land that I call Humanity..

I will now shower and go to my tailors shop where I cover men with clothes and photography uncovers my soul..bare thoughts of a barefeet photographer of Mumbai.