Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Story of the Legless Bawa

I had shot his pictures many times , I thought he was a disabled handicapped beggar..

While I was at Char Yar this lady was pestering me for money, real bad , I had a tenner I thought I would give it to the legless man, he refused , but took the money and willingly gave it to the lady beggar...

This is the legless Bawa of Ajmer his name is Khan ..
I thus share his story and the lady beggar has my tenner that I had refused her..
God works in strange ways at Ajmer Sharif..

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Char Yar -Sufism Without Sectarian Strife

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A Tag Called Char Yar

I have added Char Yar extensively as a tag, that it will finally dilute the venomous hate and Shia bashing on the site of the same name..and yes God does work in strange ways , it happened without any deliberate effort by me or engineering a defense such as this.....

Allah Ho Akbar ..a dot in a net..God is Great...The cornerstone of True Islam is our Holy Book and the Ahle Bayt..

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Farukh Bawa Rafaee

He is in all probability related to Hassan Ganda Rafaee .
Farukh Bawa is a stylish body piercer..we had a tiff once but we got over it..
Now we meet cordially as old friends , like Hassan Ganda ,Farukh Bawa too likes me to shoot his pictures..
All his body piercing acts are in my Mahim set of Dargah s.

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Hassan Ganda Exorcism Possession and Beyond

posted at flickr

Hassan Ganda is a arrogant son of a Sufi, he has lived in the wilds all his life, among wild animals, his patron Saint has a Dargah in the jungle close to Ajmer, Hassan Ganda lived there as the custodian of the Saints Tomb..

His animalistic features his wolf like walk all add a mysterious dimension to his mystic personality, , and has an antidote for any bite etc,,he kept live cobras and slept with them, he is totally a person not of this world but a world of Mowgli..

He has powers , and he is adept with the sword , axe or any sharp instrument, he pierces both his eyes with two swords..I have followed him like a Tweet for several years.His pictures are in my Mahim Dargah sets and the Chancawalli Bawa sets..

He is related to late Handi Sai and Farookh Bawa.

Women would give anything to father his child, he has had many offers and he answers me with a spooky smile that I hate to decipher..

He loves jewelery , good clothes, good hash and good food.

He has always eyed my sticks called Asas and my jewelery, this time he wanted my Shivas eyes necklace a rare piece..

I refused it to him, like I always do each time..

He has left the Chancawalli Rafaees and has started his own splinter group with Farookh Bawa, as Barsati Bawa is the head of the original group, and Shahenshah Bawa of the Mumbai Rafaee chapter.


This was the first time I shot a lot of pictures of Hasan Gand whom I fondly called Don Jaun Baba at Buzznet.

I have never given any of these bawas their pictures , the only one I made an exception was late Sikandar Wali Bawa the founder of the Chancawalli Rafaee sect.

There are some crazy Bawas among this coterie and the guy who hassled me the most was late Bhandari Bawa, he would turn his backside and place it near the camera frame , he hated photography and he called me the son of Satan, robbing the bawas of their spirituality by stealing their souls through pictures.

I have met Bawas who stopped my camera from focusing, I have met guys who became instilled with the qualities of a Cobra and their entire body moved on the floor like a reptile this was at Hussain Tekri Jaorah..

The Bawas throng this place a Shia Pilgrimage site run by the Sunnis ..and offer their services as exorcists..at the Devils tree stump, that I have shot, peoples hands are crucified to the floor and this is one place that is extremely scary by all means.

Another place I have never visited but is touted a cure for most mental illness or exorcisms is Mina Datar at Unjha Gujrat... this is a haven for those seeking relief from madness and chronic insanity..

They have a replica of this Holy Shrine at Reay Road Mumbai that is completely crowded on Thursdays..or Nau Chandi Jummerat..

I thought a bit of Hassan Bawa was important to my discourse and these are pictures I shot the day I was leaving for Mumbai.. I shot them rapidly using my AF Nikon ED 80- 200 lens 2.8.
I rarely use this lens as I shoot very close , my favorite was 20mm that got destroyed like most of my lenses as I walked with my camera on fire during Moharam , a ritual called Ag Ka Matam.

If Dr Glenn Losack MD was here in Mumbai during the Maryamma Feast I would have pierced my cheeks with a 18 feet rod, a ritual I have kept in abeyance for him to shoot exclusively..I did not partake in this ritual at Mahim only for the sake of the furious physician, he is a very good and able photographer , but deep in my heart I know I helped him rise a notch higher by becoming a much better blogger than me..

This is photography etched in the soul of a memory card as a photo blog, the most priceless instrument that cuts both ways as an image and as text..people art Flickr I hate to say it are still struggling as photographers to ever realize the supremacy of a photo blog over a picture..

And it will take another zillion years before the Flickerverse learns to comment ..fuck good shot, fuck good capture and fuck all comments ..I was becoming as bad and repetitious as those who commented in such manner at my pictures..

I have for once gone far away , see my world through the windows of my soul.. but dont etch your hate on it or your praise..I need none..I dont need Wahabbis to remind me that I am a Shia Shithead..or a Shia arsehole..or a promoter of Hindu culture,,,

Yes The Flickr Comment Box of Firoze Shakir died in its sleep.. Might wake up once Flickr management removes the blinkers and introduces Comment Moderation,. where I control what is to be published on my blog..

Please see this as a picture and read it as a photo blog..
Thank you Hassan Ganda for your time and your visit on my photo stream.

By -

Hassan Ganda Exorcism Possession and Beyond

posted at flickr

Hassan Ganda is a arrogant son of a Sufi, he has lived in the wilds all his life, among wild animals, his patron Saint has a Dargah in the jungle close to Ajmer, Hassan Ganda lived there as the custodian of the Saints Tomb..

His animalistic features his wolf like walk all add a mysterious dimension to his mystic personality, , and has an antidote for any bite etc,,he kept live cobras and slept with them, he is totally a person not of this world but a world of Mowgli..

He has powers , and he is adept with the sword , axe or any sharp instrument, he pierces both his eyes with two swords..I have followed him like a Tweet for several years.His pictures are in my Mahim Dargah sets and the Chancawalli Bawa sets..

He is related to late Handi Sai and Farookh Bawa.

Women would give anything to father his child, he has had many offers and he answers me with a spooky smile that I hate to decipher..

He loves jewelery , good clothes, good hash and good food.

He has always eyed my sticks called Asas and my jewelery, this time he wanted my Shivas eyes necklace a rare piece..

I refused it to him, like I always do each time..

He has left the Chancawalli Rafaees and has started his own splinter group with Farookh Bawa, as Barsati Bawa is the head of the original group, and Shahenshah Bawa of the Mumbai Rafaee chapter.


This was the first time I shot a lot of pictures of Hasan Gand whom I fondly called Don Jaun Baba at Buzznet.

I have never given any of these bawas their pictures , the only one I made an exception was late Sikandar Wali Bawa the founder of the Chancawalli Rafaee sect.

There are some crazy Bawas among this coterie and the guy who hassled me the most was late Bhandari Bawa, he would turn his backside and place it near the camera frame , he hated photography and he called me the son of Satan, robbing the bawas of their spirituality by stealing their souls through pictures.

I have met Bawas who stopped my camera from focusing, I have met guys who became instilled with the qualities of a Cobra and their entire body moved on the floor like a reptile this was at Hussain Tekri Jaorah..

The Bawas throng this place a Shia Pilgrimage site run by the Sunnis ..and offer their services as exorcists..at the Devils tree stump, that I have shot, peoples hands are crucified to the floor and this is one place that is extremely scary by all means.

Another place I have never visited but is touted a cure for most mental illness or exorcisms is Mina Datar at Unjha Gujrat... this is a haven for those seeking relief from madness and chronic insanity..

They have a replica of this Holy Shrine at Reay Road Mumbai that is completely crowded on Thursdays..or Nau Chandi Jummerat..

I thought a bit of Hassan Bawa was important to my discourse and these are pictures I shot the day I was leaving for Mumbai.. I shot them rapidly using my AF Nikon ED 80- 200 lens 2.8.
I rarely use this lens as I shoot very close , my favorite was 20mm that got destroyed like most of my lenses as I walked with my camera on fire during Moharam , a ritual called Ag Ka Matam.

If Dr Glenn Losack MD was here in Mumbai during the Maryamma Feast I would have pierced my cheeks with a 18 feet rod, a ritual I have kept in abeyance for him to shoot exclusively..I did not partake in this ritual at Mahim only for the sake of the furious physician, he is a very good and able photographer , but deep in my heart I know I helped him rise a notch higher by becoming a much better blogger than me..

This is photography etched in the soul of a memory card as a photo blog, the most priceless instrument that cuts both ways as an image and as text..people art Flickr I hate to say it are still struggling as photographers to ever realize the supremacy of a photo blog over a picture..

And it will take another zillion years before the Flickerverse learns to comment ..fuck good shot, fuck good capture and fuck all comments ..I was becoming as bad and repetitious as those who commented in such manner at my pictures..

I have for once gone far away , see my world through the windows of my soul.. but dont etch your hate on it or your praise..I need none..I dont need Wahabbis to remind me that I am a Shia Shithead..or a Shia arsehole..or a promoter of Hindu culture,,,

Yes The Flickr Comment Box of Firoze Shakir died in its sleep.. Might wake up once Flickr management removes the blinkers and introduces Comment Moderation,. where I control what is to be published on my blog..

Please see this as a picture and read it as a photo blog..
Thank you Hassan Ganda for your time and your visit on my photo stream.

By -

The Hijra Bawa of Ajmer

The Hijra Bawas are retired hijras , who have renounced the life of materialism and glamor, for Sufi mysticism, they sit at Char Yar with their male counterparts , practising what is known as Dua Tawiz or holistic healing.

The are patronized by rich hijras and also normal men and woman searching a cure for their bodily and mental ailments.


I had to cut short my trip and come back to Mumbai due to work commitment or I would have shot a lot of footage, I did not go to Pushkar or Taragadh, I came to Ajmer on 28 June 2009 7.30 pm and left on 30 June 2009 at 11 am by the Aravalli Express for Mumbai.

Tickets for the return journey was next to impossible I got my by paying extra charges called Tatkal.
Last year I had traveled with Hijras but this time there were two from Bandra East in the ordinary coach, I also shot Hijras on the next platform...heading for Delhi.

Char Yar and Moti Katla are the two places for shooting my kind of action..I took pictures in my stride never jumping the gun as you guys call it..

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