Hardcore Zanjir Matam Bandra East Juloos

Hardcore Zanjir Matam Bandra East Juloos, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Master of the Rings

Master of the Rings, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

a blogger
who blogs
photo things
entering
your world
without wings
poetic upswings
master of the rings
pictures as words
giving vent
to feelings
sending you
hearty greetings

The Old Shoe Shoppe

The Old Shoe Shoppe, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

These are old shoes that the owner has bought from film productions as a lot, shoes worn by heroes , super stars , villains , vamps , heroines all under one roof that I call the Old Shoe Shoppe , as it has a very nostalgic Dickensian quality, I can close my eyes and see Mr Micawber haggling for a long pair , and demanding credit but promising to pay once the tide turns over..or I can close my eyes see Mr Uriah Heep back bent slithering in the shadows to buy a pair of warmers for his stiff feet..
Or Mr Barkis trying to buy a dainty one for Aunty Pegotty..

And than when I do open my eyes it is Marziya eying me having imbibed a thought for the day , that street photography is adding a human angle and dimension to a mans sleeping soul awakening his consciousness to the lyrical beats of mans quest for dreams.
Simplicity is the soul of humility..

Marziya Beware

Marziya Beware, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

the stink
the filth
of
bandra
the uncrowned
queen of garbage
will follow you
everywhere
now if this was
next to ministerjis house
the municipal maibaap
would lose his chair
but the common man
who voted ministerji
to power
all this misery
he must bear
his precious vote
forgotten
an empty hollow dream
turned into nightmare
the despair
of the eunuch
silent residents
with all of you
I share
I too a eunuch
caught in life's
eternal snare

The reason Marziya is heading towards the garbage dumps is because she loves goats..

Shooting Barbers

Shooting Barbers, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

That is me in the mirror shooting barbers I enjoy shooting street side barbers and pictures of religious tonsure, and almost all the street side barbers know me because of my razor sharp camera.

I have not shot the street side Bandra Reclamation barbers , the road side stall near my place , I dont visit anymore..

Shooting barbers at work,smoothly touching a mans face is about Touch, the human touch, than the blade on raw skin , its strokes , its movements can be poetry..if you read this moment as a poet like I do..

I have shot the road side barbers in various towns but the most exhilarating was shooting a guy having a shave in an open green field perched on a chair in Bakshi Talav close to Lucknow.


And spiritually enlightening was a couple I shot from Andhra Pradesh newly married who had a religious tonsure at Haji Malang , this was the best picture capturing moment , both man and woman Hindus giving the strands of hair for wishes brought to fruition by the Sufi Saint of the Mountains ,Haji Malang Baba.

Even Marziyas mundan is part of her 9000 picture story at Flickr.

Marziya is not scared of the razor at all,but she used to get mad when local kids called us both Takle.. I became bald after her mundan to give her company and not make her feel an alien at my house.

I cannot resist shooting barbers and shooting barbers at Pitru Paksh at Banganga can be a moment that wont leave you forever , if you are aware of the fact that most of the guys cutting the devotees hair have never held a razor before , it is just about supply and demand and big juicy bucks.. not Rs 20 for a haircut but Rs 251 and more..

Education in the Pipeline

Education in the Pipeline, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

New water pipelines have been laid by Councilor Rahebar Khan for the residents of Indraji Nagar Bandra and this girl doing her homework, caught my camera eye...

Being Born a Poor Muslim Woman My Bad Luck

Being Born a Poor Muslim Woman My Bad Luck, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

During the few years I have been shooting hijras I found many a man had left his family to get married to the eunuch, a eunuch that is neither man nor woman but has the exotic charismatic power to ensnare gullible man..his original sin being his naivete and foolishness.
This woman inspired me with the words, this may not be the allegory of her pain..poetically designed in a situational inescapable moment of grief ..so read it as such..

within the
grinding wheel
of karmic pain
of my womanhood
I am stuck
I beg to feed
my childrens
empty stomach
as no one will
give me work
winds of despair
into my life's courtyard
more pain chuck
vulnerable
sitting duck
being born
a poor Muslim
woman
my bad luck
he has left me
for another woman
a comely eunuch
a shake a jolt a jerk
on my misery
another bolt
thunderstruck
I wish I was dead
run over
beneath the wheels
of a truck