Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Bhelpuriwallah

124,614 items / 871,726 views

He is bhelpuriwalah I know since 1982..I dont know his name , he parked his cart at a junction near Tawah Restaurant , and I knew him well as I stayed for somettime with my family at 28 th road Bandra in a company flat.

It was during this time his son died , he was totally doomed and crushed ..I moved away time elapsed and than he began parking his cart near Waterfieled Road ..he would see me nod but we never talked at all.


And I know as a father he carries the memories of his dead son , the way he pushes the cart I feel he is pushing his dead sons body to the crematorium, I feel his pain after so many years and I took this shot asking him to stop .. and he gave me a faint glimmer of a smile a smile of Hope.


Street photography is not randomly going trigger happy shooting street scenes , no it is much more street photography is shooting stories that encapsulate pain and raw human emotions..

A picture must touch , yes it must touch you and then reveal what was hidden from you, it reverberates as a memory you may or you may not have lived..

If I had just posted the picture as is where is, you got one aspect of his life's story his struggle and his determination to survive even though a few want him out of the city , yes in times like this when you cant nab terrorists than you search for a scapegoat even a North Indian becomes a terrorist , a bar dancer becomes a terrorist even the Muslim man with a goatee and a skull cap makes you think he is a terrorist..

And it makes me laugh at the cameo of life , why must a terrorist look like a Muslim , if he is a wily terrorist smart cyber savvy, he will look like a policeman , a postman , a courier boy, an Army man, a Catholic priest a Sadhu and even as a politician, any life's or even Laxmans common man for that matter.. , Kasab blew the myth of the Taliban type terrorist, even a guy riding a roller skates could be a terrorist..

There was a time I was stopped at all Nakabandi because I wore a turban, though I was clean shaven, but I was a suspected Terrorist simply because I have a Muslim name..I than began wearing saffron , Hindu religious attire I have never been stopped at all, but I have stopped thinking about all this , the Mumbai police know me now at least in the areas that I am a regular visitor.

Street photography is learning wisdom of the streets , I had a photographer friend Dr Reza Masoudi from London , he was here last year to shoot Moharam Ashura in Mumbai He called me to share lunch with him at Lucky Hotel, he is an excellent street photographer too, and after lunch he was going to walk all the way to Makdhoom Shah Babas Shrine to shoot pictures ..

I dd not accompany him ..he is working on a documentary of Shia life , during Moharam , he has shot Lucknow too.

He kept taking notes and I told him the largest collection of the Shia ethos during Moharam is my Flickr photosteam..for that matter Hinduism and the Hijra ethos too.

As a street photographer all religious events feasts festivals celebrated on the streets come under the canopy and purview of street photography.

Street photography is shooting candids too.. have good reflexes and fast I shoot on a single frame mode unlike the Mumba phot journos whom I call Khat a Khat photographers.. in a speed that betrays oxymoron haste..

But I get tired of still photography and if God permits I will take up shooting the streets and everything connected to life with a video..

People invariably complain there is nothing to shoot in Mumbai and if you open your minds eye let Shiva out there is whole unexplored world out there..and because I shoot with my mouth I am not taken as a serious photographer but a dim wit of a dick head of a photo blogger.


The only person who would call me to talk to his students on the aspect of street photography and photo blogging is Mr Shreekanth Malushte who taught me photography and taught my daughter Samiya too including my kid brother Firdose ..

And because Shreekant Malushteji does not take two years old in his classes I am teaching my grand daughter Marziya Shakir the Art of Unlearning Photography.

My shop help who does not know the ABC of aperture or Fucked F Stops shoots me better than the best photographers off the street..All my pictures are shot by him..

So a bhelpuriwallah can also open a can of worms ..and it takes only a picture to tell you the lifetime story of man ..

Photography is not shooting pictures but adding poetry where no words existed at all.. and you dont have to be a poet to read poetry.. you could read it with your eyes closed too..


And one of the slum kids looked at me proudly in the eye and said Uncle main bi ap ki tarah.. photographer banooga..which means I want to be a photographer like you..

And I wanted to tell him be a photographer , but not like me or you will be broke all your life..

I dont sell pictures I dont sell words..a blogger is a commodity that has not yet reached the the markets of Mumbai..

I make my living stitching up sartorial egos when they begin bursting on the seams ..yes I am a tailor..by default

a tailor made default..

By -

Burnt Out Dreams

124,615 items / 872,129 views

a poet
is a dreamer
living in a world
on borrowed
pain
he has to
return
it to the
moneylender
once again
burnt
out dreams
burnt out heart
burnt out brain

though on his grave
reads an epitaph

"fire, my friend, either cleanses the soul or burns it down completely... our choice..."

only memories
night long vigil
to retain
such
is pain
of a dreamer
dreaming
dreams
into a gutter
of nothingness
as they drain
souls bound
by karmic chain
imagined
guilt
imagined
betrayal
on the soul
of misery
why complain
what is hers
belongs to her
what was mine
i cant obtain
depleted dreams
deleted drams
dont come again
burnout dreams
coming
home to roost
in a birds brain
somethings
volatile
combustible
inflammable
on the fleshy soul
not humane
but the poets mind
will sustain
one sided love
one sided agony
in a one way lane
some marriages
are made in heaven
some dreamed
on the minds
membrane
every day
a poet dies
crushed
under
the wheels
of times train
now go back
to sleep
says his
altar ego
you have
nothing
more to gain

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Full Stop


Full Stop, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

thank you
you add
boundless energy
to my poetic zeal
i close my eyes
its you i peel
i stop
i feel
your heart
beat that i steal
speechless
from your soul
from voyeuristic
vision
you shield
the day
i met you
my fate
was sealed
through
your silence
my wounds
you healed
my pain
congealed
to your
locked doors
once more
i yield


my passion
for you
that
i had
concealed
now like
layers
of onions
time has
peeled
through poetic
postulations
now revealed

a mystical;
metaphoric
historic
power
over me
you wield
unsigned
unsealed

By -

What The Fuck is the Matter With This World..

A cat is talking to God about the fall of man and the fucked nature of mans surroundings..
man a two legged creature to his own kind i mean mankind no hope brings man who wants to play god and be king man a proxy death with his poisonous venomous sting between his legs a weapon of mass degeneration the most dangerous thing..some call it ling on the hopes of the fortitude of women he loves to fling in a testicular sling .. man an angel born with broken wings either way loves to swing..man his satanic demonic cravings..

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The Slum Dog Caterers

The guy with the bare chest is the slum dog caterer Ikbal Bhai , who runs this set up, he is down to earth and and a great chef.

These are guys who came from Northern India Uttar Pradesh as kids and worked their way up, they had dreams and with hard work grit determination they pursued it , and soon became entrepreneurs themselves.

Working out from the slum is cheap, and congenial to their work ethos.

One thing about this caterer community they slog their ass off , and their hard work has paid fruit.

Most of these guys initially worked for Jeff Caterers at Bandra or other Bohra caterers , learnt the tricks of the trade and followed this line independently..

In Bandra Bazar road they are quite a few of them Kamru, Islamiya ..Altaf , they are competitors but are united because they come from the same village or state.

They make Moghlai Chinese food and specialize in the Bohra Thali too.

I could write at length on this profession , but I am into street photography and slum photography and they come within the purview of what I shoot.

I actually hate text , but sometimes a picture needs explanation..

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The Slum Kids

One thing about the slum kids they are natural born and camera friendly, I am their official photographer they call me camerawale uncle.. uncle with the camera..

The guy in the red tee is Suraj the shop keeper he handles his uncles provision shop in the slum after school , while his uncle rests..a few of the kids are his cousins.

By -

Internal Server Error

124,575 items / 871,500 views

if she only knew
that i am human
passionately
possessed
not a robotic response
you have rightly guessed
with the chimera
of her personality
totally obsessed
my fate washed
me to the
shores of her
destiny
my life
she has
messed
into the
corridors
of her mind
she denies
me access
page cannot
be displayed
internal server
error
wrong address
barefeet blogger
poorly dressed

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