Children Are The Closest To God ..

I shoot the simplicity of life here and beyond
every teardrop from their eyes into a great pond
through the soul of innocence god bonds ..holding
in his weathered shaking hands a magic wand ,,

My tribute to all at #ello ..freedom of speech should not hurt others ..

Those Whom We Voted To Power Now Live In Ivory Towers

as garbage dances
with joy merriment
in non monsoonal showers
the aromatic holistic smell
of our garbage sites without
garbage bins as they flower
a malady to be borne every
minute second and hour
swine flu free bandra
dengue free bandra
was only in brochures
of the congress party
that unfortunately soured
now we are under the
auspices of the BJP
in their good day offerings
says the writing on the wall
modiji come visit our bower
swach bharat  sweet n sour

100 Urus Of Syed Haji Abdul Rehman Shah Baba Qadri of Dongri

Coming here was a divine accident and a spiritual calling called Bulawa .

I had come to Kings Circle for some urgent work by train and after completing the same I took the train to Sandhurst Road I had some work at Chor Bazar .. At Sandhurst Road I took a share a cab to Gol Dewal, while sitting in the cab I met a Malang  who knew I was a Dam Madar Malang ,, I took his pictures he was keen to know if I was going to Makanpur for the Urus of Hazrat Zinda Shah Madar ,, I told hiim if the Holy Saint Calls I would get wings to reach there .

I passed the Dongri road and saw huge crowds attending the 100 Urus of Hazrat Peersab Syed Haji Abdul Rehman Shah Baba Qadri and I thought after finishing my work at Chor Bazar I will come and pay my respects and also see Zanjirwale Baba who had introduced me to this Dargah. I have not seen Zanjirwale Baba a devotee of Syed Haji Abdul Rehman Shah Baba.

When I reached Dongri via Bismillah Hotel Lane I met this malang in black from Kolkatta a devote of Sabir Piya .
I told him I was a Malang now he insisted I have tea with him,..so we sat in a small Malbari restaurant I did not allow him to pay for the tea .. and as I stepped out I met my old friend Hassan Ganda Rafaee and he told me all my old rafaee friends Chalak Ali , Kashmiri Bawa Kassam Bawa were at the Dhuni so he asked a young boy to take me there ,

I met the Rafaees I had been documenting them for over 15 years , the new Murshad Kassam Bawa offered me food , I ate a single roti and shot pictures forgetting about the Malang from Kolkatta .

When I came out of the Dhuni he was waiting for me and he wanted me to shoot the Dargah from within but I did not want to disturb the devotees very few trustees like photographers .

After I finished and was ready to  leave to catch a bus the Malang from Kolkatta said he would drop me at the bus stop , I thought maybe he wanted some money I took out 100 bucks but he politely refused and said he liked my company ,,

I told him I had to leave and honestly prefer being by myself I told him I will see him tomorrow  and took his leave.

This year I did not go to both the Mahim Dargahs as I was in Lucknow for Chehlum and could not make it to Haji Malang because of diabetic leg wound.

So this is my new set at Flickr my tribute to the Great Holy Saint of Dongri and his dedicated followers from all walks of Life.

Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.
Rumi

The Ancient Art Of Ear Cleaning Bandra Talao

For 40 years he has been sitting at the same spot cleaning years  at the same spot at Bandra Talao .. but his future is dark and bleak as the Municipal officials want him to go back to his hometown , once the Bandra Talao is renovated there wont be place for him to sit anymore .. He and a few of his compatriots who clean ears fora measly sum of Rs20 ,

And there are a lot of people taxi drivers hangar ons , workers poor folks who come and get their ears cleaned the wax removed .

And they go light headed and free ..and it is holistic every touch of the ear cleaner.

I have known them for many years sadly I did not make a separate set of their life documentation at Flickr .

I have never interviewed them but this imminent uprooting from their place of work has made them sad depressed and they think I am a Press guy and I might be of help to their cause .

Frankly speaking I dont know their names or where they stay in Mumbai.. but they hail from Karnataka . and most of them are Muslims here . The Hindu ear cleaners in town or near Dadar Kotwal Garden wear a short red turban,.

There are ear cleaners at VT close too a small garden next to the public toilet ,, they dont like their pictures being  shot.

And I have documented them perhaps not as passionately as the Dabbawalas .

And when I am sad depressed I too come to the ear cleaners and get my ears cleaned shoot their pictures and the filthy Bandra Talo with the stink of dead fishes ..who dread to come back either as fish or men in their next rebirth.

Hey Alex Where Are You ,

I could have been in LA with you
shooting legs some rendez vous
at Flickr we all miss you..over our
head with your camera you flew
leaving me to shoot dabbawalas
garbage porn dengue swine flu
please shoot beggars too wherever
you are for a change a bolt out
of the blue ,,seeking hope
in a fisherman's shoe ..

Urdu Teacher Held For Raping 5 Year Old Girl At Jogeshwari Mumbai

When Will The Sunni Ulemas Wake up
How Can Adult Males Teach Urdu or
The Holy Scriptures at Madrsa to Girls
The Age Old System They Need To
Shake Up ,,

This is the second incident after the one in Govandi and according to the Hindustan Times , he took the  5 year old child to his Madrsa for 3 days  with due permission from  the parents ,, and how on earth could the parents even if they were illiterate uneducated allow to hand over their daughter to a man , unless they thought he belonging to a religious  order would not harm their daughter and so abuse in the name of trust .

And sadly this is a common feature among Sunni Madrsas , and I say this without malice or sarcasm,.. In our Shia mosques Shia madrsas , the girls are taught by ladies only ,,
and even my own grand daughter first had a lady who came home taught her the Holy Koran and since two years she has been going to the Shia mosque madrsa with other girls and wears the Hijab and at the age of  7 recites the Namaz before going to her School.. a convent school.

And we are concerned about our granddaughters as much concerned about other children be it Hindu Muslim or Christian.

Child abuse by the teacher is the worst crime to be inflicted on a girl child specially if he is a religious teacher .

And he should be punished severly so that others like him dont destroy a childs life ,,

And here more than the Teacher it is the Ulemas Maulanas Muslim system to blame ,,and  hiring of Urdu teachers without proper screening has dealt a great blow to all of us ,,

I hope the Minister Of Education Respected Mr Tawde brings some accountability in the running of Madrsas .. what is happening gives a bad name to the Muslim community , to our state our city and the country too.

It is not just about segregation but about the safety of a small child .. I am ashamed to see  girls in their teens sitting with boys head covered and learning the Scriptures ,,and here the danger is ,, Is The Urdu teacher a pedophile a molester does he have a criminal case has he been convicted of molestation or attempted rape .. I mean all of us in spite of our different religious ideology and keeping it aside must save the innocent girl child from such bearded monsters with skull caps .

The Ragpickers Of Bandra Bazar Road

More than just a ragpicker , she is the garbage woman, she collects garbage from houses , she dumps it at the  garbage dump site .
But saleable items she sorts , like plastic bags , cardboard , metal wire , iron pipes etc and she collects all this in huge bags that she places on her head and sells to the second hand bhangar shop.

She is extremely polite to me as I have shot her many times ..her  work of sorting is done close to my house ,, and she is a migrant .
They all come from one community called Mehtars,lowest of the low cleaning toilets bathrooms etc and more than men it is the the women in the community that do this job of garbage removal.

She is a real brave woman and she has empowered herself without help from Rahulji or Modiji.