The Killer Trains Of Mumbai

crossing the tracks
god knows how many
have died ..slipped fallen
into the gap as they slide
a gap open wide ,, death
along with the passenger '
takes a free ride ,,wake
up erstwhile rail minister
mr suresh prabhu my
words are not a snide
statistics cannon lie ,,
giving a gory testimony '
those that have accidentally
died ..unknowingly paid the
price a misplaced sacrifice
death on wheels in disguise

The Blind Flute Beggar Begs To Keep The Music Of His Soul Alive

I had to shoot him , he would play a tune walk with the help of his stick and hope someone blessed him with alms , his world pitch black  his hopes dark his dreams might be light in the tunnel of grim and despondency ,, I again wanted to hold him back after giving him money make him sit with me talk to him video shoot him..I dont see films I shoot life as film.. first it was stills now moving pictures and pictures or stories are meaningless if they dont move you.. you need to be a poet from within to be a good photographer either you shoot pictures to massage your ego or your seek nirvana from the people you shoot ,,

I taught my grandchildren photography with a blindfold ,, made them shot darkness and they lit the darkness with color of their surroundings ,, the most important part of photography is how you hold your camera and I dont mean physically I mean how the camera holds you .. I sometimes gave my camera to a beggar and when he held my camera there was excitement on his face and I told him to press the trigger there by capturing eternity in a single frame ,..

I shot three frames of this blind beggar without being intimidated by the Miya public around me ,, most of the folks know me ,, thanks to the cameo I did in a film as a photographer ,, and now I carry the role more effectively in real life than I did in reel life ,,

This lot of pictures I had left in abeyance I shot them before I left for the Kumbh and uploaded them after I completed my Kumbh documentary at Flickr ,,,

The Only Thing We Make Effortlessly In India Are Our Indigenous Beggars

I shot her outside Kurla West station she was in a real bad state I gave her some money ,, but all the money she gets in coins or notes does not count for much..a part of me told me sit next to her video shoot her story ,, why was she begging ..at this age what happened to force her to beg..but than I let it go.. I shot 2 or 3 frames ,,there are many like her on the streets of Mumbai thrown out by their own children.. Old lady go beg or dont come home ,, it is sad , and this picture or words is not forced melodrama but the poetry of street life that I prolifically shoot as Muslim Beggars of India .

Most beggars come to Mumbai the city of Hopeful dreams during Ramzan when the Lord too comes down on  earth in the guise of a beggar I doubt if God would ever come down in the guise of a Mullah..

I have shot far too many beggars but it is the Muslim beggar that I shoot and showcase to the big fat rich Muslim moneybags who turn the other way from beggars and now in a week or two when Bakra Eid or Eid Ul Adha begins the rich Muslims will be buying rich goats no bulls this time they will buy rich expensive Allah inscribed Dumbas ,, instead of a single goat some will buy a dozen goats .. will they send a couple of goats the childrens home or to the widows home ,, no ,, they will send the Skins ,, and this is the irony I shoot ,, I once used to go to shoot this spiritual Tamasha at Deonar but I stopped it completely ,, I have a lot of butcher friends and with due respect to their profession and their efforts Bakra Eid is nothing but an ostentatious show of money power among the rich Muslims ,,,

We used to slaughter the goat but last two years we give the money to a children s home and this is our personal act and has nothing to do with Qurbani..

And every year the Hijras come to our building for meat and one of them will call me aside ask for Marziya my  granddaughter who shot this hijra when she was 3 years old.

This is love in its noblest form.. did the hijra get blessed by the little child I know not ..but it is this ethereal power within the cosmic soul of the camera that holds my inner restless angst..

Yes I shoot beggars as a beggar myself my camera is the beggars bowl that begs for beggar pictures  and Fuck I dont sell my pictures beggars or otherwise ,

The Second Hand Shoe Shop Bandra Hill Road

Not just poor folks who want affordable shoes but even rich folks get off their cars to buy some rare antique shoes ,,army shoes , safety shoes dancing shoes , baroque's he has them all.. situated at a stall next to Tata Parsi Agiary..

He repairs expensive shoes and is helped by his wife and daughter .

Street Photography Barbers And Camera As A Holistic Healing Tool

These are three stories in one ,,as a camera club photographer I was repressively pushed back into a world of regressive stupid rules , and shoved fine art in my reluctant rectum.. There was hardly any mention of street photography ,, and once I took vanvas exile from camera club culture I discovered photography on the net ,, I began posting my pictures under the various heads of religion as that was my genre or people photography , I did not know the ways of the net in 2005 and it was only in 2007 when I reached the shores of Flickr as a Buzznet refugee it was late Fred Miller who told me to tag my pictures as street photography and so I became a street photographer by default ,, I began to stalk the streets of Chor Bazar and I have crossed over 65000 street blogs at Flickr .. even more if you take my religious pictures shot on the streets .
And I had great masters at that time Tom Andrews my first inspiration at Buzznet .. Eric Parker at Flickr Akbar Simonese the Master of Street Photography stark haunting pictures that left a mark on your psyche ,, he did not manipulate situations , simple pictures with masterly thoughts ,, there are many more but they are into composite photography and 8Hai his Chinese street images of tea drinkers .. these are out of the world so honestly Flickr began educating me inspiring me , without Flickr I would have been caught in a bottle of crab shooting the same shit that you see in Camera club Newsletters and their rip off salon brochures ,, I am lucky by throttling the soul of my analogue photography and rechristening myself as a Blogger I did reach personal milestones ,,I am still unlearning what ever shit I was forced at camera club level.. and mind you I am a product of the camera club I dont want to live in a prison of another dead masters mind .
My second thought street barbers I cannot stop myself from shooting them they contributed to my street photography I shot them prolifically , these migrants from Badayun , Meerut Bareilly and other Uttar Pradesh hick towns ,, they came to Mumbai with dreams in their eyes and scissor comb in their hands and I shot them as kids working on adults ,, Barberism Religious Tonsure Akika is what I shot and Mundan and this is my set on Flickr ,, I think I have an album of almost all the street barbers of Bandra ,,and I must confess I shoot street barbers like a madman I shoot them on Pitru Paksha at Banganga Walkeshwar.
The third thought pictures heal.. my kid sister used to tell me the day I shot Lalbagh Chya Raja to give a copy to her teacher who was invalid ,, this was her Darshan on my picture and I dont know if it really healed her as much as it healed me by giving it to her I hardly give pints ,, the only time I gave 100 prints was to Heena HIjra at Pila House my muse my model and an androgynous spirit ,, now all their pictures are locked up from public view , and I have a lot of Salon prints .. one lot was of my Gurus Ling Kriya pictures that I recently gave it to him..they were with me since 2003,.. yes pictures heal and they heal from within and without ,,having a camera to shoot pictures to calibrate your ego is not photography..
And photography healed me of my chronic alcohol dependence my hot temper ,, and sobered me sanely I think..
You see a picture but you read a blog. this is a photo blog million light years from a picture you shoot at Ladakh or Himachal..

Hanky Seller Kurla Public Overbridge

I have been shooting him since the time I got addicted to Kurla East aquarium shops .. and this Chacha as I call him is an indomitable spirit , he refuses to complain about the bad days that came in his life he spent away all his earnings on his wifes sickness , he has a daughter in his hometown and grandchildren he stays on rent in some Kurla slums and sells hankies on the bridge since 60 years ,, and he is humble hospitable and respects me a lot ,, I respect him too for his industrious nature , he tells me he hates to beg or be dependent on others ,, he earns for himself and for his daughter ,, and nobody talks of such Muslims and than I wonder of Muslim kids who are caught every day robbing chain snatching , rape murder ,, and it saddens me that many could who have been saved rehabilitated had they been given vocational guidance ,, this old wizened man inspires me , he has seen very hard times but he is always smiling ,,

There are times he stumps me when he says why do you sit with me ,why do you care for me and honestly it has nothing to do with photography ,,,there is something that connects me with this kindred soul ..my father used to live in the slums of Kurla about 64 years back . the poorest slum on a Hindu crematorium with my mother new from Lucknow 15 years old and me one year old .. those were the hardest days of my fathers life and worst for my mother who hailed from Lucknow her father Daroga Nabban Sab descendant of Poet Mir Anis..

My mother even when she moved into tenanted quarters at Wodehouse Road or later Warden Road and finally Strand Cinema never forgot those days and though I was too small to even remember it never allowed us to forget her past ,, it haunts me even now ,,

So this poor Muslim Man hanky seller takes me back into the world of my mothers tears ,, a child mother who dd not know to cook or stitch.. we are products of her perseverance me my brothers and sisters.

The Gemstone Bawa Of Kurla Bridge

He is a hawker who sells cheap gemstones on the public overbridge that connects Kurla West To Kurla East .. this overbridge is a poor mans shopping mall.

I have known this Bawa since many years he used to sell gemstones rings at the Urus of Makhdhoom Shah Baba ,,and this is what he does sell his stuff during the various Urus in and out of Mumbai.. his favorite place is Ajmer Sharif , he goes to Nagpur and other Dargahs ,,he offers me tea too and this is their genuine hospitality ,,I have never bought any stone from him.. and he does compliment me for what I wear..

These are people I shoot here too I call him Bawa and never by his name ,, he is married his sons have stalls on this bridge .