Hooked

I am on Flickr since 2007 I am following 2000 people and I have 1800 followers , I am blocking over 1500 people ,,for no fault of theirs they have fetish for porn..and I cannot add them I mean I understand artistic nudes but hardcore porn is beyond me ,, than I block those who add me with fake names and no profile photo ..I have had some great friends very old friends and they got out of hand using me as a punching bag because of their fucked dried up sex lives or whatever megalomania I blocked them too..

There was a person a typical Bengali shooting landscapes a part poet and he got upset seeing Naga cocks on my Kumbh pictures and got nasty in his comments I dumped him too.. I mean I dont understand when you add me you take me with the baggage of my quirks idiosyncrasies ,,I dont demolish a persons character because of the pictures he shoots ,,you want to see some of my images but are not happy with the the cultural ritualistic bloodletting scenes I shoot beats me ,, Fuck dont you read a persons profile glance his photostream.. before adding him and I am saying this to a Flickr member ,,

A lot of people add me first I check the profile ,it maybe very tame flowers or a single picture and his favorites will be a rhapsody of genitalia I block him..I block all transgender , hijras others not that I have any issue with them most of the stuff on their timelines is gross even as nudes ,, I am not interested in you silicon boobs or your negligee pictures ,,and you going down on anything with two legs or four legs ,,

I am not interested in your religious profile ,,it hardly bothers me ,, but dont dump it on me I am not interested ,, and initially I took a lot of rap for my Shia pictures , I was abused called foul names but than I am happy being a Shia I am not interested in your pristine Islam that kills more Muslims than God kills accidentally or naturally.

This is my soliloquy it is not addressed to you..its my voice trying to come out from a trapped moment in time ,,

I have an average of 35000 views everyday on my images and despite the fact that the biggest views once upon a time were on my Hijra pictures , the crossdressers and the Mumbai Pride ,, I locked it all up threw the key away. Now I shoot all this as a documentary not for titillation or voyeuristic reasons ,,There are people at Flickr who add me certainly not for my beggar pictures or my shit garbage .. and I add them back though I dont shoot will never shoot what they shoot ..
I type with one finger of a permanently damaged hand but I make it a point to scroll those on my contact list.. friends only at Flickr I favorite pictures I comment on pictures ,,

Here I hope you all will forgive me I have a very few people whom I know thoroughly well on my Facebook Feed I cant go through 2000 peoples list and out of the 2000 very few are photographers ,,and I am here as a photographer ..but a photographer who is a hardcore blogger ,,and my text book of photography is my Flickr feed .. I learn get inspired from the diverse works of my friends ,, I have some great photographer friends .. some old dear friends from Buzznet ,, but two people I really am influenced by at Flickr are Eric Parker we connected because of my Chor Bazar pictures in 2007 and the most stylish impeccable street photographer Akbar Simonse from Amsterdam .

I mean I would kill myself if I had to shoot the camera club kind of shit that they preachify through their brochures and newsletters I dont want to be another KG Maheshwari ,, I want my own intrinsic style and pictorial thought ,,I am changing with the times ,, I started shooting stills as moving pictures storyboard because I was inspired by this Chinese guy shooting 500 tea drinkers and he continues .. 

I am not a photography teacher I shoot as I talk as I breathe .. it all comes from inside and as I am a loner in the crowd I taught my grandkids not to shoot photography like other photographers shoot no Fuck F Stops no text book,.. I taught them the only thing right hold the camera like you hold a slippery fish in your hand pictures will take care of themselves and than I realized the only granddaughter I never taught anything Zinnia Fatima 3 year old can shoot pictures as good as Nerjis and Marziya.

And I am blogging this at Facebook.. thoughts coming out from a clockwork orange .. If I stop photography , stop shooting pictures I will be stilll producing pictures and thoughts by tweaking images from my Flickr archives 350000 of mindless thoughts posing as visuals ,, And I almost puke every morning when I see the DNA paper and few other papers .. I need not say anything sometimes the pictures in the papers cant even speak a single word.. 

We in all humility have been influenced by the pictures we saw in newspapers now it is full of crap.. barring a few ..and I demystified the way I saw my world through the camera I trained my grandkids by letting them shoot garbage ,, and now they even see God clearly ,, even if it is at Mount Marys church,. or the Ganesha pandas that Nerjis will shoot in a day or too.. 
I would go berserk posting GIFS ,, and other shit that I see here on Facebook what beats me you could be as creative with your mobile phone ,, 

if you only put your heart to it ,, 

Now I will search for a picture to add fuel to fire 

Hooked yes ,, blog line and sinker

Have Faith Will Travel

Since the time Maha Mandleshwar of Juna Akhara Swami Avdesh Anandji gave me his personal card at the 29 August Shahi  Snan Nasikh Kumbh 2015 I have added it on the reverse side of my Press Card ,, I have two one to shoot Hindu events and another simple smaller one for other events like Eid Namaz Moharam etc,,

This picture was shot by my dear friend Hemant Sawant of Ganesh Color Lab Lalbagh.. I keep calling it a shop but it is a full fledged photography studio..

And with this lot I end my Lalbagh Chya Raja First Day Darshan after that I shot the streets and headed to Ganesh Gully Raja , from there to Tejukaya Raja ,, I shot of both Tejukaya and Lalabagh Chya Raja now uploading at You Tube ,,,

After this marathon shoot I had a single bata wada ,,,some water ,,,I needed some sustenance though I avoid street junk food.

The Ganesha Pandals around Bandra will be shot by my 4 year old granddaughter Nerjis Asif Shakir ,,, she loves to shoot Ganesha Bappa Morya,

Lalbagh Chya Raja 2015 First Day First Show 17 September 2015

I am always lucky as most of the volunteers know me by my face and my attire and they know I document their beloved Raja and I could not enter from any gate , the cops who are from outstation hick towns are totally clueless and over cautious for them it is all about bandobast ,,most of them very rough and rude and brash..
As I came near the last gate a volunteer told the cop who would not let me enter I showed him my Press Card too..to let me in.. and I began shooting pictures of the humongous crowds waiting in a huge serpentine line for Darshan..I entered the main hall a few feet away from the Deity and chose a corner that was away from the crowding folks I hung on to a bamboo scaffolding I shot all my images and video from here ,, there was no moving space at all. I did not carry my bag,, I just kept a 55-250 lens an extra battery extra cards in my waiscoat pocket ,, I never got to use the telly ,, and I did not want to shoot from the Press Enclosure at all.
These are some images I shot I hope you like them.. it was tough shooting Lalbagh Chya Raja ,,I let him compose my shots ,, Sometimes I shut my eyes and let him shoot himself too..I think we call it Selfie Mode ,,
Hee Shan Konachi ,.. Karokhar Lalbagh Chya Raja Chi

My Friend Hemant Sawant Ganesh Color Lab Lalbagh

My Lalbagh Chya Raja Darshan travelogue begins with my visit to Hemant Sawants shop, a very humble simple man , a low profile but excellent photographer and I dont think anyone shoots the Raja as he does on Visarjan day , he is highly innovative ,last be bought a 40 feet ladder guys holding it while he shot the Raja passing by his shop, sometimes he would sit on the old bridge from wee hours of morning to shoot Raja exiting from his royal gates ,,
He was the first guy to start 3D prints give it to boys to sell it for him on commission , he is always helping the boys make some extra money during Ganesh Chaturthi,,
We have been friends from the day 15 years back when I began shooting Lalbagh Chya Raja ,a visit to his shop is must , once he sent me on his terrace to shoot the Raja , his teenager daughter is a bird photographer and helps him at the studio with his endearing wife ,,they will offer me tea or batatwada and I love this Marathi Manoos ..he has done great documentary work ages back with the Andaman tribes , but he does not boast or show off , his technical knowledge of photography printing processing is remarkable ,,he is busy when Raja hits town that is Lalbagh.
We only meet once a year ,,couple of times , I could not go to the Raja Mukh Darshan and Press Shoot because of my leg injury I missed it , but this morning I had decided injury or no injury I will go to shoot the Raja ,,come what may and I did ,,I am incorrigibly unstoppable when I shoot Lalbagh Chya Raja ,, I shoot him through the myriad moods of his loved ones ,,I try to read his mind as a Mystic and now even his volunteers who were once brash arrogant have tamed down I was lucky I met someone who helped me last Visarjan too ,,he gave me coconuts offered to Raja and the moment the Committee members saw me they all waved out to me for they know that there is one crazy Muslim man who walks barefeet with the Raja from Lalbagh till Do Tanki.. dressed in saffron...

Lalbagh Chya Raja Darshan 2015

This morning I decided to pay homage to the greatest icon of Mumbai Lalbagh Chya Raja Remover of Obstacles and the most crowded Ganesha Pandal in Mumbai.

People wait for hours to get a Darshan and offer floral tributes money gold and silver ..

I was dressed in saffron and with some difficulty managed to get entry ,,i caught a corner and stood there shooing stills as well as 3 videos ,, the Committee members saw me and waved out to me from the stage,but it was one of the most crowded days today,,they gave me a few coconuts and I moved out shot Ganesh Gully Chya Raja , finally Tejukaya Chya Raja and just returned home ,,

This is my new set at Flickr.All part of my Hope and Hindutva 66000 Hindu Blogs as a message of Universal Peace,,

The Quintessential Lobanwala Of Bandra

Once upon a time they were much in demand as the loban smoke was one way of invoking Allah into homes shops and establishments , even Hindu shopkeepers allowed them to come in fumigate their shops with loban incense smoke.

They got a few coins in return, and they dressed like bawas , this was the only job they knew , than times changed ,, this was shot at Mount Mary Fair and the roller coaster guy and other game guys kept calling him,,, first no footfalls no business since morning and the other more important reason to get rid of the blood sucking over friendly mosquitoes ,, whether you are a Muslim Hindu or Christian they see no difference ,, what they want to tell under the skin within our blood we are one yet we fucking end up killing each other .. we kill each other more than nature or God kill us .

I hardly see the lobanwala anymore  once they came out like bedbugs from the woodworks ,, now they have disappeared gone extinct here in Bandra ,, you might find a lot of these migrants in Muslim areas of Mumbai.

Next time I will shoot his video bring him home to you,,, without smoke without fire ,,

Happy Morning

Wishing All My Friends Lovers Of Lord Ganesha a Very Peaceful Harmonious Feast .