Ashura Amin Imambada 2008

Ashura Amin Imambada 2008
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

He was a brave lad, and had done this before , and an amiable disposition...

The Blades of Wrath

The Blades of Wrath
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

Here after much squabbling with the veteran scourgers of Amin Imambada , our Malad Man gets into the motion of swinging his giant size flagellation blades, in three or perhaps two strokes he had opened up his back and his friends dragged him away from the floor..

Ashura Amin Imambada 2008

Ashura Amin Imambada 2008
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

He is from Malad and he does this every year, only this time he had got the blades done the same morning from Chor Bazar..
The blades are like 3 swords on three chains.. deadly vicious.The other veterans were not happy with him as he would slow down their scourging, they had to give him space as he has to take a forward swing going backwards in motion and this could hit any guy who accidentaly came in the way of his matam.
I have seen blades of my Iranian friend Hadi but these were the largest ever seen..
This is a cordoned off area for scourging and kama matam..on the left of him kids are standing on the scaffolding watching the Juloos that I gave a miss..

Amin Imambada Ashura 2008

Amin Imambada Ashura 2008
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

Amin Imambada has two entrance a front and one at the rear end , I was stationed at the rear end , where the hard core Matam takes place , in the front on one side are the women a section that is barricaded for men.
Even the huge walls , women have climbed up from an adjacent building to get a view of the events below.The scaffolding is packed with kids who have taken position..I had made my choice I found an arch from where I decided only to shoot the flagellations and miss the Juloos, however in the end I shot portions of the Juloos too..
At the lag end I shot portions of the Sword Matam..
Here in the picture is a guy from Malad who had got this deadly three blades made at Chor Bazar, all connected to 3 chains, the width 3" and the length 24".

Ashura Amin Imam Bada 2008

Ashura Amin Imam Bada 2008
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

One of the most important event on 10 th day of Moharam is Ashura the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain.This was Jan 20th 2008.
Mumbai on this day was caught in a vicious grip at one end of Mumbai was the Standard Chartered Marathon and late in the evening was a political rally of the BJP victory in Gujrat of CM Mr Narendra Modi
So it was a heavy police bandobast..on the whole.

For the Shias all road led towards Amin Imambada for the Juloos organized by the migrant Iranians , in the form of a passion play depicting scenes between Imam Hussain and Shimr the Commander of the Yazidi forces of the Ummayad Caliphate.
The entire area is jam packed in the center is a fountain that has a raised platform where the drums are beaten in Iranian style and the Juloos begins, the Taboots, the Alams and two guys dressed as women who carry the cradle of Ali Asghar the martyred infant of Imam Hussain.
Children dressed as the child in my picture are placed in the Cradle for good luck..than comes Shimr dressed in red with his army also in red , beating the crowds with whip strokes, he goes for the man dressed as Imam Hussain, and the women and the crowd go in a frenzy..All this I will show through pictures .The last is the headless body of Imam Hussain on a bier and the Juloos comes to an emd, the Iranians now break the Ashura fast with a meal of Khichda..at Fotowat
Along side the Juloos the forehead cutting the sword matam and the flagellations continue..to the chant of Ya Hussain..
The Sword Matam at Amin is the most vicious , the exponents being Habib Nasser and Mamu from Byculla..
I for the first time in my life shot all this from below, normally I would shoot from an adjacent building..Amin Imambada for any photographer is very accident prone as those who scourge have no time for others, they are in total mindless state so one has to be extremely careful here..
After this Juloos at about 5 pm starts the next segment of Ashura a Juloos from Zainabia that crawls at snails pace throught Yakub Gully to JJ Hospital all the way to end at Rehmatabad the Shia cemetery.
This time the most important event was the Iraqi Kama matam by Anjuman e Hyderi organised by Habib and Baqar Nasser , with kids and the men continously cutting their foreheads till they reached the Shia cemetery.

In the Shia cemetery is the last Majlis recited by Maulana Athar Saab Mirza called the Sham e Ghariba.
As soon as the Majlis comes to an end the hardcore slashings of the foreheads and backs begin, here too Zuljana , kids with candles the Taboots move around the crowd..
this is a very intense moment ,after this Ashura comes to an end ..
Their is a heaviness of heart as the families move away towards their home..
to meet again here at the cemetery on Chehlum or Arbaeen the 40 th day of Imam Hussains Martyrdom.

What is Shiasm?

What is Shiasm?
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

The Shia children ,
To shoot this child I took her fathers permission, she knows that
what she s touching is a religious thing, and indeed it is the Taboot of Imam Hussain.
A replica of his coffin, bedecked with flowers at Kaiser Bagh before the Juloos.
A Shia child grows up fast on a fast track of Shiasm.
Her mother is the architect of her spiritual world, I say this as I watch sons wife teach Marziya to parrot words like Ya Hussain.
Marziya responds with gurgling sounds, that a normal two months old baby makes.
She is learnin grapidly she says Hi she says Hello...
And her mother takes her everyday cradled in her arms to the Majlis, the world around her, the cries the chant of Ya Hussain, all pervading her cosmic consciousness.
This is Shiasm, giving birth in the amniotic fluid waters of the euphrates held in the womb of Shia womanhood and motherhood.
We owe it to our mothers , our aunts , our grand mothers for keeping the flame alive.
The strength of our Shiasm lies in our Womanhood.
Mothers who carrying a baby on the waist two held to the hand go from one Majlis to another, poor sanitary conditions at Imambadasdoes not deter them, the kids are amply toilet trained , hardened to a life that seeks succour in Ghame Hussain.
Moharam is the pinnacle of a period od severity, no movies, no marriages , no parties, just black clothes and Ya Hussain Ya Hussain.
Before Moharam sets in the ladies of the House begin their arduous task of changing their life styles, the moth ball smelling black clothes come out from the trunks and cupboards the boys get their Zanjir blades out of the drawers still stained with dried blood of last Ashura matam , the house Imambada is decorated ,new patkas made fr the Alams, from gold brocade fabric, the Alams are sent to be silver polished..
This is Shiasm..
New Nohas , are noted down in the Byas or the Matam reading copy book..and the entire Shia household awaits the Chand of Moharam,, the Moon of Moharam.And my eyes are slowly getting moist as I remember my departed Mother who made us good human beings by just making us Shias..
Yes this is Shiasm.
Tolerance was the cornerstone of my Mother late Shamim Shakirs faith and creed.
Our house maid was an old Hindu lady we called Bai.. who would stand in a corner and slowly beat her chest repeating Ya Hussain , she taught me that Hussain is not a part of a Muslim Religion but part of a life to be lived.
Yes I am crying, as I showed the same respect to her beloved Ganesha and ate the Modak she offered me..
Yes this is pure pristine Shiasm of an ethos called Mee Mumbaikar..
This Hindu Maharashtrian lady from Colaba Military Quarters who worked at our house that belonged to the family of Nawab Kashmiri at Wodehouse Road made us what we are today, I remember her son Tulsiya too..
So simultaneously I remember my maternal grandmother Nazmi begum wife of late Daroga Nabban Saab of Pata Nala who would visit us and add the charm of LUcknow that we hardly knew I talk of circa 1955 .Or my paternal grandmother Khurshed Baji who too came to visit us from Vazir Ganj Lucknow.
All these collective memories become a part of our everlasting tryst with Shiasm.

With Marziyas birth they come out alive and her mother who has become the newest daughter of our family.
So Shiasm is feeling of self respect mutually respecting the religious rights of others and this all came to us as our ancestral heritage the gift from another Mother,
yes a Mother who lost everything the Mother of Hassan and Hussain.
Princess Fatima the erstwhile daughter of the Holy Prophet.
This is what a picture does to the poetry of my soul..
This is a poem if you read it as such.. a poem of Human life
Yes this is Shiasm a poem of human life that we call Hussainiyat...

“Shah ast Hussain, badshah ast Hussain Deen ast Hussain, deen panaah ast Hussain Sar daad, na daad dast dar dast-e-yazeed Haqu-e-binney la ilaahaa ast Hussain”

“King is Hussain, King of Kings is Hussain/ Faith is Hussian, Protector of Faith is Hussain/ He gave his head but not his hand in the hand of Yazid/ Verily, truth is but Hussain.”

“Bache toh agle baras hum hain aur yeh gham phir hai/ Jo chal basey toh yeh apna salam-i-akhir hai.“

Welcome to the “Stock” Market!!!!!

Welcome to the “Stock” Market!!!!!
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1

photo courtesy
www.patentmonkey.com/PM/Portals/0/ThinkingMonkey.jpg

Once upon a time a Village was infested with Monkeys.

A man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy the monkeys for Rs10 each.

The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at Rs10 and as supply started to diminish, the

villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now

buy at Rs20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started

catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to

their farms. The offer rate increased to Rs25 and the supply of monkeys

became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone

catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs50! However, since

he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on

behalf of him.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. Look at all

these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell

them to you at Rs35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell

it to him for Rs50.”

The villagers squeezed up with all their savings and bought all the

monkeys.

Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!! !

Welcome to the “Stock” Market!!!!!

sent to me by my friend anil shejale