Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Rebuilding Behrampada

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Photo Blogging The Soul of a Disaster

This is the new home , and such cluster of homes are coming up to house the homeless of Behrammpada who lost everything in the recent fire , after the fire came the onslaught of rains and as soon as the rains subsided came the dreaded swine flu, many families I met had one or two members at Bhabha Hospital and were in tears when they talked to me of their trials and tribulations, I shoot pain as I see it on the viewfinder of my soul.. and this pain hits hard like a bludgeon.


The kids had already stopped going to school , most of the people had small scale factory units at home, embroidery workshops , tailoring and garment factories all wiped out..

Now their bread winners do menial jobs and with the recession life is all the more tough.

But what keeps them happy is that Allah provides , he is answerable to their prayers , they seek his Intervention and Mercy.

They were also excited though living on the streets Holy Ramzan was round the corner and much charity would come from the Muslim aid agencies.

I dont have a reporters bent of mind , I shot pictures and listened to them with the inner depths of a pedestrian poet..

I did not come here barefeet , as I was worried about my feet one rusty nail prick and me and my diabetes would be over forever.

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Rebuilding of Behrampada

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Memories of the fire still prevail , some of the houses that came under of the fury of the disastrous fire are still there reminding man of his mortality , the children run about on the heaps of mound playing blissfully , it is their mothers that pierece your soul with haunting accusing eyes.

A woman screamed out at me to come and shoot her house , her plight , they thought I was a foreigner , and would help them too..

I was shooting this with an escort given to me by Ilyas Bhai , otherwise people get aggravated seeing you shooting their loss and misery , rightfully so.

I know everybody is trying to do something to alleviate the plight of these homeless people, I spoke to Shabbir Shaikh Saab the Municipal Corporator of Behrampada , representing the Samajwadi Party, he is hopeful that most of the homeless will have new quarters latest by this Idd.

People who live now on footpaths , at the mercy of the rains , swine flu , see a a glimmer of hope and I spoke to a few of the houseless , they were all praise for the aid agencies and above all they trust Shabbir Shaikh Saab their young dynamic leader for all he has done for them...

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Rebuilding a Dream - Rebuilding Behrampada

I start a new series at Flickr I had shot these pictures about a week back but was unable to post them .

My good friend Ilyas Bhai along with the Behrampada rebuilding committee and MAHADA are reconstructing and rebuilding the homes that were destroyed in the recent fire..

People have faced the fury of the fire the ferocious rains , they live on the street under the skywalk bridge and in makeshift shelters .

Thie task of rebuilding is on a war footing as the Holy month of Ramzan begins in a few days , some will be given keys to their new homes some will have to wait , pictures I shot are of Makrani Gully the worst hit by the fire..

I would have worked on these pictures in B/W but I have no time and things are not OK my end.


The Muslims are a defiant resilient race , by defiant I mean in terms of calamities that strike them , they take it in their stride , and pray to Allah , he is the Provider and they completely depend on him, he opens the doors and Help comes in form of government and individual aid.

It was sad shooting these pictures again , people still sitting on mounds of the cemetery that their houses have become.


Being Muslims is one aspect these are law abiding nation loving Indian citizens ..
They are the same people who removed dead and injured bodies during the Train Serial Bomb Blast at Bandra Station , the Behrampada and the Navpada Muslims.

I hope like all of you that they begin resurrecting their lost hopes and lost dreams.



And I am in tears as I write this as prose that reads on my soul as sad poem of fate and its ugly turn of events in a single night , everything went up in flames.

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The Gay Parade on Hold

I have perhaps another 700 pictures of the Gay Parade Mumbai 2009 to upload and post at Flickr and than cross blog most of it to my hijdaeunuchblogs.

Its a tiring enterprise so I am taking a break, also I am warned not to post links to Facebook so you will have to check it out at both these places Flickr and Wordpress.

In the mean time I start a new series rebuilding of Behrampada , the work is being handled by the locals of the area with the help of MHADA and my good friend Ilyas Bhai is in charge of the project.

Ramzan starts in a few days and the people are still homeless living under the bridge and under a canopy of makeshift shelter till they get back their lives and homes together.

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I SHOOT LAXMI BETTER THAN OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS MY ONLY MOMENT OF CONCEIT

88,224 items / 534,810 views

even a stray dog
comes on heat
i am only a fucked
pedestrian poet
a blogger of mumbai
barefeet
my karma as a lover
of beauty
i could never cheat
born from the womb of defeat
memories of failed opportunities
bitter and sweet
I SHOOT LAXMI BETTER
THAN OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS
MY ONLY MOMENT OF CONCEIT
in all humility
of my tumescent heart beat
my hijra guru
androgynous goddess
complete
from flickr
to facebook
on the wings of a tweet
a positive spam poet
links links links links
buried my ass in concrete
their anger
neurotically
robotically
symbolically
on my soul excrete
two straight lines where
a crooked line meets
disabled delusions
of dementia
drumbeat
facebook
swine flu
ill treated
without receipt.
control alt delete

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Furious Physician We Cant Ignore

88,225 items / 534,915 views


we are caught up
on different shores
where mankind
is treated
as pubescent whores
political warlords
with each war scores
pimping
the soul of humanity
at its core
a tired god
who silently snores
the ear cleaner digs
some more
as he enters
the corridors
opens the doors
cleans
the window panes
of your brains
computer store
furious physician
we cant ignore
dreaming of the skies
sleeping on the floor


to cousin glen furious photographer

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