I have never told you a secret , but I will today, I am criticized by certain section of Muslim bigots and a few members of the Shia community too, for shooting Hinduism , and today I break my silence , I shoot my Hindu stuff for this young guy in the picture I wrote about him but not in detail , his name is Yogesh he is a Maharashtrian Hindu, I met him once during Ashura in Mumbai he is a very close friend of Habib Nasser and Baqar Nasser , while the scourging s were going on he grabbed the zanjeer from my hands tears in his eyes he began scourging too, and from that day I decided for his community I will shoot all the Hindu feasts..in Mumbai at least.
And I am happy he practices his Faith as a Hindu , but he feels pain of my Imam was enough for me , the Shia bigot will tell me Pura Kyon Nahi Banta ..Pure Kitna Shia Bante Hain Woh Bhi Mujhe Pata Hai…Yes I shoot Lal Bagh Cha Raja for his parents his children his relatives , I shoot Govinda I shoot Durga Visarjan and I shoot it because he bled himself for my Imam..This is enough for me I shoot all his feasts barefeet and I shall continue doing it till I am alive..
I was waiting for a person at Gateway of India when he spotted me and asked me if I remembered him.. he is calling Baqar Nasser to tell him that he has spotted me here..
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aye insaan pani
ko pehchan
iske katra katra
boondh boondh
main hai
nanhe bache
ki pyas
mashke sakina
ek nanhi bachi
aur alam abbas
hamare ansu
ghame hussain
jispe tika
hamara itihas
ek dor
jis se bandhi
hamare jeevan
ki sas
121,466 items / 799,641 views
I shoot
the testimony
of Faith
I shoot Pain
again and again
I shoot Humanity
saved on the
Sands of Karbala
by Gods favorite grandson
Akka Moulah Hussain
He gave his head
but not his hand
a new chapter
in Islam began
1400 year or more
till another life span
through humility
through humanity
crushing the power
of the strong man
breaking the manacles
of yazidiyat
every man
a free man
upholding
Allahs edict
His Holy Messenger
His Holy Koran
These are pictures I shot on film roll with my Nikon F 100 ..I shot just one roll , its tough going back to this medium for me as instant bogging photographer ..
And I wish Nikon would buy back our film cameras and give us a better deal than the dealers who would not take a second hand Nikon film camera free.
And this was shot at the Bargha Hyderabad I was guest of Janab Baqar Saab and his family .
The rest of the pictures in this series you will find at my Flickr photo stream.
imam
ke katilon
pe thukte
hain hum
to the
beats
of the drum
dance
merriment frolic
till the soul
goes numb
pictures
of re awakening
of the shia soul
in this album
shah ast hussain
badshah ast hussain
our spiritual anthem
for two month
eight days
we bled
we cut
our backs
we cut
our heads
so whether
it is moharam
or eid e zehra
we choose
the color red
we curse
the killers
of imam hussain
and those eunuchs
of the yazidi force
who watched this
like cowards
tails between
their legs fled
long live
the martyrs
the purebred
hussainiyat
our only peaceful
homestead
Normally Shia girls dont participate in the ritual blood shedding, but a few fathers make an exception to the rule I shot a lot of pictures of girls who had done Kama Zani at Hyderabad.
My dear friend Pappu Bhais daughter does Kama Zani during the Kurla Juloos.. I was not able to shoot it this time as I had gone to Haji Malang.
I told he father he should have called me when she took the dagger to her head , but as you have seen through my pictures something is happening at every part of the hall.
Marziya my grandaughter 2 year old does mock Kama Zani and Zanjir matam..
Shia kids are exposed to all this as toddlers accompanying their mothers and parents to the juloos and it gets embedded in their psyche.
With this being the last lot of my Moharam pictures , I shall take you back to the serene mountain of Peace called Haji Malang , all part of my back log, I will post only a few pictures at Facebook the rest will have to be viewd at my Flickr photo stream only..
Last two days I have been busy with Peersaab Fakhru Miya of Hujra No 6 Ajmer who is in town , and I visited Kreanne Rabadi of Cry at her house at Napean Sea Road to collect a brand new Nikon D80 sent by my mentor Dr Glenn Losack MD as a Hanukkah present.
I am getting a new camera after many years , my camera if you dare to smash on the floor like a coconut,it would have blood and gulal gushing out, blood from Moharam and Gulal from all the Ganesh Immersions I have shot,including Lal Bagh Cha Raja and the Durga Visarjan..
Luckily at the Sufi shoots they dont sprinkle anything..
And I am sure Nikon D 80 is the hardiest Nikon camera to take all this in its stride including the Mumbai rains and falling several times from my hand ..It has served me faithfully knowing my failing financial conditions..
And the Canon G9 that was stolen near Moghul Masjid last Moharam , presented to Marziya by Dr Glenn Losack is till missing and the cops can do nothing about it..as they are protecting pictures halls and guarding hyped up films like My Name Is Con..
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I am not cribbing nor am I complaining and I am 58 years old I have seen life I a have been an alcoholic for the larger part of the canvas of my life..I was a drug addict in college and my past is nothing to be proud of I take it as my individual walk of life..
I have never been a good husband I have always been falling in love at the drop of a hanky, nor a good father , but ever since I have up booze 12 years back I have tried to change, drugs I gave up almost 30 years back.
But I hope I am a good grandfather..for Marziya or those that will come from my children after her..
My psychiatrist had advised me when I wanted to give up drinks to take up a passion as intoxicating as Alcohol I chose photography..and mind you like alcohol photography too can be self destructive sometimes.
I began shooting the Shi ethos to show you the Shia world that is not written kindly by Wahhabis or the Ahle Hadees..the problem is every Muslim sect loves finding glaring faults in the other sect though their backyard stinks like a an open gutter.
I am not into sectarian strife and sectarian hate and if you Google Search Muslims love Killing Muslims you will see all my poems and posts…and my disgust to see Islam hijacked by spiritual terrorists and vested interests who hate Humanity.
I must REITERATE I dont shoot the Shia world for the Shias ..at all, my audience or my viewer to whom I address my pictures are my foreign friends or friends well wishers from other communities who will not get to see all this..I dont evangelize my Fath , and it is tough being a Shia anyway..and I dont seek a Shia Heaven either , my heaven is my world beneath my feet.
The Shias get to see what they do everyday they are part of their expression of Faith.. I shoot for my Christian Parsi or Hindu friends so they see our struggle beneath the layer of pain..yes we are the only community fighting for Human Rights and the Oppression of Man since 1400 years and even the Guinness Book of Wold Records does not know it.
And mind you shooting Moharam dressed as a Shia , bleeding as a Shia is not easy either the Shia bigot is everywhere insulting humiliating you and this is in Hyderabad Lucknow Mumbai.. anywhere ..and it sends me the shivers to see the chosen path of Misguidance and the elders and the Mullah watch all this with sealed lips..
Some soul searching should be done ..and I dont sell pictures or pictures for video clips .. I must be the only one does not give pictures of people I shoot.
So maybe the few Shias who get upset with me perhaps because on my site at Flickr as sets I have the Naga Sadhus , the Sufis the Hijras Hope and Hindutva .. the inheritance of my culture and I am proud of it..street pain poems and opinionated rant..
Only the Indian next door does not know about i
Baqar Nasser Shoots the Barefeet Blogger of Mumbai, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
117,821 items / 765,239 views
Baqar loves me and there is no doubt about it, and Baqar Nasser son of cinematographer late Yusuf Nasser of Africa , is an emerging talent like his elder brother Habib Nasser.
I know both the brothers since 12 years and their Mother is now my mother by default.
And mind you this not a testimony to our Friendship, Baqar is my fourth son after Asif Assad and Saif..And I am crying as I write this..yes I am poetically human..
Every time I cut myself with the Zanjir it would be Baqar,adding ointment when my wounds became diabetic sores , he would apply haldi on my feet after my sores walking the fire became unmanageable..
But the most important feature of his love for me is the pictures he shot of me while I cut my head at Ashura and at Chehlum..
He is at my beck and call and hits me in the guts when he calls me Akka meaning Master but I take it as elder brother..
And I know this is not the right platform , but any girl who marries Baqar will never have anything to feel sorry for.. Baqar Nasser is my extended family ..not by blood merely by a blood oath of my Faith and his too.
And all my pictures at 28 Safar Zainabia were shot by him…even my Chehlum pictures 2010 were shot by him.
Baqar is great friend to have and most of the time he ends up becoming your family.
And I am still crying as I write this..
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The sword matam of Mumbai is very lethal, spine chilling and dangerous , when the person doing the sword matam begins striking his back, he is not aware of his surroundings, it is him and the sword and his back.. strokes can be slow and even paced as was done by Mr Bundeally of Dongri now retired.
Jalal Mamu of Byculla is a veteran of this Matam, pieces of his flesh fly into the air..however bad his wound he avoids getting it stitched its about positivity and holistic self healing.
Habibs sword matam is manic , he hits hard and requires stitches immediately.Habib has made the sword matam of Mumbai famous among the Bandra kids too.
Riyaz from Anjuman e Yadagare Mehdi is another person adept with the sword and hits to cut deeply.
Danny Sameer are all sword matamdars.
Hadi is Iranian from Mumbra and the Irani Hamam belongs to his family at Imamwada.
Hadi has been a very good friend and well wisher,
and I never miss an opportunity to shoot Hadi doing the zanjir matam or the sword matam.
Hadi has a great fan following among his Shia circle of friends I too am one of his fans..
I have done the sword matam once at the Chehlum juloos proceeding towards Rehmatabad , but I prefer the kama matam ..cutting my head and doing Tandav on the soul of Shimr.
no pain greater
than ghame hussain
their only wish
the shia pain
the shia anguish
their heritage
they fiercely guard
they cherish
lanat
on the killers
of imam hussain
in the fires of hell
they will perish
the spirit
of humanity
even after
cutting his head
with a blunt dagger
they could not
vanquish
embedded
in the soul of water
lies the ancestry of our pain
a pain that wont vane
a pain that binds
us to our faith
like a molten chain
a pain that shall
always remain
a pain by any other name
we call it Hussain
our blood we drain
wingless in karbala
a tragedy written
on our bleeding souls
written on our cosmic brain
matam e husssain
we do year after year
they call us heretics
the call us insane
yes we are shias
simple and plain
in the fragrance
of our black clothes
our mourning attire
we show how humanity
was slain
muslims love
killing muslims
is my refrain
humiliating
infuriating
the soul of
Allahs domain
The little girl in the picture cut her head too, I shot her at the end and she was stoic and did not show her pain, and what does one say..
