Archive for the 'nakhas' Category

On And Around Nakhas Street Photography

alam

During Moharam, Nakhas is overcrowded like an arena, this is a main arterial road, no parallel road to rob its prominence or popularity.This is the crown on the head of Old Lucknow.
There are other areas to like Mugtiganj, Aminabad, Thakurganj, but Nakhas is the place you pass once in your lifetime, even if you stay at Aligaj or Kursi Road or Hazratganj or areas beyoong the Gomti and beyond the Pukka Pool, please excuse my lack of the city map knowlege , my Lucknow has and always remained quintessentially Nakhas.
My birth was in a ramshackled ancestral brick home at Pata Nala Imliwali gully , it was called Imliwaly Gully because of the huge monstrous Tamrind tree that has oulived many a generation, seen change that would make you shed tears, the hasty inthe nigh migrations a Train to Pakistan, memories left behind in a hurry, such was the era of the Partition a line drawn as a barbed bleeding wire on the human heart one country divided in a hurry into two, indivisible parts.
I read about the Partition, a blot on the Britis Empire, I mean British Vampire, no cut of period, it was Jungle rule, dacoitys , loot rape, the English in a hurry stole all our heritage and inseminated Hate for two communities that once lived chhek and jowl.
The British did a Palestine here , the repercussions are felt, everysingle night the sniper shooting, the bombings, dreams that for those living on this border scarred with hate a living nightmare.Cross border Hate, fed and fuelled in a hurry , so that a divided nation woud be easy to manipulate in the days to come,a Churchillian ghost haunting the natives even today.
The loin clothed Mahatma, well he is lucky not be alive, his ashes , his Ashram at Sabarmati , all demolished by right wing fanatacism , killing not a community, but Humanity, this is the tragedy of Bapu Land, his legacy killed in a fake encounter, the body of Truth yet to be discovered, burnt beyond recognition..
Well before I am thrown out of the running train of my thoughts I take you back to Nakhas on the wings of my pictures shot on disastrously defective Japanese toy of a camera called the Nikon D70 SLR Sodomized, Lost out Raped , me as an amateur photographer who shoots street pain as pedestrian poetry.

alam

This picture is of a foreigner fascinated with Alams, he told me this Gora white man, that the Alam was a part of holistic healing, I was zapped.I shut my face.

He was standing admiring the alams, the challas at a road side vendor stall, I wish I had the acumen like my I talker city journalist friend Som Kumar to talk to him, take his story, but I am a photo blogger in a hurry, I am immeditely on to my next picture.The Nikon D70 makes you lose control, you can sshoot from arsehole to eternity,on a I gb sandisk card.
I prefer Negs slow 37 frames, carefully hitting the trigger, planning , premedited frame to frame shooting, digital, I will end this now as the guys are waiting for me to shut shop.
My legs with my Indian trousers stretched wide apart, on two boats one as a Blogger the other as man who has a tailors shop, to make ends meet.
My wife keeps telling me give up everything sit outside a Post office write letters for people , who cannot write to their loved ones..the working migrants outside Bandra Post office million years away from Zapak email, the post card a few words of looming heavy monsoonal showers, written by a stranger for another stranger.. the strangeness of not to strange India.
Will continue from home…

Posted by photographerno1 on 01 Jun 2007
Filed Under: nakhas | No Comments »

Ek Nare Hyderi Ya Ali

ASHURA

On the streets of Naakhas, the Shiagarh of Lucknow you hear shouts of this singular cry, Ek Nare Hyderi Ya Ali, reverberating over a wintry chill, fragrance of rose water mingling with weeping blood, fresh , since 1400 years,Exclusively Shia pain.
What they are doing here on the street today on Ashura is what their forefathers did before them, this is the life line of a Shia heritage .
Only Azadari keeps the Shia heritage alive, nothing else.
This itself is Tabarah we dont really have to curse the killers of Imam Hussain , the curses come with the flow of our blood, young and old, the House imambadas , re echoes with Matam, after the Matam little girls shrieking Ek Nare Hyderi , getting a collective punch of a response Ya Ali.
These are mystical magic words, when a Shia is in danger he invokes Ya Ali..it is mentioned in many a battle the Holy Prophet also would call his cousin Ya Ali , the valour of Zulfiqar was well known, could Mauwiyah or the generation after him ever forget , the reduction of his family members life.
Yes it was Hazrat Ali, but scores were settled through the innocent blood of Hazrat Imam Hussain.Any way before I start sounding like a Mullah, back to the streets of Lucknow, the young guy who I was stalking , shooting his pain, I present herewith.

ASHURA

My Favorite

ashura

ashura

ashura

ashura

ashura

ashura

ya ali

For Latest Shia News
Jafriya News

Posted by photographerno1 on 29 May 2007
Filed Under: ek nare hyderi, jafariya news, nakhas, shiasm, ya ali | No Comments »

Shia Sunnis Tazias on Ashura

house tazias

The most touching, the most saddening aspect of Moharam is the parting of the House Tazias, for burial on Ashura day.
Early morning, a last majlis by the ladies of the house, cheeks streaked with tears, the Tazia that was the cynosure of pride in the House Imambada, is now packed , the man of the house will carry it bare feet to Karbala Talkatora..Ashura 10 days of Imam Hussains mourning comes to an end.
Whatever the rant or disrespect shown of the Shia sect by blasphemous description denunciation in the most untasteful manner, akin to the web master getting cheep thrills and orgiatic masturbative delight, on Allah Ho Akbar.net , brings one thng to the fore, Shia are more human sensitive to the Holy Prophets grandsons pain than the Sunnis..
It is this universal pain of the Shias that is commendable, as it has remained intact, whatever the reasons for hiding their Shiasm under the guise of Taqqaiya, in the olden days,today Shia carry this element of their faith as a badge of honor.
I try not to get into Shia Sunni dispute, I try not to color my judgement with Sunni hate, earlier I did write poems about this rift, but of late, I hope that that atleast we become Muslims on a day of IDD , bowing our heads to the same Allak invoking hs Mercy and Blessings..
Shiasm is not a Saccha Dera thing where , brandishing open swords , firing guns you bring humanity to the knees.I respect the Sikh point of view completely punish the leader of the sect , not his innocent followers, let them see Truth return to the motherfold.
The guilty should be punished, but law should take its course, peace is dialogue and debate are more important than shedding blood.Tolernce is another name for Humanity.
Sunnis may consider themselves Allahs chosen ones, God gifted ones, but we chose to be Shia , call us heretics ,rafidis we are happy with our believes, why are you unhappy, we do not ask you to join us..we do not prosyletize the way the Saudis do, emotionally blackmailing us in
the back yard of our Holy Cities.
This is as simply put the dogmatic split between Shias and Sunnis.
Yet we can live together in Peace , following our individual sects, under the canopy of an Islamic Umbrella..
But paid agents of Islamic hate will never let this happen.. a divided Islam , a fragmented Islam is what the enemies of Islam want, we are easily carried away because of our ancestral hard headedness including a bit of dumbheadedness too borrowed from the Arabs, become prey to their evil machinations.
This is what I see in a nutshell.
The Shias are a minority within a minority in India, but do not seek OBC status our staus is that we are believers of Hussain.Period.
So the parting of the Tazias, is a very sensitively charged human emotion.
More than anything I like to shoot this , as I remember I carried one as a child,on my head barefeet , crying as my feet burnt and Uncle Jhumman , leisurely leading the way, shouting Ya Hussain Ya Hussain .
This Tazia burial is a Lucknow thing it does not happen in Mumbai.
This was the first Ashura I was shooting in Lucknow.My last.
I never had Shia friends, I was bought up by Sunni Pathans , Fazal Khan and his family.
I am happy never once did they taunt me about my Shiasm.
Its so called missionaries on the cybernet ,who use words of God ,Allah ho Akbar to demolish the right of another Muslim to live according to his beliefs.
It is not surprising across the border it is with the organisations under the name of Allah or the Holy Prophet that are machinery to kill innocent people, this Islam of Hate is assymetrically an Axis of Evil..Talibanisation…by any other name is …oops .Terrorism for sure.
Yazidiyat is a parcel that blows up in the hands of its followers.

tazias

Tazias on Nakhas Road.

It is while these Tazias were moving that I met this French Photographer Laurent Salesse , he saw me all bandadged up, my back wrpped in a scarf, he asked me if he could shoot my back, I said go ahead.
I took him to shoot my mother in law Wassim Qazilbash’s house Imambada.
I respect photographers of all caste color and creed.

HOUSE TAZIAS

Shiasm Reliance Always Mobile .

house imambada

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

shia kids

Shia Children
Now you know why Shia children ar different from the kids of the majority community, our childrn are shown through actions, our majlis, our matam, the meaning of righteousness, the meaning of pain, the meaning of the place of birt, the meaning of loving Motherhood the Motherhood of Maksade Fatima, the love for our country.
If you dont have all these values what do you have.
If you do not worship your Mother our your Motherland you might as well stop living.
Shia Children , well honestly it is nothing but a matter of proper pedigree , wheteher Syed ,Mirza , we all are bound by our tears to that noble Mother , the loving doting daughter of the Holy Prophet, from whom the Caliphs stole everything but her birthright..her mother Bibi Khadija who gave away her entire wealth to spread Islam.
This noble wife Bibi Fatima of Hazrat Ali, worked on the grinding stone to feed her children Hassan Hussain, yes the sweat of her brow..made ends meet..
tHis sweat of her brow..are the tears that Shias dedicate each Moharam ..
We call it Ghame Hussain
Azadari E Hussain
Maksade Hussain
You msay have all the wealth in the world, all your penance and devotion is Zilchwithout the Ahle Bait.Simply Put in Simple English.
Sometmes Heresy is more convincing than bookish Faith of Silent Scriptures.

shia back

criss crossed on my back
is my faith
in a flesh like haversack
no sunni can ever
hijack ..
shiasm is a hardnut to crack
url to Allah
Ahle Bait to backtrack

shot by laurent salesse

Yes I am Back

salesse and me

Laurent Salesse and Me Ashura Lucknow 2007

One last thing the nude pictures of the Holy Prohpet , is a very evil misdeed of a a mind that is worse than that of a terrorist, this act is clearly to destabilis the harmony existing between Hindus and Muslims all over the Country.
The criminal should be severly punishedto deter others from doing this.
Honestly I thnk with all respect to Mr MF Hussain , his freedom of expression, he shuod desist from portraying HIndu Goddesses in the nude , take some subject less controversial that does not hurt other peoples religiosity.A Hussain blank canvas with just his signature too would sell …INTERPRET DIVINITY ALL THE SAME , LIKE HIS DETRACTORS MIND GONE BLANK.

MF HUSSAIN MAY BE CELEBRITY PAINTER, BUT HE IS THE CAUSE IN A WAY, INDIRECTLY OF THE NUDE PICTURES OF THE HOLY PROPHET..HE SHOULD APOLOGIZE LIKE A GENTLEMAN , BURN THE GODDAMNED PAINTING , BEFORE MEETING HIS MAKER FACE TO FACE..THIS IS MY HOMEST PERSONAL OPINION..RURAL MEDIOCRE INDIAN MIND IS NOY YET READY FOR THE MEDIUM OF MF HUSSAINS HINDU DIVINITY INTERPRETATION .

Posted by photographerno1 on 29 May 2007
Filed Under: firoze shakir, hazrat imam hussain, house imambara, laurent salesse, nakhas | No Comments »