A Photographer is a Poet and an Artist Too

A Photographer is a Poet and an Artist Too, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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Well its time I give my laptop some rest this too was shot at the GSB Seva mandal where I shot the beauty of Lord Ganesha as epitomized by the dedicated Gaud Saraswat Brahmin community of Mumbai completely cultured erudite hospitable polite and courteous.

Here without any aspersion on other Ganesha pandals you wont find uncouth louts pushing and abusing the devotees or losing their heads , I dont see why one becomes a volunteer of the Lord if he cannot manage his own ttemper leave aside the temperament of the crowds..
And I have been walking barefeet with Lalbagh Chya Raja from the starting point till Kumbharwada I am a diabetic and as I addd text yto this post I could not walk all of yesterday my legsare completely swollen and bruised..but the Lord provides.

And I have taken darshan from both these Lord Ganeshas including the Wadala Gsb Ganesha but I asked for nothing , the God I ask from has been slow in providing me relief but that does not mean I give up hope.

And honestly I wonder must I always ask, so as a photographer as an Indian born Muslim I shoot all this with the eyes of my Hindu brothers and share the parampara the traditions rituals of Lord Ganesha other Hindu deities and all part of a thread I call Hope and Hindutva a message of Universal Peace.

I know since childhood it was my fate to be what I wanted to be ..as Indians we share a glorious culture of Peace sometimes marred by hate and the evil in politics that destroys the tapestry by making one brother go against another.

I love the South Indian community dearly because I had a friend Ramesh Alva of Madras Cafe next to Kala Ghoda Mercury Traves Rhythm House and the Jewish Synagogue Fort I grew in his house nurtured on his mother fathers love idli dosa and upama.

He died a few years back but he had made me a pucca South Indian..though he lovingly called me a Miya.

I never got over his death how could I he made sure I would always remember him he did tragically on my birthday 10 December.

So as a tribute to my close friend Ramesh Alva I go to shoot the GSB Lord Ganesha at Kings Circle a fact I confess today .

And the Lord works in a very strange way , believe me , through Ramesh Alva I met his cousin Devdas and through Devdas I met Mr Uday Shetty of Apoorva Fountain .

It was Uday Shetty who bought Dr Bhujang Pai to my shop and it was Dr Pai who showed me a path of love and peace that was the GSB SEVA Mandal Lord Ganesha Kings Cicle,

I have been shooting the Lord passionately for several yeas now.

I met Dinesh Pai Dilip Pai and others of GSB Seva mandal who took me in their fold today I am as much Hindu as the next person is Muslim.

My faith as a Shia Muslim concedes I love Humanity I am a follower of a faith that has made me what I am ..a pucca Indian from within and from above.

And now that I have said so much I will confess without my Hindu friends well wishers I would have not come this far they helped me each time I fell and I am still falling.

There is another lot of GSB Seva Mandal I intend to complete today before I complete the Visarjan of Lalbagh Chya Raja.

I shall i the end post pictures shot of Loord GSB Of Wadala Ganeshotsav Samiti.