I Became One With The People I Came To Shoot

I Became One With The People I Came To Shoot, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

I had carried only black clothes that I wear in personal life , or the tiger stripes , and so on the day of the Shahi Snan to make me fit in the crowd without cops hassling me for my camera , my Guru Shri Vijay Giri Maharaj made me wear a white dhoti, a red ghamcha as turban, and transformed me as a devotee ...I was barefeet from Sector 5 till the Sangam.. to make my new personna as a photographer change with the surroundings my Guru told me he would call me Mukesh .. which was fine with me and thus I captured the Shahi Snan up close , was not beaten by a crazy Naga Sadhu, he beat almost all the photographers , his way of baptizing with fire .

Above all as the UP cops totally draconian high handed insensitive were also beating the foreign and local photographers I dressed as a Sadhu was saved the ignominy.

Please dont ask me why Indian cops are so oppressive towards crowds , using their baton freely...I would not be able to handle it...I think the cops in Mumbai are over all more polite to photographers and decent towards crowds in religious processions ..

I think cops from the North including Delhi should be sent to Mumbai during the Ganesh and Lal Bagh Visarjan to understand the meaning of Devo Atithi Bhava ..where even Gods are guest of the Janta .. AAM PUBLIC.

And more than anything Delhi needs an officer of the caliber of Mr Arup Patnaik.. ..and instead of asking for Mr Neeraj Kumars head they should ask for a new Lieutenant Governor.