Raksha Wild Beauty In Bloom, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

hijdas love to groom
pillow talking
the way to your heart
through the bedroom
raksha wild
beauty in bloom
changing colors
like a chameleon
through each costume
without hijras
this world a morgue
a deathly vacuum
dont waste your time
searching for the hijda tomb
missing vagina castrated chaos
within a missing womb
hijdaeroticness
you need not exhume
hijda a testicular tragedy
a missing heirloom
mesmerizing headiness
muskiness of her body perfume
rain drenched emotions
playing foul in her bathroom

its true I shoot Hijras poetically in all humility I assume

Where has Priya Gone ?, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

her lovers in mumbai mourn
embedded in their fleshy souls
a rose a sweet thorn
a Singaporean boy
a woman reborn
a hijda of substance
welcoming a hijda dawn

The Hijda Misgivings, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

a streak of sadness
corrugated crumpled wings
in silence the hijda sings
her fate no happiness brings
life that has robbed
her of all good things
her past
those unforgettable
hijda flings
oh karma
where is thy sting..
married
to lord iravan
searching
for the wedding ring
the hijra
queen and king

Naina Hijda Neurotic Nights, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

slumber less sleep
pillow fights
naina hijda
erotic nights
a poem in flesh
of hijra rights
disgorging discomfort
delicious delights
the clock
a silent spectator
at midnight
a poetic soul
some love bites
walking a tightrope
fear of
heights
her androgynous
spirit
an elegy recites
between the sheets of pain
more pain unites
she who lives
in the heart of a
photo bloggers
website
naina hijda
a dream of hope
in pain and passion
a script rewrites
neither man nor woman
a womb less plight
testicular tragedy
genderless plights

poem written 18 nov 2009

I actually began shooting the hijras in earnest from the All India Hijda Sammelan Parksite Vikhroli..

This was my tryst with destiny that changed and challenged my life forever..I began shooting the hijras here dressed as a Sadhu barefeet , and was bodily thrown out twice, but Mr Santosh Shetty a social activist gave me the permission thanks to Times Of India photo journalist Nitin Sonawane..and there was no looking back..

Its been a very long journey.. into darkness aided by spectral light of my soul..

I met hijras shot them , and many I never saw ever again.. totally evaporated in thin air..this is my blog at Facebook , normally I copy from Flickr..

I met Simran here in Mumbai and last year after many years at Moti Katla Ajmer ..I am well known at Ajmer I have earned my space the hard way..

Ajmer is the ultimate Hijra paradise you have to eyes on your soul to see what I see …and I am caught betwenn the hijras the malangs and the rafaees , the rafaees are body piercers of an Indian Sufi order of mendicants..
So I am at Char Yar where the Bawas stay on a cemetery and at Moti Katla where the hijras stay, the hijras stay at Sola Khamba too.. like Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and her followers.

My host during Urus time is the Lion of Ajmer leonine Peersaab Fakhru Miya Hujra no 6..and his sons Farid Miya and Qambar Miya ..Most of the khadims know me as I am barefeet..and propagate Ajmer Sharif as a spiritual place of Peace on earth..

Near Taragadh in the mountains lies the Graves of the Hijra Saint and his biological son.. close to Bibi Jamals tomb.. this is a pilgrimage place of the Hijras in Ajmer .. a sad and silent place part of Hijra folklore..

I was here a few years back I had climbed the mountains barefeet , my feet bled but I never gave up..

After Ajmer , the other Hijra paradise is Haji Malang an unforgettable place of all time..

I have never been to the Koovagam festival it has been denied to me since last few years, some tragedy or other strikes me and I cant go..

I can do without Hijras , I dont see or shoot them for months , but can the Hijras ..do without me as the sutradhar of their misplaced fortunes in life..

Yes I shoot Hijras and pictorially poetize them for posterity..

I thank Laxmi Narayan Tripathi my hijra guru for making this possible..in spite of opposition from Hijra groups that want the Hijra life to be secretive and esoteric as it has been since the beginning of this world..

Google searching for a barefeet blogger from Mumbai will bring you to the soul of hijdadom on the internet..

Restless Ritu On The Prowl, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Ritu had recently come to my house with Nishi hot Babe a cross dresser , they wanted to see their pictures and meet my family, my wife and my daughter Samiya.
Ritu was dressed as a male but could still excite the human senses..I have been shooting Ritu for quite some time she was a bar dancer till the government banned this trade in Maharashtra , this really hit them in the guts as families depended on their earnings.. things went from bad to worse some made it others died on the way..

Ritu kept her head and this poem is my tribute to her grit her determination and to make it in life ..And now you should sometimes read the text unwritten beneath my pictures of the Hijras, yes I shoot hijras with a divine poetic passion , I have been approached by people for Hijra coffee books I am not interested..I do this without profit or gain, I show you Hijras in a way nobody will ever show , with scars , with wounds all hidden behind their gaudy make up of pain..this is for Facebook readers..I am a heterosexual happily married male.. hijra is the poison .. I drink as a photographer..

serenity
silently serenading
surreptitiously lets out a growl
restless ritu on the prowl
her mind as wise as the owl
once a bar dancing hijra
time befouled
gang raped by politics
as she howled

My Name is Mona Darling, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

my name is mona darling
unforgettable my sting
a man a woman
on a swing
a knave a queen and king
joys of another kind
i bring
like a leech sucking
your sexuality
i cling
once i have used you
out of the window
your love i will fling
a memory you wont forget
above all things
humiliating
the sanctity
of your so called
wedding ring

Mona’s Mystique, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

mona a hijra
in waiting
so to speak
monalicious
carnivorous
but gentle and meek
she has what you seek
monas love monas mystique
holding the best of you
cheek to cheek

The Buxom Beauty of Mumbai – Hijra Outlook, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

born
in the husk of a male body
dont judge the cover
of this book
the buxom beauty of mumbai
hijra outlook
a splendorous dish
that god did not cook
for a moment
he too was confused
a woman he mistook
reflecting his shortcomings
as an androgynous face
in the brook
he is what she is
by stealth by hook or by crook
a diva a prima donna
within the pages of style book

Drummer Boy of Peela House, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

These are the quintessential drummer boys of Peela House , thy live in this area but they earn during the various urus in the city and the city outskirts , most of them are very good looking and are adopted by the hijra whores as toy boys..they have a great equation with the hijra samaj and can earn a princely sum in a single day..shooting this area dressed as I am has its heart aches too, I am barefeet, but thanks to Heena hijra Ihave been saved from being beaten up by the whores and the pimps..

Young teenagers from various parts of India come here to become a vibrant part of the story of the hijras..a story does the rounds here , many years back a Sikh child was kidnapped and bought here , she was a hermaphrodite , and became the reigning queen of this area , her pictures hang on the walls of these houses , but she disappeared one fine day..

Every hijra room has the story of the ancestors on the walls, they are rememebered each year or during the All India hijra Sammelans.

But the most intriguing and spiritually defying is the HIjra Bawa , who has renounced theworld of decaying flesh and does dua tawiz,,the hijra bawas are found at Char Yar Ajmer..

I dnt know why God chose me as a Sutradar to tell the story of the hijra..I dont run after the hijras but they are shown to me ..like a divine light..

I have this month not seen a hijra and one day they will come out from the creaking walls of my mind ///

Because of my work, I hardly have to time to go and shoot the hijras , I have not gone to the red light area either..but I will meet them we are androgynouly locked in eacjh others destiny..There are hijras at Lal Mitti Bandra , at Navpada and at Behrampada..the most famous hijra of Lal Mitti began life as Asif and gradually became a Hijra known as Reshma..his toy boy is a good kid , looks like Sallubhai..

This post was text less till I voluptuously added words to the flesh of my thoughts..