Peersaab Fakhru Miya of Hujra No6 - At Home
Peersaab Fakhru Miya is a Sunni scholar, well versed in Sufism, Shiasm , who respects all religiosity, most of his hardcore disciples and followers are Hindus, he is not into conversion, the Hindus follow their own religiosity but have added Sufism as a part of their journey of life.
He has his sitting within the Holy Shrine it is called Hujra No6 , you enter it from Bulund Darwaza..I have stayed in this private chamber as his guest at his house , he has treated me like family, every trip that I have made to Ajmer , mostly during the Urus.
It is through Peersaab I saw Pushkar Brahma Mandir a few years back, he was the one who translated one of my dreams , and said Brahma wanted me to visit him ..I had a Sadhu Pandit as my guide who is the custodian of a 750 year old Hanuman Mandir also at Ajmer.
It was Peersaab who sent me to Taragadh foothills barefeet to the graves of the Hijra Saint and the grave of his biological son buried close to the grave of Bibi Jamal..
For Saif Shakir my youngest sons wedding reception , Peersaab was there to bless him ..so you can now see that his contribution to my life has been immense.
One of the very closest Murid of Peersaab is Zaved Akthar and his wife Afreen from Bangla Desh , so Peersaab has a lot of followers in Bangla Desh too.
Sheetal Bawa from Indore , Ramesh Bhai from Pune , and so many others are there to be by his side during the Ajmer Urus.
There are some very interesting people I have met at Peersaabs hujra no6, but the most amazing experience of my life was shooting the Whirling Dervesh of Ajmer at a event celebrated on the eve of Chatti on the terrace of his house..I was totally new to this choreographed moment of high never felt before...I have decided to learn this form as I too go into a trance called Kaiff.
Peersaabs grand children are Ahmed Ali and Zam Zam, totally in control, and inheritors of his legacy and wealth of his wisdom.
His two sons are the pillars of his Hujra No6 .. the eldest Farid Miya and the younger one Qambar Miya.
They tried to get me the permission within the Dargah but it was turned down citing terrorism as one of the reasons, and the gentleman in charge of the permissions, who saw my application and picture thought I was a girl and was a security risk..
Anyway in spite of his shortsightedness in just 1 day and one night I had shot a 12 GB card , subjects being the beggars, rafaees , the hijras and street photography.
I arrived at the Ajmer Dargah area on the night of 28 th June 2009 8.30 pm , I shot all of 29 th June till 30 th June morning , ..when I took the Aravalli Express that left for Mumbai at 11.15 am..
This is the beginning of my second 4 GB card ..and I dedicate this post to Peersaab..
I ate all my meals including breakfast at his house..during my stay in Ajmer..
The only stuff I bought from Ajmer from Kapil Agarwals gemstone shop are Dure Najaf , that Kapil said were a pair, Shiva and Parvati and some rectangular agates.. or Sulaimani Akik..
I bought nothing else.
Also I must mention here the most interesting Murid of Peersaab is Zubair Bawa , a great lover of Imam Husaain who publicly curses the enemies and killers of this beloved Imam , the martyred grand son of the Holy Prophet of Islam.
Zubair Bawa has 200 names given to him by his followers mostly lesser malangs and hijras.
I normally dont view the pictures I shoot till I post them at Flickr ..I have not seen the pictures of the Dancing Dervesh but I have a gut feeling they are my best effort in unlearning photography.
