GREY SHADES OF A GRAY WORLD

The ten-day Muharram mourning ceremony reaches its climax on the last day which is called Ashura. Ashura marks the Remembrance of Muharram when Shia Muslims commemorate the slaying of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein ibn Ali in 680 AD in the Battle of Karbala. For the Shias, Hussein's death symbolizes confronting tyranny in the face of overwhelming odds. It is also a reminder of the rift with Sunnis (who do not revere Hussein as Shias do) over the Prophet Mohammad's succession. During the ceremony, the Shias beat their heads and chests and make gashes across bodies with swords to show their grief and echo the suffering of Imam Hussein. \ Due to clashes between Sunnis and Shias over the ritual most of the big citites have banned the large procession. This year, I went to Amroha, a small, sleepy town in Western Uttar Pradesh to shoot the real zeal of Ashura as Amroha has a large Shia population and there is no ban on the procession here. ...

Intensification of droughts, floods and cyclones is one of the predictable impacts of climate change and climate instability. The failure of monsoons in India and the consequent droughts have impacted two-thirds of India, especially the bread basket of the country’s fertile Gangetic plains. The monsoons recharge the groundwater and surface water systems. This year, because of droughts there will be reduced recharge. The India Prime Minister will leave for Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in a few days amidst the controversial voluntary cuts by India in carbon emissions. It seems India has been again bended under US pressure. We, the people of third world countries, are paying the price for break-neck industrialisation by developed countries like the US. The Indian farmer is again the first one to face the brunt of climate change. Here is one such story from a small village called Pi on the Rajasthan border. Ramlaal...a small farmer who depends on the monsoons for the irrigation...

Sometimes its better to just let the pictures do the talking...this time I am just posting these two pictures...taken in two different cities...of two different individuals...doing two different things...all in the name of one GOD... © Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

This post is very close to my heart as I travelled to the 'Other India' to shoot this. I stayed with one of these families for a couple of days to understand how to 'survive' when you have been branded as a witch due to various reasons. My focus was on children of these so-called witches who aren't directly in the line of fire but carry the burden of humiliation nonetheless...sometimes for their entire lives...here are a few stories of these unblessed children. It has been 10 years, but 150 km away from that fateful day, Mani is still trapped. Her mother was branded as a witch and hacked to death by her own son (Mani’s brother). Mani wants to smile again, but being a ‘witch’s daughter’ isn’t easy. Pappu’s eyes betray his close encounter with death. His mother was killed by his relatives for “consuming his father” . Pappu’s occasional smile is a reminder of the lost innocent. Abandoned by all, 12 year Pappu only wants some friends to play and go to schoo...

After a long time I was again on the road..roaming around on the streets searching for stories and taking photographs. On a dingy lane just opposite a mosque in Old Delhi I saw this old woman who was holding the window of a dargah . I slowly went behind her and whispered in her ear " Amma...kya chahiye khuda se?" (mother...what do you want from God?) and she replied "meri jaan...mera laal" (my life...my son). She told she has been coming to this dargah everyday for the past 13 years to pray that her son comes back home. Her son went missing when he was just a 12 year old kid. On an average, over 40,000 children in India are reported missing every year, of which 11,000 remain untraced. Nobody knows where they go. There are thousands of mothers like her waiting for their children to come back home one day. © Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

I visited Jama Masjid which is in the heart of India's national capital a couple of days back. It was the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan and India's largest mosque was packed with muslims from all over Delhi. It was an interesting expereince for me to go to Jama Masjid as I got a chance to hear the sermon from the Shahi Imam of the mosque after a long time. Its always interesting to hear his sermon as he tries to include everything related to sufferings of muslims from US to Israel..from BJP to Congress...from Iraq to Afghanistan....in flat 10 MINUTES!!! P.S: I can bet that his speech hasn't changed for the last 10 years.     Jama Masjid was the symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity and was in the centre of storm during the 1857 revolution against the East India Company. The Britishers had planned to demolish this mosque but changed the plans after both Hindus and Muslims joined hands to protect it.     It is said that British took the revenge of the 1857 ...

He is a sitting MP (member of Parliament) in the world's biggest democracy but was caught sitting outside his own home on Saturday ----- not out of choice, mind you! It's sad but our politicians would rather make a mockery of themselves fighting for their plush abodes, even if it means their voters find it difficult to keep their own shelters while funding their neta's fancy desires. So, evicted he got, Mr Nand Kumar Sai, a leader of Bhartiya Janta Party, simply for not letting go of his bangla even after the junta had said goodbye. But stubborn as priya netaji were, he chose to throw a little tantrum until sarkar coughed up some more of taxpayers' money to keep him happy. Austerity drive, did someone say?? © Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

I have tried to capture the different moods of 11 different people(including an animal) while they were being photographed knowingly or unknowingly in the holy city of Varanasi(also known as Banaras and Kashi). I am sorry for not posting any photographs of ghats and other rituals which this city is known for as this post is just about its people.                       © Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

I met this 'little man' in the train on my way to the holy city of Banaras.  Name: Rohan  Profession: Tea seller  Residential Address: Shiv Ganga Express which runs between New Delhi and Varanasi(For the last 2 years)  Work Experience: 2 years Hometown: Unknown  AGE: 9 YEARS   I have promised to give him a printout of his picture on my way back to Delhi as I am traveling by the same train.    © Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.   

One early morning I met these two beautiful women who were sitting outside the Indian National Congress's headquarters in New Delhi. As one of them posed for the camera, the other one took a shower under the tap that provides drinking water to thirsty party workers and visitors. Nirmala Devi (the one in the foreground) told me that she and her elder sister are from Jammu and their kids have abandoned them. Now both the sisters are on their way to Varanasi (on foot as they have no money) to spend the remaining days of their lives by the holy river, Ganga. Jammu to Varanasi is a 1,311 kms. journey.                                 © Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.   

   As the nation and the media mourned the death of YSR Reddy, efforts to revive the Doha round of the stalled WTO talks began in New Delhi. Against the backdrop of the latter event (and inevitably the former too) around 45,000 Indian farmers raised slogans to stall efforts to liberalise agricultural trade.    The farmers, already hit by a major drought this year, fear further liberalisation in trade would mean a rush of foreign mechanized operations into agriculture that would in turn hurt their already meagre livelihoods. The Doha round of the WTO talks collapsed in July 2008; the current politicking in New Delhi among trade ministers from around 36 countries is designed to restart that round.     "I wonder why we live in the illusion of farmers being the silly ignorant country folks who land up in our cities by mistake! If our media gave you a chance you may really be struck by how much they know of what they do! And they may not know the hi fundas of t...