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I called them Chancawalli Sufis ..in 2005 or perhaps an year earlier I am bad with dates.
I began shooting them from the Dhuni at Maqdoom Shah Babas Dargah Mahim.
At that time their Murshad or Pir was Sikandar Wali Baba , a very shrewd calculative gentleman. He began this at Chancawalli Dargah or Shancawalli Dargah Marol Andheri East.
I followed him and his men from one shrine to another.
He introduced me to Haji Malang the Hijda Paradise.
About two years back , we had a fall out, I was eased out of the Dhuni by him and another Bawa called Bhandari.
Sikandar Wali Baw died , a very untimely death, his position was taken initially by Sher Ali Bawa and than Handi Sai..
Officially there is no Rafaee head in Mumbai..
Bhandari my bete noir diesd a terrible death in Ajmer this year.
Yesterday I was told by Amanat Ali Baba that even the head of Char Yar Ajmer, Noubat Ali Baba has been eased out..
Barsati Babais in great pain, he was once the most famous Rafaee , curing bone diseases ,spondilitis, slip disc, arthritis, but that power or gift has suddenly vanished , Barsati Bawa looks into the face of Death.
Handi Sai too manages to evade Death, but he is in a terrible state mentally physically and otherwise.
This band of Rafaees is a splintered group, lots of ego clashes, and quite leaderless and discontented..
It hurts me to see them fight amongst themselves on petty matters ,and I told this to Amanat Ali Baba too.
Higher up this group of ascetics are the more disciplined Malangs of Ajmer and Haji Malang.
They wear their heads in dread stretching to about 50 feet, but always covered either in black at Ajmer and in orange at Haji Malang.
The Ajmer Malangs are from Punjab and hardily come to Mumbai..
Most of the Malangs of Haji Malang are from Karnataka..South India.
There are fraudulent Bawas too, conning people and giving a bad name to the entire ascetic community.
The bawa who drove a sword into his cheek creating a an open gash on the other end of the cheek is Mehboob Bawa a murid of Amanat Ali Baba.They both are from Rajasthan..
I will not see the Bawas at all, we are not in touch , if I go to Nagpur I might find them there ..
With Moharam there is no time for Sufi or Rafaee adventurism.
Even the Haji Malang Urus 21 Feb 2009 happens during Moharam.
If you see my earlier pictures of the Chancawalli Rafaees shot in 2005 – all those faces are completely missing.. only alive on my photo stream.
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