16 Randoms About Me – Humayun Niaz Ahmed Peerzada

“Sometimes, the best way to know a person is through the little things they choose to share. Here are 16 random reflections from my journey — pieces of me, written with honesty and a smile.”

Some 6 months back .. there was a trend on flickr to write 16 randoms on oneself.  One of my friend on flickr Aleem had sent me that request .. though its difficult to capsule oneself into 16 Randoms but still I tried. All my friends of my Blog and FB pardon me if you all feel that it’s too big to read (if at all u read it … hahahaha).

1. Name: Humayun Fur. Origin: Sanskrit. Meaning: “one who favours; champion”. Originally my name was Imtiaz to rhyme with my fathers name Niaz .. but later name changed and kept on the Mughal Emperor Humayun.

2. Cant do without – Family – doters – friends – computer (photoshopping FB Flickr all comes under this) and photography.

3. I stand 5 feet 11 inches, neither thin nor fat (hmmmmm … m i lying .. let me think .. ) lets move ahead .. I wear contacts and specs.

4. I am highly emotional and a sensitive person. Moody, love life to the fullest, don’t drink, don’t smoke and no affairs (wish I could but as I know my wife will kill me so its better to be alive than dead (hahahaha). Likes to lead then to led. I am generous, warmhearted, creative, broad-minded, faithful and loving. I dont live in past.

On the other side of the coin I am pompous, flirtateous, bossy, interfering, intolerant and a bit dominant. Have a big ego like most leos have.

5. I like speculative ventures (but in last 3 years this trait of mine seems to have taken a back seat), lavish living, childrens and doing thing as how i like and prefer. Now things have changed a bit and now I think hundred times in doing things and I tend to play safe. I dislike ordinary day to day living, small minded people, penny pinching and mean spiritedness.

6. I am a model (just for the sake of boasting  – was listed in the Limca Book of Records as the only model to has done the maximum advertisements in India). I am into acting as well but no projects to speak of now more for personal reasons than profesional. I have a theater group called ‘United Models’ and we keep doing short experimental plays, in which I act or direct sometime.

7. I have produced and directed two short films ‘Dreamers of Peace’ and ‘Toba Tek Singh’ both on the subject of Peace. I have also directed and edited ‘Strugglers’ a short film on the trials and tribulations faced by strugglers who wants to make name in the Indian Film Industry as actors.

8. I have learnt and still learning Photoshop. I want to delve more into the art of filmmaking, so felt that I should learn film editing as well. So learnt and still learning Final Cut Pro and edited ‘Toba Tek Singh’ and “Strugglers’ on FCP.

9. Photography in the past was limited to shooting birthday pictures of kids. Though as model one is always connected to different photographers, consciously or subconsciously noticing, imbibing and appreciating their art. But a time came when emotionally, I was down and out due to personal health issues of my mother who medically suffers from this ailment called ‘Vascular Dementia’. From past 3 years my time and energy is all focused on her and trying every trick in the medical world to get her back to normal. So to disconnect myself from what was and is hapenning to her and keep my mind connected to something other then that, I decided to buy Nikon D70s and went all over the city of Mumbai and shot landmarks, towers and whatever came my way. Photography has now become an emotional release for me to make me forget all the sorrows and pain, which surrounds me and my near and dear ones. I owe my mental stability to photography, to flickr and to all my flickr friends who liked and appreciated my work as a photographer. If not for photography, photo shopping and flickering I would have myself lost my mental equilibrium as it not easy being a relative to a elderly person who suffers from this dreaded disease called Dementia. (In 09 .. thnks to Dr. Sushil Nanaware .. she is fine now and  she no longer suffers from  it).

10. I am very greedy, there is so much I want to do in the medias I have mentioned above. I want to come back to Acting .. I am missing  modeling .. I am missing acting .. I miss being  in front of camera .. I miss my directors saying “Humayun – Action”.  I know being out of sight is out of mind .. but I will be back soon … Insha Allah. Due to my mother’s illness I have stopped meeting friends .. directors .. media .. stopped going for auditons .. its not easy to tell everyone about one’s personal issues ..

11. Want to improve my skills on Photoshop and master the technique of HDR more then what I already possess.

12. I work on Nikon D90 and Mac OSX Leopard. Photography is slowly becoming my passion and I eat, drink and think photography. Every moment of mine now goes as to how I should improve and learn more and more skills in this addictive art called Photography. I go through humber of tutorials on photography and photoshop skills. Experimenting and trying what I learn in the picture I click. Sometime I fail and some time I am hapy with the results. Miles to go.

13. I have few friends who are my support system and they are  Sir Haresh Daftary (elder bro I did’nt have), Aloke Bhai, Shabir Patel, Naresh Nagda, Rashid Khan, Altaf Tamboo, Parvez Achwa, Imran Patel, Javed Mulla, Khalid Siddique, Husain Khan and Arif Kazi (Guru). They have stood by me  .. rock solid.

14. Been an ardent fan of Rajesh Khanna. Lately it’s Salman Khan all the way. I love Laxmikant Pyarelal, R D Burman and Khayam Sahab’s music. I have to listen to Lataji’s songs once a day. World and India should be proud that a voice like her exists and makes us so happy and makes us forgets our sorrows by her lilting mesmerizing koel like voice. World and India wont see another Lata Mangeshkar ever. Salute to you Lataji. My favorite song/bhajan which I listen to everyday without fail has the vocals of Ghazal King Mehndi Hasan Sahab and Talat Aziz Sahab. The Bhajan goes like “Main Aatma tu parmatma”. Its most soothing bhajan ever with profound lyrics.

15. Wish list: To see not only India but world united. To do more for peace. To learn playing Harmonica. To have 6 packs (zyada bol diya .. ab bol diya hai to bana lenge). To learn Persian and Urdu as both my parents are masters in these languages. To visit Kutch, Junagadh, Madai, Deolali, Aurangabad, Agra and Kuwait to shoot many landmarks of these beautiful places. To make a small little place in the world of acting and photography … phew the list is endless. The great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib’s sher would be apt here “hazaaron Khwahishain ‘eisee ke har Khwahish pe dam nikle bohot nikle mere armaan lekin fir bhee kam nikle”. Roughly translated as “thousand desires and each one worth dying for, many of them were fulfilled yet so many remain unfulfilled”.

16. Lastly I wish and pray to Allah that he blesses us all with his choicest blessing and we all brothers of the world live happily ever after. Hatred should die .. love should flourish. Ameen.

“Life is a mix of dreams, struggles, music, memories, and love. These 16 randoms are just a glimpse of mine — a reminder that we are all stories in the making.”