She Did Not Ask Me For Money ..But I Am a Beggar Poet, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
I was rushing back to work, through this short cut, when I spotted her sitting her back towards me I thought she was a beggar I knew who sat here , I was wrong I realized it after giving her Rs 10 .. and she thanked me profusely , she was in need .. but her thanks was like a blessings hands held high in silence..
Had she asked God for some meals and God sent me there , a thought that will bring a ironic smile of the face of the skeptic but being a Malang I experience so many things that I dont narrate hold it within the glass bottle of my soul.. in fear of breaking it ..
And she is a new face , but yes she is a beggar , a more deserving beggar than me ..
I have begged too unashamedly with the Rafaees dressed like them barefeet , the rafaees are fakirs mendicants who pierce their bodies as an act of spirituality and keep body and soul alive with what they get.
I have begged with the Naga Sadhus , along with my Naga Sadhu guru Shri Vijay Giri Maharaj of Juna Akhada.. I begged with him at the Nasik Kumbh each morning dressed like them , barefeet , ate on the streets leftovers given to us by the devotees, and I still treasure those moments of self introspection..and I shared the money I got as charity with other beggar familes I met and shot..
During Ramzan I fast the entire month but the best moment is when I go to town and break my fast with beggars , they know I love them I have never shot them I never will that is my private moment of faith and my beggar friends refuse money I give them to buy Iftar they are too proud but humble too in their self respect and I am crying as I write this yes my best pictures are those I have never shot..
And I respect such moments I have lived with the Aghoris of Gomti Lucknow but never shot them, they eat dead flesh from the banks and drink but they have been kind to me and I know I will meet them at the Kumbh again..
So I call myself a beggar poet ..
