I Have Been Shooting This Blind Boy Since 8 Years, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
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This was shot a long time back, after several failed eye operations rendered by a few generous people , he and his handler disappeared , than once again they returned to Mumbai..
The blind boy much older now , about 17 or more , the handler an old relative has aged too.
They beg in Bandra , mornings at Bandra Reclamation signal near the Fire Brigade office , later near Sahibaan signal .. they no more sit at Boran Road ..
They hail from Murshidabad W Bengal, most migrant Muslim beggars comr from Murshidabad mostly ladies ...
I am a pictorial story teller , I shoot and try to avoid text , text confounds me ..but pictures need description , and I am bad at grammar syntax of words ..I shoot the grammar of spectral silence ..the pain the pathos , people born poor die poor , born homeless die homeless .. and a God disinterested in his own creation , he sends them down and lets cosmic fate take over the reins of survival, livelihood,,,
My genre is street photography and it embodies the angst of the beggars I shoot,
Someone has to throw light on their universal state of darkness , their uncomplaining nature and their Dharma and Karma.
Beggars I have shot at Bandra , live and beg with dignity , Jaffar Bhai, Maria the leper lady.
Time has hardened them , they suffer , but they dont dump their sufferings on others ...
These beggars are timeless beggars not the rags to riches beggars..
I met a guy who used to beg at Mahim dargah, sit among the hungry beggars at Mahim eateries , where you buy food for the beggars.. he became a police informer they say and is allegedly a big shot builder happily married in the distant suburbs of Mumbai.
Mostly beggars come beg disappear ...than there are those beggars that seasonally beg at the various dargahs at Urus time ... Kashmiri beggars at Mahim urus. Muslim beggars at Pitru Paksh Banganga Walkeshwar.
Than you have the tribal traffic signal beggar kids unclothed and in rags , they become parents themselves moment they attain puberty.. incestuously created for more kids .. new born kids are lucrative give on rent drugged and bring in more money.
Indian society promotes beggars and corrupt politicians ...both strong pillars of our essence and ethos.
So now you know why I shoot beggars but dont ever ask them why they beg or became beggars .. we are all beggars in one way or the other.
