Da Mir Pan And Zlatko from Croatia at Carter Road Bandra, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
Da Mir Pan and Zlatko were two back packers visiting Mumbai on cycles from Croatia , they were robbed of their money and belongings while coming from Goa to Mumbai ..
When they reached Bandra , they were totally directionless , and I met them accidentally , they were not being allowed in the Internet cafe because they had lost their clothes being dressed shabbily,this is the flip side of unfriendly Mumbai sometimes .
I took them home , wife made a fast meal for them , than came the issue of putting them up for the night , this was a sticky one , they wanted to stay the night over in my building compound, I know the building folks would object , so I directed them to St Peter Church Bandra , Fr Jaun allowed them to stay in the courtyard for a few days , they played music on the roads to get a ticket to reach Turkey and they would cycle to Croatia.
However the stay at the Church was not taken kindly by a few as both Croatians were dressed as Hindus , and wore saffron.. so I spoke to Al the Tattoo artist who is a great loving soul , he put them up at his Bandra pad..
And finally good Samaritans in Mumbai , well wishers lovers of music , helped them get a flight ticket to Turkey, they tried to meet me the day they left but I was out on an assignment ,, and so they entered our lives and today I am connected to Da Mir Pan on Facebook..
Yes this world is very small..and my grand daughter Marziya Shakir who was 3 at that time bonded with them.. shot them.. fed them from her school tiffin,, so caste color creed mean nothing .. if you are not human , humble hospitable than you lose out on the greater essence of humanity.
I dont know if Dam Mir Pan will visit India again but I am sure if he does , he will certainly visit my humble house ,, Devo Atithi Bhava .. God Is Guest.
