I dont think for the Muslim woman begging is a profession of her choice , but I have over the years seen once they start begging than getting them out of the begging syndrome is very difficult ..
I have seen the Muslim woman begging with her children and the cunning husband keeping an eye on her from far and I shot his wife and his children..and because the girl child girl woman is a liability to the overburdened parents they get her married to get rid of her , and she may end up either with an old divorcee or end up as a wife of a petty thief , gambler robber , whatever and it could be worse than mere begging..
There are guys who get married and dump the wife in a brothel selling her for a good amount and these are not just stories but the truth and Muslim society can do nothing about it has too problems of its own the clergy in most cases is busy trying to get hands on properties of the Wakf Board ,, I mean its total chaos and there is no platform for these women to approach , and the greatest curse is the Triple Talaq among the Sunni sect ,,
So shooting beggars is shooting their pain and trying to tell it through a single frame ,,I am not a social activist , photography is a hobby and not my source of income ,, I have begged in Ajmer with the beggars , given what I earned to them and I know the degradation , eating left overs with them , it is sad and demeaning .
Neither am I a story teller but it kills me when a beggar family tells me to find a groom for their comely child , half woman half child giggling at me with her siblings ,, and I am barefeet , a strange beggar in beggar land .
And after the Namaz gets over there is a mad rush to grab the men , women children holding him to get their Eid baksheesh ,, and this lady veiled crying out to Allah to ask his followers to empty their stingy pockets ,, yes most Muslims are stingy but give reluctantly to save their souls during Eid ,,
