I shot this picture by sheer accident and I shot several frames , I shot it as an Indian as a colored soul too like the beggar boy asking alms from the foreigners , and as a country having a long colonial past we still are awed by the fair rosy skins of our foreign guests .Whether she gave him something or not is her prerogative but to be honest our beggars harass foreigners no end deliberately touching them pawing them.. and maybe the foreigner can be more miserly than the Indian,
There is a syndicate of beggars that gang up against the foreign tourist while one begs the others steal his belongings and they do it successfully ,, it has happened so many times at Gateway Of India .
But these beggar boys girls an entire family worked at Turner Road Traffic Signal , the mother father relatives played cards as in gambling while the kids slogged their ass chasing vehicles that stopped when the red light turned in.. they pressed their dirty mugs against the car windows dramatically with gestures trying to get the car owners attention,, and this is a prestigious up market traffic signal they always got something .. generously.
Surrounding this signal were jewelry shops and two restaurants a Chinese Stomach and an Indian cuisine Zaika both have now become fashion stores .There was a Cake shop too. But those days when I shot it the kids got left over food cold drinks and were always happiest lot of beggars .
And using the new Flickr Camera Roll Beta .. I select an old image bring it forward , I wish it had an attached link, but you can edit the description and privacy , etc..I can see all my images at one go date wise when I shot it or when I posted it.
So 2007 was the time I shot a lot of beggar kids at this signal ..this was the traffic signal between work and home ..and the kids worked from 8 am till late evening ..festival time they would be there till midnight ,
And the worst the people that did shoot them will come out with Coffee Table Books with shots of this lot ,, but no hope no rehabilitation ,and there was a possibility that these could be foster kids kidnapped but who cares too think on these lines checking DNA etc is a big headache for our cops they need juicy cases with lots of money involved .. nobody really thinks about beggar kids and drug addicts ,,Bandra has a rich culture of junkies not afraid of the cops .. sometimes I think its the cops who stay away from them.
And once these beggar kids come in contact with the junkies than the kids get into the habit ,, and drug peddlers use beggars as conduit ,they are the least suspected near schools colleges .. but than I am just being humanly hypothetical with a image , letting in to the figment of my creative but real imagination.
At first I thought I would write a poem here but a poem would have been playing to the gallery and very cliche ..so I began this post as a journal..text and photojournalism.
