He was wondering why I called him out he was sorting garbage ,scavenging for items to sell .. near the garbage site close to my house and bang opposite the Bandra BJP office adjoining the Indraji Nagar slums .. And I sometime wonder is it Muslim slums that generated the maximum filth .. all Muslim slums be it the Nargis Dutt Nagar Shastri Nagar Bandra Station , Bandra Slaughter House are deplorable unattended by the Municipality .
Most of the dumping site like Shastri Nagar Bandra and Bandra Bazar road are meeting places for drunks drugaddicts and the Bandra cops know it too but than they wont dirty their hands catching scums that have nothing to give or live for .
And so back to Sudip from Orissa , he was hesitant to talk to me but I was dressed in normal clothes and did not look like a cop or a Sufi monk.
He works odd hours and this garbage site is his normal beat ..he earns about 300 per day scavenging plastic , metal stuff and other odds and ends .
He eats food at the stalls and survives on tea .. I did not ask him if he was a drug addict.. or the interview would have abruptly stopped .
And I am now seriously documenting the unknown ragpicker who does a great service to selfish society.. he does it passionately with devotion than the highly paid Municipal sweeper .. with reasonable hours great perks .
As for our ragpicker who the fuck really cares for him , he is a social stigma ,an untouchable in all reality ..the ministers talk discuss about the dumping grounds of Kanjur Marg and Mulund do they discuss about ragpicker Tamil ladies , men children besides this motley crew of drugaddicts .
And as a street photographer I need fodder for my blogs .. and so I train my lens on these lowest of the low scavengers ,, and some of them because of their drug intake can be violent hyper and volatile ..and they dont trust anyone but their own.
They are dirty , unclean and some have gangrenous wounds they get treated at Bhabha Hospital and beg outside St Peter Church..and Jesus is the only God with compassion they identify with his followers who give them food alms ..
I met a mother son duo a few days back the son was about 10 years old assisting his mother searching for Hope in the over spilling garbage bins ,,
The corporators ministers who go on foreign junket to learn about sewage and other facilities .. dont they learn something about garbage management that could help Mumbai city of Garbage bursting at the seams ..I am really astonished at the waste of public money without any accountability without any returns ..
And now that Mr Sharukh Khans Ramp has been duly demolished can we get back to Bandra .. The Christians are happy its time they made all of Bandra happy too..
