I shot him a few days back at the Bandra Station and he has stumps for hands , than I asked myself how does he have his rice and dal and one after the other several questions began to bludgeon me ..he will never write , surely he has someone taking care of him and than I decided to let go off my thoughts ..
I feel sad as a street photographer who documents beggars gives them money food clothes I am yet not used to the idea of sitting talking to them, asking his name and so many things I am in a hurry moving from one work to the next and all this I shoot on the Xiaomi mobile I am trying to get the hang of it and it is obtrusive bulky and glistening white .. but it is my sons gift to me .
What ever I earn my wife keeps some money aside for the poor kids , she gives for their meals and schooling through the Mosque ..they have a group that does good work..
And beggary will always be there as there are States in India which lavishly spend money like Saifai , and most of the beggars are from Uttar Pradesh , W Bengal Jharkhand and even Kashmir ,, these states never thought of building infrastructure creating jobs hope and their priority was building parks statues and engineering riots ,, to keep the people away from core problems of bad governance bad law and order ..
Will the Beggars of India ever see Good Days ,, I dont think so I have been seeing beggars for last 50 years and is there a census on beggars ,, I dont know beggars are always on the move from one city to the next , and it is Mumbai that brings in the most beggars .. and Mumbai is in more ways generous to Beggars ..and beggars dont have to take shit from bosses , beggars are their own boss , beggars dont have to pay taxes and the beggar lady who sat under an Umbrella at Bandra Reclamation I am told had Rs 180000 when she died and where did the money go.. This is Mumbai.. even the dead are not spared , there are vultures among the cops and the municipality too..
So I shoot beggars and weave stories ..draw your attention to their lives , beggars marry beggars give birth to more beggars , urchins beggar kids the more kids the more money and certainly they dont save their money in banks they dont buy gold appliances , so where does the beggar money go.
Beggars pay local hoodlums , cops hafta or protection money and when the beggar goes to his hometown , he seduces other beggars and brings them to Mumbai the City of Beggar Dreams .
I was introduced to a builder , his wife wearing a lot of gold at a Niyaz and I was really impressed , than my host took me aside and said he was once a beggar at Mahim .. he used to sit outside the restaurant that serves beggar food and in a short while after becoming a police informer he builds homes offices in the distant suburbs ,,
And Mumbai is a rags to riches story .. they never end .. ..there are also those you will find begging outside the infamous whorehouses of Kamatipura begging I was told they were rich once patrons of the prostitutes till they lost all the money on the women boozing and gambling ..
