Once she sat at Bandra Broan Road , begging for alms , with her socketless eyes , her begging tin tied to the stump of her leg as drug addicts would snatch it and run away ,,within the tin is another tin to hide the notes from people who pretend to put in a few coins and deftly remove the notes ,,, even beggars are not safe from Bandra crooks .
I have been documenting Maria a Catholic convert , for many years now .she had left for her hometown last rains .. but she returned for Easter Christmas sitting outside the wall of St Peter Church than she left again before the onset of the Rains .
The rains cause her a lot of grief her leprous body part start falling ,,thats what her daughter Mary told me now Mary sits at Boran Road wear a headscarf and tries to appease the Muslims of Bandra , she sits outside the wall of a Madrsa ,, and I always felt that the Church of Bandra hd let them down terribly ,, I never once saw Sister Cristobal ever enter this lane , I never saw a priest or even a nun try to counsel them they were untouchables and as a photographer I have shot a lot of poor.. the poorest of poor among Christians most of them are converts to Christianity living on the streets of Bandra ,, I shot their video too,.
So it is not only the Muslim beggars I documented , Muslim beggars are in a larger denomination in Bandra and predominantly migrants ..but other communities ,, and imagine begging in the rains ,,with a broken umbrella ,,broken hope its really crazy.. but beg they must to survive and in these isolated cases it is not the Beggar Mafia using but sheer necessity of living.
Mary has two kids they are in boarding , the daughter will become a nun , unless Mary decides to change her religion to Islam and if she does it will only be to move from one faith to the next .. but might still remain a beggar for all you know,, as I am only a photographer I have no reason to think or politicize her pain.because of neglected misplaced religiosity.
I know hardcore evangelist Muslims more from the Wahabi Salafi Tabliki sect that make the Muslim beggar , wear a skull cap , and tell him about the Faith but he still remains a beggar , they can change his way of thinking but will not rehabilitate him , fuck will they take his daughter and get her married to their son.. now that is something that would sound seriously a misplaced thought.. I hate conversions ...you can hate me for thinking like that ,, and this blog is about the beggars of Bandra living in penury,,,
And I miss Maria as I spoke to her gave her money and though she is blind she would recognize me from my footsteps ,, Mary did not like me in the beginning as she thought I made money selling her mothers pictures ,but than she met my wife my granddaughters and realized I was not what she thought .
I meet her even now ,,I never asked about her husband or what made her beg.. and that was with respect to her privacy but I have video shot Muslim beggar couples in Bandra and Ghatkopar .. all my beggar interviews are on You Tube .
Ramzan is the only gracious pious month for Beggars God sees they do not go hungry at all.. after Ramzan I am sorry to say with a million pardons apologies the graciousness and the piety goes away in hibernation till next Ramzan.
Being a Muslim I know how the Muslim cycle of life works ,, and as a street photographer I shoot the cycle of life of Muslim Beggars and a few like Mary and Maria.
My grandchildren Marziya and Nerjis have shot Maria .. and this picture was shot in April 2012 ,, I just added text to a blank post...and copy pasted it on the soul of my inner angst.
