Among all the people I have shot over the years ..Appu as a memory stands out the most,,I have not seen him now for over 3 years ..I crane my head out of a cab to see if he is there on Wednesday at Mahim on a stretch that leads to St Michael Church on Novena day.
Or I try to see if he is there outside the corner of Minara Masjid ,, the place where this picture was shot , I had spotted him from a bus , and rushed back to meet him..I try never to call him a beggar he is Appu my friend migrant from Assam..
There are times our meetings were so sudden rapid that there was hardly time to talk..we had first met at Chor Bazar during my visits to the Friday Flea Market .. and I shot him every Friday , with huge crowds gathering around us ,, and that is a unique part of eccentric Mumbai street life ,,people who are always in a hurry will stand watch ..even if you meet with an accident people will clamber to see you , shoot your pictures video , but fuck they will never help you and moments before you hand over your soul to the Lord God of Accidents the erstwhile Mumbai Police will arrive cinematic-ally ..Tan Train... sounds children make while watching dumb scenes in Indian cinema .As I walked barefoot with a turban kilos of jewelry with I ended up creating traffic snarls where Appu sat outside a bakery..
Appu was very fond of Marziya and now in retrospection I feel sorry I did not give her my camera to shoot Appu when she met him a few months old at Mahim.. she has never forgotten him..almost 6 years after she saw this human stump of a tree no hands no legs .
What endeared me to Appu was he never fucking complained , he had a smile perched on his face and he never begged as beggars do, he was too proud to stretch his hands like normal beggars and he had good upbringing ,,he sat on his wooden cart you gave him something fine ,,he drank tea or mango juice that I ordered for him balancing the glass firmly with his lips ,,
All the years I knew him I gave him generously ,, I never asked him about his tragic limbless state , I did not ask him personal questions I wish I had shot his video those early days of our friendship.
Perhaps he might return to Mumbai you can leave Mumbai but Mumbai never leaves you.. and Mumbai is the only city that can do this to your soul..Mumbai is not just a city but a magical moment ,,and that is why beggars come here hardly to make it big ,, but to earn and learn.. shooting beggars is shooting a private inner part of my own beggars soul..
I really dont know if I had a studio arc lights the rest could I bring a beggar apply make up , dress him up in a tux and with his long beard blind eyes in his wretched wrinkled hands place a Champagne glass , could I shoot him away from his destination or his destiny ,, I would be fucked if I did ,
I prefer shooting beggars in his natural environment I shot beggars as a storyboard,, and I go on shooting him till he ages faster than me ,,
I wish someone among the filthy rich Muslim community had given him prosthetic s but than the Jamati or Tabliki part of Miyadom , gave him the skull cap , his beard and a chance to fuck one of the 72 vestal virgins when he dies..the ultimate Muslim Paradise with the virgins doing overtime , pleasuring going down on the limbless bodies of Jihadis and other radicals that took a short cut .. to regain their bombed out libidos ,,
Luckily I am a Muslim but not a Miya ,,,
