Mostly Muslim beggars make a beeline for Mumbai much before the Ramzan moon is sighted and you will find them outside mosques , dargahs and famous khau or food gullies of Mumbai during Iftar when the days fast kept by the Muslims end .
And here Appu is missing from Mumbai, he sat outside the foodlane of Minara Masjid , , many a times a thought hit me hard , how does he survive without hands or legs ,, every known common action that we do with our hands besides eating walking has been eternally denied to him.
Muslims the fat filthy rich , will spend loads of money buying goats dumba goats but will never think of paying a poor childs school fees , or giving a wheel chair to a beggar , leave aside the goats skin they offer to the Mosque most Muslims do charity clinically without kindness or compassion.
Mind you there are some good Muslims who do a lot but it is a small group.. and the sectarian divide is there hidden within the pockets of the donor he gives miserly to his own.
Appu was nothing but a freak, children treated him as a dwarf, making faces at him , laughing at him mocking him for his disability , but he ignored all of them. People love watching him when he drinks tea for them he his not only a beggar but a street performer ,,perhaps he would have been better of in a circus as a real clown his face made up and no hands no feet ,. entertaining kids as a clown with professional dignity.
Rehabilitation of beggars in India is next to impossible ,,,we need beggars to appease God by our misplaced charity , and those hoteliers owners of restaurant at Mahim Ajmer made a lot of money , feeding shit food to beggars with your money,,and now as there are less real beggars , mostly drugaddicts drunkards .. they are all part of the restaurants paid muster .
If you live among the beggars you will know the pain struggle survival of the beggars..having shot beggars , beggar families living in penury , it is a tough call ..
Ramzan is the most noble sublime month , where God really showers his blessings on the beggars, they dont go hungry .. next to the lane adjoining my house on Thursdays Fridays , you will find a beggars .
This morning I shot a beggar lady with her new child ,she comes from Kurla with her friend both in hijabs and they wait for alms . I shot her pictures this morning and she was asking about my granddaughters who have shot her too.
One of these days I will shoot her video...why is the man who fathers her children not taking care of her ,,I leave this unanswered .. she had told me the last time he was bedridden.
So now you know among all the Muslim beggars I shoot why Appu stands out among the rest.
