Maria the leper lady , has gone back to her hometown the rains are not conducive to her leprous condition , her body parts start falling off , and this is the only Mumbai season that is harmful to her being.
Perhaps this year did not shoot her , our paths did not cross , as the place where she sat has been taken over by her daughter Mary,, both Christian converts ,
Marys children are in boarding school.. her daughter might become a nun.The church does save the girlchild ..and the church desperately needs nuns as sisters of Mercy.
Maria is my oldest photo documentary I shot her for many years and this is an old image that I am adding new text and some fresh air ,,
Most of the images I shot in my early years I posted at Flickr moved on but I can always bring them into my current timeline by changing the EXIF data..I wanted to convert this as BW but than I left it as I had shot it , and Marias eyes were like shutters .. they would not let my posts soul in .. I tried to pries upon the shutters but somehow she would not allow me in.. she was accosted by an inner fear ,she has been robbed by drugaddicts so she trusts nobody.. she recognizes me by my footsteps ,..her sense of smell is all pervading powerful.. and I wish I had shot her video.. bought her closer to all of you not just as a picture but as a unfortunate beggar lady.
Her daughter Mary might convert to Islam as she sits begs outside a Madrsa ,, because even faith is at the mercy of the highest bidder ,,
I may not be a Miya type of Muslim but I could never think of changing my Faith for all the money in the world ,,but than when you are a beggar and life reduced to the shame of begging there are are very few options ,,
I miss Maria ,, she is part of my grandchildren inner growth they shot he pictures gave her money and thereby were exposed to pain at a very early age.
“Darkness may hide the trees
and the flowers from the eyes
but it cannot hide
love from the soul.”
― Rumi
