Perhaps foreigners if they did come up these mountains might have been intrigued by his simplicity his rugged lifestyle ,, might have been curious seeing him selling cheap fake gemstones , not the real thing..duplicates of expensive stones and the poor mans agate a stone in great demand among the poor Muslim pilgrims ,,
He was actually looking at the stones round my neck and on my fingers part of a rare exotic collection,,,he showed no emotion , no envy , he was happy selling his stuff,,,these are men who became bawas fakirs gave up family life and retreated into the mountains , but because they did not want to beg, they bought these stones and earned their daily bread.
Dealing in stones made them healers , exorcists and they did dua tawiz .. removing evil spirits from possessed bodies ,,they lead rustic life , smoke the chillum hashish and in most cases they grow their own hashish up in the mountains for their personal consumption.
Once a year they have a boom during the annual celebrations of the Holy Saint ,,and I had already been initiated as a Malang , he gave me respect ,, but this is a strange alien world ,,they fall sick, but use herbal medicines .. sometimes they are joined by their murids or disciples ,,who take care of them..
This is what I shot and for last two years I have not taken this mountain trail ..I climb the mountains barefeet so it is not a very easy task as such.
But I would rather shoot this than the backwaters of Kerala or or he exotic panoramic places in the Himalayas ,,,
