Wherever you go in Mumbai.. you cant escape them.. and they come in hordes to beg to re start a new life away from their farmlands their shanties , and Mumbai is a poor dreamers Paradise ,,
And I shoot beggars ,, but I must reiterate though I shoot beggars I document Muslim beggars more poetically being a Muslim myself ,, calling myself Muslim is not an easy one being a Shia Muslim.. a part of the radicalized Muslim world calls us Rafidis Heretics ,, so be it .. I got Hussain and Humanity asymmetrically through my so called heresy.
This beggar father and child doped with a cough mixture I shot at Lalbagh during the Hindu feast of Ganesh Chaturthi at Lalbagh Chya Raja the great icon of secular Mumbai..
And like him on this road leading to Parel Station were mothers with their kids all doped crying out for money help..
During the Urus of Makhdhoom Shah Baba Mahim in the dargah lane you will find a lot of beggars , beggars from Kashmir too, women with hardy husbands and chubby cute kids asking alms ,, the deformed crippled blind lame all come to beg in this famous Mahim Dargah lane ,
Than there is Haji Ai Dargah and its countless beggars in all shapes sizes ,,, adding to their business of begging are the Bawas Malangs and the Sawalis ,, The Sawalis demand money to go back to say Ajmer , so they shout out to the Holy Saint and when the crowd gives them the return fare they leave the place very happy and satisfied.
There are Maharashtrian families that beg near station they have no money to go home and request you to buy them meals and tickets to go home ..and you will Muslim families begging at Ajmer or other out station dargahs in the same manner .. ticket to go home .. even after they get the money they change the venue and beg at another location for the fare.
I paradoxically cant escape beggars , I meet them at ever step of my life ,,there are an integral part of my beggar poets life .
I shoot them from buses taxis ,, I shoot them in trains ,, and I dont know if anyone buys beggar pictures nobody all these years on the net has ever approached me for beggar pictures though people would willingly buy my naked Naga Sadhu pictures or my prolific Hijra pictures ,, but I dont deal in pictures ,,neither buy nor sell.. I shoot original content ,,
Most of the beggars know me bless me and thank me .. some think I am a beggar too and though with a camera in my hand ladies have given me money and asked me to pray for them..
If I was a bit more educated I could have done a thesis on Beggars ..more as a storyboard with minimum words and some poetry.
And shooting pictures to titillate is not my cup of tea I am a photo blogger ,, we are story tellers , we dont use frames on our street side pictures no fucked water marks ,, and you can recognize our pictures much before you see them.. on Facebook Flickr or Twitter .
Beggars is my lifeline to God .. beggars are his constantly lost tribe ,, and we make beggars to appease the professional demands of our religion and misplaced charity ,..
Religion in India is one of the richest business after politics and acting on screen and hey yes beggars are great actors too.. they could set the stage on fire with their dialogues ,,
