I shoot a lot of street stories , I shoot them as pictures , I try not to add words but than a circle of overseas Flickr friends ,,,would be deprived of the richness and the wonderful fabric of Indias dreamers ,, so I add my few bits as prose or poetry ,,
I have been mostly shooting street barbers , hajams moving about with their tin box of tools and most of this segment of barbers in Bandra know me very well.. simply because I shoot them , some get annoyed while I shoot them working but others are more forgiving ,,
My minds eye spots barbers faster than my mythical cosmic camera , and without hesitation I shoot a few frames .
As you all know the largest gathering of barbers in Mumbai happens during the Pitru Paksha festival at Banganga ,, I never miss it ,,
The next place I liked shooting barbers was Allahabad on the banks of the Ganges during Maha Kumbh..religious tonsure is what I really like to shoot ..
There is a lot of religious tonsure at some Sufi dargahs that are visited by the Hindus like Haji Malang ,, where the devotee offers his shaved head as obeisance to the Holy Saint ,,a strand of hair goes to the Shrine ,,
The few saloon stalls I shoot , close to my house , but the most prolific are the street barbers of Lal Mitti Bandra Reclamation.. predominantly most of the barbers are migrants from North India Uttar Pradesh.
