Swach Bharat Bandra

This is a famous garbage bin in Bandra opposite Galaxy Apts , and it is close to Indraji Nagar slums ..and it is a iconic dump , I shot it many time when I took a short cut through the slums ..
Now I hardly come this way.. and there are many garbage sites that make Bandra famous as the Garbage Queen of the Suburbs ,, also know as Garbage Porn Queen.


The Congress that have their civic representative . the only one who survived the Congress Free Bandra is not bothered about all this and in order to see him go we have to wait till 2017 till someone who loves Bandra replaces him beyond part ylines .. someone who feels for Bandra and someone who does not play caste politics , does not appease only the slums to gain cookie points .

And Muslim areas are always dirty filthy because neither the residents nor the Bandra Municipality is interested in cleaning these areas ..

And the Congress party does not have those kind of leaders like Mr Arvind Kejriwal who went to the public of Delhi with folded hands and in humility sought forgiveness and despite Modijis Armada won seats ,, but the Congress does not have humble leaders they are arrogant even in defeat ,,I mean not a single Congress leader in Bandra has ever come to Bandra to find out why they were voted out of Bandra .

And even our BJP leaders who were once seen in Bandra are hardly seen , the only person with some conscience and who even replies to your tweets is Advocate Ashish Shelar . I have nothing against Madam Poonamji but she treats the voters of Bandra like a piece of shit , not a single tweet showing the garbage in our area has ever been answered by her and if BJP had not parachuted her from Worli this would not have been the case ..as a senior citizen without any party affiliations I feel sad ,,,sadly our vote for progress and development for Modiji and not any personality has been totally wasted .

I spoke to Advocate Ashish Shelar he said by 10 April he will look into the Bandra Bazar Dump that is an insult to injury ,, it is disease prone and an eyesore .

So now you know why I shoot Garbage .. it is to see Bandra Green And Clean..

Mount Mary Bandra

Mount Mary Church, Bandra Wikipedia


The Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount more commonly known as Mount Mary is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Mumbai, India. The church is one of the most visited churches in the city located in the suburb of Bandra. Every September, the feast of Mount Mary is celebrated on the Sunday following the September 8 which is the birthday of Mary the Mother of Jesus.. This is a week long celebration known as the Bandra Fair and is visited by thousands of people.

The church stands on a hillock about 80 metres above sea level overlooking the Arabian Sea. It draws lakhs of devotees and pilgrims annually. Many faithful attest to the miraculous powers of the Mount. During the Bandra Fair, tens of thousands visit the shrine. The shrine attracts people from all faiths who pray to the statue for thanksgiving or requesting of favours.

During the Bandra Fair, the entire area is decorated with festoons and buntings. Many pitch up stalls selling religious objects, roasted grams and sweet items which is a must buy for most people visiting. Stalls sell sticky Goan sweets and wax idols of the Virgin along with an assortment of candles shaped like hands, feet and various other parts of the body. The sick and suffering choose one that corresponds to their ailment and light it in Church, with the pious hope that Mother Mary will consider their appeals for help.

Although the current church edifice is just 100 years old, the history behind the current statue of Our Lady goes back to the 16th century when Jesuit priests from Portugal brought the statue to the current location and constructed a chapel. In 1700 Arab pirates interested in the gilt-lined object held in the hand disfigured the statue by cutting off the right hand.

In 1760, the church was rebuilt and the statue was substituted with a statue of Our Lady of Navigators in St. Andrew's church nearby. This statue has an interesting legend. It goes that a Koli fisherman dreamt that he would find a statue in the sea. The statue was found floating in the sea somewhere between 1700—1760. A Jesuit Annual Letter dated to 1669 and published in the book St. Andrew's Church, Bandra (1616-1966) supports this claim.

In 1761 the original statue was re-adorned with a child in her arms and has been in use ever since.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Mary_Church,_Bandra


video

Supoose You Had A Camera And Had Nothing To Shoot But Garbage

no rivers
no mountains
no streams
swach bharat
a set of stolen
dreams ..making
you feel like kids
with melted
icecreams
the spirit was
willing the fetid
flesh screams
oratory skills
delusional
lost moments
sometimes
seem..highly
extreme
every friday
like a bollywood
film opening
at a theater
a new ban
a new theme
will the messiah
come and redeem
the common man
sulkily as he
daydreams

The Lonely Leg In The Garbage Bin

of a ragpicker
searching hope
in an empty
bottle of gin
a few drops
thirstily he
takes it in
a drop
glistening
on his chin
his convoluted
mind begins
to spin one
leg out the
other one in
moribund
morose
he keeps
telling himself
he wont sin
his karma
hidden beneath
his thick skin
head you lose
tail you win

Scavenging For Food In The Garbage Dump At Bandra Bazar

Seeing them gather tomatoes other vegetables that were thrown in the dump, prawns and other edible items , items that they get free from this horrendously ugly garbage site and they will wash clean it and it will be a luxury for these dwellers on the streets..and it kills me ,,

I saw some women scavenging food today but there faces were visible to my camera and I did not shoot them I did not want to humiliate them.. and for a government busy with bans as political gimmick and appeasement that the poor have to scrounge for food from garbage bins  ..can you imagine the desperateness , the stench the filth and searching for a few good leaves of vegetables a few smashed good tomatoes , and fish head ,, chicken parts anything that can be cooked and made as food.

And am I showing India in bad light ,, I am showing you reality truth of living , you in apartments living in air conditioned comfort so taken up by street photography wont feel the emotions of being hungry unless you are fasting to appease your god ,, but try once joining these women and pretend scouring for food and you will know the meaning of hunger and the narrow mindedness of your street shooting camera lens ,,I dont know if I would have the guts to shoot their video and than request them to take me to their house on the roads to see how they cook all this as the young children hungrily waiting to gulp it down.. I am now fed up of using my camera as a single frame shooter I want to shoot an entire story board cinematic ally ,,capture in the city of Mumbai the dimensional quirkiness of Hunger .

And I will shoot garbage of life as the poetry of Life till I die ,, there are times I want to renounce all this my camera go live in the mountains with the monks but than that would be an easy way out ,, becoming a fakir like Palanpur photographer of yore late AS Syed I  think..


I dont have nature to seduce me photographically only garbage bins  I dont have running streams only open gutters and so I shoot what is close at hand ,,I was at Worli Sea Face meeting a very important famous person and I had to wait a long time but I had no heart shooting the tetra pods silhouettes of people at the seaface .nor the Sea Link that I took after completing my work from Worli to Bandra ,, I was not interested in shooting all this I prefer to shoot Garbage and human scavengers searching for food where goats shit , dogs piddle rodents eat the stuff that these humans will gather to feed their kids and fuck this is happening in Amchi Mumbai not Sholapur Kolhapur or Sangli..

The Dead Soul Of Man On A Garbage Dump

he tried to screw the wall
he tried very hard to hump
between his legs a frozen
lump. but he tried he tried
he failed drunkenly slumped
made in india not for export
tattooed on his rump ..the
last temptation passion of
a bum.. hop skip and jump

Human society sustains itself by transforming nature into garbage. Mason Cooley

text posted at Ello

This picture is not photoshopped it is my backyard for last 20 years though I am staying here since 10 years it is the same as it was in 15 years of Congress Rule and now after voting for BJP it is still the same ,, several tweets lots of pictures to my MP Ms Poonam Mahajan and my MLA Advocate Ashish Shelar of BJP .. There is no response ,,, the failure of garbage management , the filth the stench and we talk of Modijis Swach Bharat .. I think it is just a hollow chant to sway us away from the core issues that plague us all and its not the Beef Ban I dont eat Beef .. but rapes , child rapes gold chain snatching and the list is long I am a 60 + senior citizen and as a photographer I use my camera to throw light on such civic issues ,, I will not use my camera without a purpose and that is why every foreigner that visits me shoots this dump,, my grandchildren learnt photography shooting this dump..

And I add my comment to a Ello photographer Indian by birth who is hurt by what I shoot ,,
well what i shoot is my backyard that needs cleaning ,, i was a congress voter traditionally we voted for progress and change and just talking about Swach Bharat doe not make it clean so this is my personal angst and I shall go on shooting garbage till the people I voted wake up ,, and I think as you are uncomfortable with what I shoot and I will not be changing my views ,, and I love India as much as you I will politely remove you from my friend list I would not want to hurt your feeling maam ,, take care nothing personal.. You shoot what you have to shoot as a photographer I am a blogger and the purpose of my photography is to wake up the dead soul of my politicians I dont shoot porn I dont shoot anything that would hurt sense sensibilities and as a Muslim I have shot Hinduism as Hope And Hindutva 60000 blogs my Guru is a Naga Sadhu from Juna Akhada so I am as much Hindu as you are ,, take care .. all the best. I added you because of you recommendation by my friend @davidseibold ,,,I too would not be comfortable with somebody who shows India in a bad light but I will not shoot those things that others pretentiously shoot that is not India .. I would appreciate if you could block me , it would be nice for a change ,, I could not block you for being truthful..