Why Is Bandra Bazar Road Dying ? An Interview With Clarence Gomes

Happy Morning From Bandra ,,,Garbage Inspires My Fragmented Creativity

This is my first stop I pay my solemn tribute to the Lord Of The Flies ,, This is Gods other Temple where Man where godliness is reflected through the garbage ,,

And since the time we came to live in this part of Bandra it has always been like this or worse .. it did not matter to the residents or the people that live around this holistic spot , it did not matter to our BJP Mumbai President who lives two buildings away and this has nothing to do with progress or development ,,

But I assure you if Hon Narendra Modiji was to visit the BJP President for tea ,, would you see all this ,, tell me honestly ,,Bandra Municipality BJP volunteers would go out of their way to showcase their efforts cleaning all this hiding it beneath the red carpet ,, Modijis Swach Bharat ,

15 years of tepid lackluster Congress Rule ..it was the same , and despite the Congress civic presence it is is worse ,, this entire stretch is like acid bomb , the stench the filth , all the markets around this place are fulsome ugly dilapidated , the mutton market looks like a dungeon , the chicken market is to some extent cause of this misery , the trucks that  take over the garbage dump..see my videos you will feel what I feel ,,

The roads recently repaired by the Bandra Municipality are shoddy pathetic and repairing roads is a money spinner .. we all know it ,, but what can we do .. The Bandra Municipality has made the soul of Humanity into a eunuch .

And my grandchildren honed their skills in photography shooting this iconic garbage dump.. the ugliest place in all of Bandra ,, this place will always be like this even after I am dead and gone ,, because this is the fucked destiny of Bandra Bazar Road .We lead ,, you dont have to follow says this garbage dump..
I wish our MP who reads all the newspapers read blogs and a few tweets ,, but than she lives on the better side of Worli ,, it hardly matters to her ,,but it does matter to me as a senior citizen as a photographer poet and as a man who goes for his morning walks ,, mothers who walk their children to school from here ,, hardly anyone comes to shop in this Municipal Market .. the worst in Bandra , during the rains it reaches its lowest mark..

This was once a great part of the Gaothan and East Indian Pride but they killed it all.. the few East Indians original inhabitants live like strangers in their own area ,,

So I now get ready to go for my 8 km walk.. I bought a silicone gel insole for my Puma keds ,, I think I have flatfeet ,,

Happy Morning,,

I Shoot Simple People Simple Stories

He has been selling hankies here at the Kurla overbridge for 60 years and we became good friends,, every time I come this end to go to Nehru Nagar he greets me and I inquire about his health and he says Allah keeps him happy and fit ,, Allah Malik Hai ,, Allah is my Master .

He boasts to all the vendors hawkers of our Friendship.. and he feels proud that I am his friend ,these are the simple people I shoot , heroes of my blogs ,,besides you have to be human to be a good photographer , you should be able to feel absorb another mans pain.. photography is about being humble , down to earth .Arrogance has no place in people photography, like him I am thankful to God that I can shoot pictures and add emotions as moving text.

I asked a guy to take this shot and he was over smart he hit the video button too.. sometimes the hanky seller offers me tea , and I take it though I only drink black tea without sugar .

I think I have learnt a lot shooting these simple people I have understood their character , their goodness through their body language .

There are many stories on the street like a tree overladen with fruits ..I prefer to video shoot them let their pain reach you too ,, you and I cant change their life , but our prayers for their welfare , is what this blog is all about ,,

I was planning to buy a simple wheel chair for a crippled beggar and he said ,, dont buy it I sleep on the streets the drugaddicts will steal it from me ,, so I gave him money to send to his family for Ramzan.

One thing I know the beggars have changed my life , through their pain I understand my own pain.. I have flaws , I have apprehensions , but than seeing them I wonder where is their Fate taking them.

Will the beggar with the alms he gets become a rich man overnight , never ,he can become rich if he becomes a criminal or a politician.. rags to riches .Do politicians represent the beggars or the poor never , they represent the rich industrialists businessmen ,, I have met farmer begging with their wives and children at railway stations ,,

This certainly is not Sab Ka Sath Sab Ka Vikas ..and the beggars Acche Din died the day he was Born.

The only man outside the Temple or the Mosque who takes Gods name more than the head priest or the Mullah is the beggar ,, pleading from within Allah Ke Nam Pe De Do.. or the Hindu beggar .. Paticha Pawan Sita Ram..

Yes I Shoot Beggars who are as Indian as I am..

Blind Beggar Kurla Station Overbridge

This bridge connects Kurla West to Kurla East and I take this bridge that houses a commercial shopping mall of hawkers at the top..to go to Nehru Nagar to meet my friends who are in the Tropical Fish Trade

I was seeing this beggar for the first time .. I spoke to him , he is totally blind I gave him money too , the Dalit lady who begs on the bridge steps was missing instead there was a blind beggar Muslim lady I gave her money too .. but an inner sense tells me there is a guy who brings the ladies to beg here I had spotted him once , he may be the local goon and all this not very far from the Kurla West Station Police Chowky ,,and why should all this matter to our cops , this is not a law and order problem..

Even if a cop sees someone making nuisance invariably he will just walk away pretending he has not seen it ,, In Mumbai the local goons that allow beggars to beg at prime spots get protection money money that is moved further up to those in high places ,, there was a lady dwarf beggar Muslim but I have not seen her for a long time ,,

Shooting beggars is like shooting nature , the beggars are trampled flowers , parched cactus , limbless trees , rootless plants ..and in my  short life as a photographer i have short different species of beggars ,..perhaps because I am a Muslim and this Muslim bit is not about religion but my spiritual culture that makes shoot Muslim beggars over 4500 images of Muslim beggars shot in India .. the cities I visited during religious feasts or pilgrimage .

It hurts me to see their lot , as staunch Muslims build Mosques Madrsas but no hope for the Muslim Untouchables , no rehabilitation , no institution where they could learn a trade and earn later in life.

Beggar ladies girls could be groomed taught Arabic and could in return teach poor Muslim children in the slums , there would be less rape of 5 year girls by horny Muslim sexual perverts who pose as Arabic teachers and those men who rape instead of arresting them they should  arrest the Heads and Trustees of the Madrsas too all equally to blame for bad outsourcing .. I had tweeted this to Hon Mr Tawde our Education Minister with foresight and vision and also wanted to know why Sunni Ulemas keep silent , why are pre pubescent Muslim girls being taught by  Muslim male Arabic Koranic teachers ,.

This is well maintained in Shia culture , girls are only taught by ladies , my granddaughter now 7 i has been learning Arabic at the Shia Mosque , religious scriptures and performs the Namaz with my wife before going to school, so in short even parents elders must add to the childs spiritual growth.. it kills me when I  read  this child abuse be it any religion .. it kills me as a human being most of all as a father of a girl and three girl grandkids .

So back to my Muslim beggar anthology of textless pain ..little girls forced to beg,,, newborn babies forced to beg , used abused as they grow older forced to marry old beggars and it is a life of pain in the lowest poor hierarchy of Muslim society.. and pictures dont lie..

Muslim kids burnt , beaten , so that they get more money through sheer sympathy and the Muslim Beggar Season...or Urus will start when the Ramzan Moon is sighted ,,

And all over Muslim areas you will see Muslim beggars ,, lame cripple crawling on all fours , deformed distorted contorted , and I am happy now people realize I help beggars and I dont sell beggar pictures as people presumed when I took up the camera to shoot them.. I hope some sadistic rich man does buy all my beggar pictures I will give the entire money I get to the poor irrespective of caste color or creed to the Indian poor ,,

I would not take a single cent from that money...