Happy Morning From Bandra ,, and a sweet memory called Appu.
I first met Appu about 20 years back those crazy days I stalked Chor Bazar for old cameras , books and other memorabilia,,and I honed my craft as a street photographer shooting reluctant Muslim faces ,, I tried to shoot candid those ealy days of Film slides and BW and I was a Nikon user when I started out , I gave up Nikon completely in 2011 when my ex boss presented me the Canon EOS 7D ,
I was abused by Appus handlers for shooting him at Chor Bazar creating a nuisance and a large crowd close to Bori Mohalla ,, the handler lashed out at me saying we photographers shoot the beggars to sell the pictures to foreign Press ,, I was shocked at her knowledge and my moderation.
Appu saw I was hurt called me over and we became friends I shot Appu for many years as he kept moving away from Chor Bazar to Musafirkhana Crawford Market to Minara Masjid and on Wednesdays at Mahim Church lane .
My granddaughter Marziya met him when she was 2 year old and she has never forgotten him.. she is 8 now and she wants to shoot Appu too so I search for him when I pass his old haunts ,,I once gave him my visiting card too.. and never treated him as a beggar ..every time I met him I gave him Rs 100.. and tried to invite him to my house at Bandra .. but he would smile this migrant from Assam ..
The Tablikis of Mumbai forced a skull cap on him and he began to grow his beard .. begging in their areas was not easy.. their spirituality had to be adhered ,,, and he begged in the rains fully drenched at the Shia cemetery during Shia Shabbarat ,, I shot him there ..
Appu was one of the reasons I began to walk barefeet ,, to feel the earth and to walk with him.. he walks as a stump..no hands no feet .. and if I had money I would have got him a wheelchair those days but he would tell me he lived on the roads and the druggaddicts had stolen his money too,,so he had a handler later his mother uncle or even his sister ,, and the goats of Chor Bazar and the flies troubled him a lot ,, but Appu was always there smiling he lit up the moment he saw me with my camera ,,I really begin my tryst with photography shooting beggars ,, I paid them and they were the best role models ,,
It has been many years now I have not met Appu .. and this is my early morning tribute to his memory ,.
Appu is a set at my Flickr timeline ,,
