I normally never use the tripod or monopd I have both of them Manfrotto that I bought a very long time back..
But on Easter Sunday as I wanted to shoot the Latin Mass I carried the monopod with me to St Peter Church..
I had taken permission from Fr Jaun the night before and I would have shot it from the doorway as I did last year but a kind person attending the mass invited me in so I shot it from the back of the chapel.. it is above the main church..
After I finished shooting the Mass I decided to walk home via the Bandra Bazar with my monopod and thus shot the market scenes ..and I caught this beggar candidly without him being aware that I had shot him..
These beggars are known as Bawas ,,they beg for a living blessing people that give them alms ,,this Muslim beggar hardly talks I have shot him earlier too.. most dont like being shot and can get very abusive but I shoot them somebody has to tell their story.. their trials tribulations .. and nothing can change their fate ... they will most probably die begging on the streets ,,
This beggar is very different from the two senior beggars Jaffar Bhai and Khwajah bhai.. they are humble polite and both have daughters in their hometown.. it might sound strange both save money for their daughters and grandchildren.
The other beggars in my lane are migrants from Malda West Bengal..my lane on Fridays has become an abode of crippled beggars , women beggars with kids and these women I have shot for over 6 years now .. I know their kids ,,,
The old beggars are reticent beg silently.. a lot of beggars come here but disappear soon after .
All these beggar blogs are part of storyboard at Flickr Muslim Beggars of India ,, I shot them for reasons unknown to me ,, and certainly not to make money,,, photography is purely a hobby the only medium that documents life as fine art too .
As I have begged with the Rafaees and my Naga Guru.. eaten left over food I think I know what the beggar psyche goes through and I did trample my ego insanely as I stretched out my hand from door to door along with the band of Naga Sadhus at Nasikh..
I shoot a few communities ,, and beggars is one of them but it is the Muslim beggar I shoot prolifically ,, among the Muslim beggars are also beggars from the lower caste non Muslims who wear hijabs or a skull cap beg and it does not matter necessity is the mother of invention.
The most fascinating specie of Muslim beggars I found at Ajmer during the Urus and at Taragadh ,.. most of the beggars are fund near Sufi Shrines ,,,Mosques and other religious places ,,, I shot Muslim beggars during Pitru Paksha at Banganga ..
But strangely I never shot Muslim beggars at the Kumbh ,.. but yes I did shoot a Muslim boy I shoot him every year at Ajmer he is badly deformed no legs just one tiny hand he was dressed as a Hindu with vermilion on his forehead he was a good actor he pretended he did not know me and I too was dressed as a Hindu with ash on my forehead at Ramkund .. Nasik Kumbh 2015 .
But strangely I never shot Muslim beggars at the Kumbh ,.. but yes I did shoot a Muslim boy I shoot him every year at Ajmer he is badly deformed no legs just one tiny hand he was dressed as a Hindu with vermilion on his forehead he was a good actor he pretended he did not know me and I too was dressed as a Hindu with ash on my forehead at Ramkund .. Nasik Kumbh 2015 .
