Once Upon A Time At The Turner Road Traffic Signal They Begged

The most iconic beggar and hijra signal was this signal and in between these two lot were the North Indian Bhaiyya fruit sellers .
This was a very important traffic signal because it connected Bandras two main shopping hubs Linking Road to Hill Road..

And because of dinning joints fastfood joints and the jewelry shops this was a signal the beggars and the hijras made good money ,,

It is almost deserted now the Hijras moved away the survivors of this beggar group now beg near the Pamposh Linking Road signal.

I shot this group extensively ,and even now after so many years they recognize as the only man who shot them , their smiles their laughter , their tears ,.

The stepfathers would burn them break their hands to get in more money and I gave them money tried to help them but they found safety in their own group, the cruel stepfather was better than the cops or being caught sent to the beggars home ,,

Life was tough and they had seen money so going back to their hometown was missing out on the big dream..

Happy New Year

street urchin
fatherless
motherless
what are his
dreams this
year begging
on the streets
is he a runaway
life tough austere
soon like the others
i shot he too will
disappear who really
cares about them
a thought unclear
two faced society
has no time for them
it shows insensitive
veneer is he dreaming
of a jesus who will
appear hold his hand
feed him touch him
heal him hear him
cheer him being
human is more
important than
simply being sincere
but sadly our child
is in the hands of
a racketeer an evil
devious puppeteer

a little life gone out of gear

two humble photographers of the world

My Flickr Stats On 26 October 89998 in Humility And Gratitude

We all want the world
in our pictures to be seen
though my backyard
sadly even with a BJP MP
MLA too is the filthiest
horrendously  dirtiest unclean
potholed unhygienic through
my pictures you have seen
umpteen shot by my grand daughters
marziya and nerjis not yet in their teens
swach bandra bazar is impossible
unless of course if the PM comes
to clean a message to all
where you live the area you
should not demean ,,
keep it neat evergreen.

the next corporator from my area
will also be from BJP as the congress
took us for granted has finally lost
its sheen netas that only during
election time were seen my poem
my paean nobody ever had the guts
to ask them sir madam 15 long
years .. tell us where have you been
what have you done besides sending
out brochures that were read by
aging stars of the silver screen..

gosh what a change of scene ,,markets
without even a ladies latrine ,,for them
sadly everything was routine ,,we just
hope the new lot makes Bandra pristine
comfortable slum free serene ..those
that are living in the slums need hope
not just free talk free polio vaccine

not your mugs with superstars in every
filmy magazine ..long lines of muslim ladies
poor dalits waiting in the hot sun for kerosene

to those of my good friends in America happy Halloween

East Meets West

flatless phenomena
padded bras
stuffed smoothly on her chest
mini skirt uncovering her rest
while they in sarees
thoughts abreast
do protest
take this window mannequin
to test  east meets west
toss a coin
to find out who is best
birds of a feather
flock together
lay eggs in someone else s nest
a metaphoric mindlessness on request

Did God Deliberately Makes Us Black And White

or was it his dark humor
or did he create humanity
partly in the day  partly
in the night or was god
suffering from poor eyesight
or was he satirizing the flaws
that would enter the soul of man
making him a bigot dependent
on his color beginning of a fight
dividing humanity to an eternal
plight ..what is wrong what is
right as a beggar poet i shot
a moment elusively in flight
 my camera vision holding
my sense of poetry despite
painted with spectral light

The Muslim Man Waits For His Death

his children
his grandchildren
they radicalized
instilled venomous
hate for others
they killed his
heritage of peace
brotherhood in
which he had
pride ..he left
his home became
a vagrant his hope
had died,, now he
awaits his own death
totally deprived ,,
he wonders whether
it is better to be dead
or better to be alive

only time will tell if he will survive