From Kashmir With Love Hope Humility

He hails from Baramulla Kashmir , and he was begging for food ration in the slums to feed his family ,, most of these Kashmiri migrants live at Bandra East end in makeshift tents ,, I have never been there but I have been shooting these families for over 20 years now ,, Kashmiri migrants turned beggars ..they beg outside mosques dargahs and mostly at Mahim Urus with their wives and beautiful cherubic kids ,,

It is sad but begging is the only alternative as they wont get jobs ..people are scared hiring these migrants ,, I dont need to elaborate ,, but you all know the reason.

Once They Had A Home ,,, Now They Live On The Roads

This scene is from my Demolition diaries ,,, these are the survivors of a demolition of their shanties off Rang Sharda Hotel Bandra Reclamation ,,

When these illegal shanties were being built not a single person nor the police or Municipality took objection..and when it became populous noisy adding to the urban chaos the bulldozers rolled in.. and these few families are still living with a hope ,, their kids study in nearby Municipal schools ,, husbands work as daily wage earners ,, or the older kids do odd jobs rest move around as vagrants .

And now a road is being built here I was told connecting to the sealink so work is going on.. there are lots of slums on either side of this road ..mostly migrants contract laborers ,, I really dont know much about them I see them as humanbeings ,,and feel sad for the kids .. who come hovering around me to take their pictures ,,,

The women wash cook do their domestic chores on this road ..sadness written on their faces ,, somebody who set them up here to build their homes in collusion with rogues in the authorities must have taken huge sums as protection money illegal electricity water connection... leaving them high and dry.

I have shot a lot of demolished communities Mahim Mori Road , Byculla and as Mumbai is a integral city of Dreams they come ,, in hordes to try out their luck.. failed youth get into wrong society become drug addicts drug peddlers ,,some end up as scavengers collecting dry garbage ,..for plastic bottles and beer bottles other junk.

Bandra Reclamation is the saddest place filthy ugly and will never be slum free ,, slums were created here by the politicians their sycophants as vote banks ,, some became rich now have number of rooms in the slums that are given out on hire to the rickshawalas .. after Gazdar Bandh Santa Cruz .. we have the largest number of auto rickshas and not a single toilet from Nargis Dutt Nagar till Lilavati Hospital.. so the migrants use the seafront off the Bandra Reclamation Promenade ,, most of the politicians are aware of all this but some are opportunists ,, and have caused this state of turmoil in the first place .

Lot of petty criminals , anti social elements live in the Lal Mitti belt ,,robberies at Bandra Bazar Road .. happen and crime continues ,, the criminals are certainly not scared of the cops ,, and what do you expect when you read cops taking to crime involved in blackmail extortion rape and custodial deaths ,,

And nobody wants to sensitize the cops ,, there is no Police reforms .. long hours of duty on stretch , potbellied cops .. and once when we were young we though Mumbai Police was better than Scotland Yard.. police has been politicized ,, and these are my personal views I dont belong to any political or religious party..but it saddens me as an Indian ,.. our religion has become politicized too.. we run our lives via Facebook Twitter hellbent on propagating our bias our faith .. on the soul of our Nation.. we are badly divided as Congis Leftists Bhakts and Sanghis Aptards ,,

We are hardly Indians anymore .

Woh Hote Hain Kismetwale Jinki Ma Hoti Hai

She is the leper mother who begs at Bandra Bazar Road there used to be a guy her brother also a leper who used to move them around a flat board like cart on wheels ...she told me he has gone to their hometown .
And I wondered where do they keep their savings because in Bandra the drug addicts local thieves rob from poor folks too ..
Bandra is a home for anti social elements most living in the Lal Mitti slums cops hardly catch them as they only go after big fish .
This leper family saddens me and besides giving them money there is nothing much I can do .
These are my quintessential street stories they bloom in my backyard .
Many years back there was a lady who lived near the garbage bin she had two beautiful kids but she turned alcoholic and drug addicts would force themselves on her ..she needed booze as fish needs water and the kids were taken care by a few good people .
Than she disappeared with the kids but sometimes I spot her I asked her about the kids a boy and a girl but she stares at me in outer space .
Mind you we have a country hooch joint and most of the drunks make a beeline here close to the garbage dump that I shoot everyday.

The residents of Bandra Bazar Road are an emasculated lot worse than eunuchs they have no response to the evils in our area each one for himself ..they were appeased by the congress and 15 long years they slept through life .
The Congress touted Dengue free Bandra and Destiny made Bandra free of Congress forever .
There is a Congress Corporator but he hardly cares for the urban chaos he has never interacted with the residents as I am told he is busy appeasing the slums the other side of Bandra SV road .
My family were traditional congress voters and we voted for BJP we voted not just for Modijis rhetorics but progress and development but sadly in our area it is still a million light years away .

But next elections I will not vote use the NOTA option ...won't vote for a party or a candidate .
We had great faith for Am Admi Party but they shot themselves in the leg by trying to dump Phiroze Palkivala a non Bandraite on our consciousness and the same with Ms Poonam Mahajan from Worli she has no heart feelings or an emotional connect with our Bandra.

So sometimes a beggar and her child can pierce and bring hidden pain out in the open and I must reiterate local media of Bandra almost licks ass of those who fund and patronize them.

The Storyteller

I need pictures to tell my story of life .

I am just not capable of talking without visual s sometimes I let visuals talk but than as I have a lot of foreigner friends on Flickr I need to align them with my background .
My background sadly is my dire surrounding s garbage bins people shitting peeing and beggars of all kinds ..lepers deformed mentally physically challenged .
I shoot the real world I don't believe in shooting for shooting sake and I am an incorrigible street poet photographer ..poetry at times can hit you hard without the stumbling boulders of words .

This morning I went to play tennis I always carry snacks for the tennis instructors of Coach Surendra Pawar these guys break their balls teaching us tennis and they start at 6 and end by 9 ..I feel for them and I love them like my own kids ..they take a lot of pains to make me young on the court I used to tire easily because of my dormant asthama and diabetes but I play for 35 minutes ..today I played rigorously and vigorously encouraged by Fabian Namory and others .

After that I cut across Rang Sharda via a tunnel with my DSLR shooting the homeless who are clinging to a straw of hope ..on the roads their houses shanties were demolished by the Municipality ..as they were encroached on public land and were illegal.
They are with new born kids living in the open no toilets and it's pathetic ..there are a quite a large community here ..they respect me I talk nicely to them and they are migrants away from home .

I reach the Bandra Reclamation Promenade and begin my walk I shot a huge lot of pictures I am solely guided by an inner voice call it impulse and I see what others refuse to see ..yesterday I saw a senior citizen old man helping his wife tying the laces of her keds I felt happy and said he was a great loving husband he responded she is the only treasure I have ..I was speechless .

Than I shoot guys emptying out their bowels on the rocks and here I must add I have defecated once in the sea at Murud I had loose motions I was with late Mr Anil Bhartiya photographer I handed him my camera and went down to do the needful the waves lashing my face and I have never has such an experience ..it was heavenly a long time back. So I know why guys living in the slums come here to be one with god on the rocks .

Bandra Reclamation is in real bad state after my walk of 3.69 km I cut across the road near the Bandra flyover and take this route via Nargis Dutt Nagar Slums I shot a lot ..The homeless under the flyover and predominantly all poor Muslim migrants daily wage workers vendors ...and here I am reminded of a Hindi song Har Koie Chaha Ta hai Muthi bhar Asman everybody needs a fistful of Sky .

Than I shot the cane basket weavers near my house at Lal Mitti they have usurped the pavements. A guy tried to threaten me but I quietened him down politely ..I don't get scared .I would rather die once than everyday.

Reached home showered read the papers ..at home wife watches the Shia channel the grandkids watch Doremon I don't watch TV at all nor do I watch films 25 years I have not seen a film I shoot my own stories .

I can't give three hours of my life to see something that I dont believe in.
And by accident or otherwise I am part of a world of dreams called Bollywood.

Photography has never been my source of income ..not blogging .

I am a tailor .
I see dreams sartorially .

Happy Morning .

Evening I shall go to my dear friend Pablo Bartholomew s exhibition at Sakshi gallery Arthur bunder road close to my late mother's house at 3 Mohini Mansions .I was lucky those days early 80 s to be working at Mudra communications and was coordinating their shoots some with Pablo Suresh
Cordo Adrian Stevens Suresh Seth and Nadish Naorojee .

And the magic of their camera touched me very late in life .

Water Of Life

King of Kerba ,, Amber Khalid Bhai Pydhonie ..

I have known Khalid bhai since a very long time as I wear Amber too known as kerba ,, the Parsis wore kerba and in the olden days kerbas were used as prayer beads ,,kerba some say adds to your personality but it can generate undue anger too.
I was first introduced to kerba by the gemstone dealers of Bhendi Bazar and I have a ring with a fossilized fly in kerba ,,
Original kerba costs Rs 5000 a gram.. but there are artificial kerbas known as jerba or rod ,,
Khalid bhai deals in kerba and Parsi borders called gara ,, and in antiques too..he buys sells old zari.
If I come to Pydhonie I make it a point to visit him,...he is an amazing guy...
and in his shop and office you will see some very rare kerbas and zari borders ,, he collects chunky prayer beads too.