Poverty 1 Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

I was expecting to see poverty on my trip to India, but nothing quite prepared me for what I saw. People live in squalor that is almost unbelievable. I'm embarrased that I didn't catch half of what I saw, as I was dumb struck most of the time, and forgot to actually take pictures! Anyway, I have a few pictures to share, this is the first.
This lady was snapped whilst sitting outside her shack. It looked like it was about to fall down, but as you can see it has been decorated to look "nice" with a Pepsi ad, and price. My guess is that the price changed from 5 to 6 rupees recently, judging by the squared off top right corner of the 6!
No work, not much hope, and not much to do except sit outside and watch the traffic. Luckily, this is winter and it is only 30C at 5:30pm when I took this shot! oops, did i say lady? Take a closer look and judge for yourself. I know that there is a unique caste (am I right?) in India that are not quite what they seem, if anyone could supply more info, I would be eternally grateful. The inhabitants of this row of shacks all seemed fairly unique and deep voiced.

KevinRL, sohrab, manu_itu has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

amitai (867) 2004-12-25 8:30

I think tighter cropping would have helped a lot with this picture, maybe you couldn't maybe you didn't want to walk closer to the lady/man on the floor, but the too much roof and too much road, diminishes the excellent contrast of colors and shapes on the side walk. One of the better Indian poverty shots I've seen, and its magic lies in its simplicity.

KevinRL (819) 2004-12-25 16:56

Yes I also have a bit of a proble with the road and blue plastic roof.
I have done a workshop, hope you approve.
There is indeed a caste of transvestites, but I can't remember the name of it. They have a particular part to play in some ceremonies, weddings I think. In the not too distant past pretty young boys were sold to these women to be court dancers and playthings, and to live their lives as women. It must have been aweful to know that there was no escape.

[workshop] [compare]

sohrab (7423) 2004-12-26 0:04

hi christopher..
yes i think she belongs to the "hijra" class..
the eunuch class
about the poverty.. well mumbai is the most expensive city in india to live in. you have slums surrounding some of the most expensive buildings in the world..
about the temperature ..well it's just 30 degrees C in mumbai.. but in the north temperatures are nearing freezing.. new delhi is going down to below 10 and we have a strong cold wind blowing once in a while too..
every year in india.. there are lots of people who die because of the cold wave.. while in the summer the heat waves kills quite a few not to forget about the droughts and famines.. similarly the floods during the monsoons takes a lot of lives. so you can see there is hardly any respite for the poor here.

about the photograph... well to be honest it's just a point and shoot photograph.. not a very empathetic one i think.... also yes the hijra class is much better off than alot of other castes.. a lot of people consider it good if a new born child is blessed by them.. so eunuch's hae their own ( not a very low) place in the indian society.
see salgado for the empathy that im talking about :)
take care

[2] +

greg64g (11193) 2004-12-26 5:35

Hi

Magnific picture, I have now a beautiful and sad feeling now. thanks to share this particular moment you'd live!

Malanche (109) 2005-01-10 15:21

Eu tenho a fotografia como um registro das coisas bonitas das cenas bonitas, porem, e com a camera em punho que as vezes pegamos cenas um tanto qto inusitadas..neste caso.... e por cima de tudo a propaganda da PEPSI....legal...