The nomads

I have lost the knack of waking up to the alarm. I cant believe I used to wake up at 5:45 every day, and go for a jog. The pox had rattled everything. Now all I can do when I hear the alarm is: turn it off (even snooze aint an option!) or even better: not hear it at all, so that I can throw a tantrum when I wake up finally, some time when the sun has reached directly above the head. So last Saturday, I set the alarm at 5:40, as I was supposed to meet some friends at Madiwala at sharp 6:15 AM. And so, it was riding the bike at spine-numbing chill winds at 100 kmph, and jumping the traffic lights (its no harm when you are the only person on all the four sides of the junction, right? And besides, obeying rules is my principle, but its no use being a fool about it) Finally I met them at madiwala by 6:40. Turned out that they waited for a long 2 minutes or so. Afterall, we're all running on IST(Indian Stretchable Time)!!!

We proceeded to our destination, which was in front of the Yeshwantpur railway station. Despite the way it sounds, yeshwantpur is not in UP, its right in namma Bengaluru. Though the effort involved in reaching there can be considered somewhat equivalent! We reached there by sharp 7, and was glad to see some people already present at the meeting point. Together, we proceeded to the 'Rajasthani settlement' of nomads near Dasarahalli, which was our shooting location for this weekend. As it turned out, the Rajasthani settlement was not Rajasthani in its entirety. There were people from almost all parts of the country. The illusion of them being Rajasthani was created due to the presence of camels, in large numbers.

Some more people came in, and after all the customary hand-shakes, ogling at expensive equipment and introductions with the newly-met, we trickled down into the slums. A girl who I was meeting for the first time seemed a bit surprised that I was married. "You look too young to be married", she remarked. I would have pondered more into the meaning of the statement, its possible rammifications, its potentital etc etc (as I had done several times in the past and failed miserably) had it been a different situation, but, I just brushed it aside with a smile. One of the things you pick up, as you learn to live as a married man!

The dwellers were just about waking up and going about their morning chores. Their initial reaction was surprise, bordering on hostility, as they saw this large group advance towards them with big fat black ugly looking equipment in their hands. But later, we split into small groups and tried to befriend them, explaining to them that we're from a photography college, and we were doing this as part of our project etc etc. That little innocuous lie has worked well since a long time back. In fact, its not entirely a lie too..

But all were not as friendly either. One elderly woman was not at all amused when I tried to take her picture, and she even tried to pick up a stone! That as the first time in my adult life I was being threatened to be pelted! I fled the scene immediately! I don't completely understand their apprehension towards being photographed. Of course, my own reaction would not be very different either(not the stone-throwing part) if a total stranger tried to click my picture, but that would be upon concerns of compsomising my privacy. Whereas, for these people, its something else, as I have come to experience. They really loathe us for what we have, and they do not. They think we want to make more and more money by just photographing them, and publishing it somewhere. They feel extremely miserable in their situation, and that feeling is exacerbated when they see these people wearing neat and expensive clothes, talking in langauges they cant talk, and having money to squander on expensive toys! And they feel we're completely unable to empathize with them. They are human beings, and they hate being treated as objects. But as we speak to them, and show genuine concern for them, they turn friendly immediately.

In contrast, children were really enthused to see us and flocked around us. As some of us began showing the pictures in our LCDs, the children grew in numbers, all of them chanting, "Uncle, ek photo! Uncle mera/meri bhi ek" While were zeroing in on some interesting subjects, and was just about focusing, a group of children would come and stand right in fron of the camera, grinning. It was annoying and amusing at the same time!

I talked to a thin, friendly looking young man. He could not have been more than thirty. He was from MP. It was now close to a year since they left their homes. And about 3 months since they came to Bangalore. They generally look for work, sell stuff, offer camel rides etc. They stay in one place for about 3-4 months and then move on. Some people visit their homes in between, but mostly it will be another year or so before they see their homes again. He said to me, "Its nice to see all the things you are doing, but will it benefit us in any way? We are really poor, and if you can do something for us, we'd be really grateful." Just that I didn't know what that something could be! Is 'this' something? Or do I need to do more? Of course I can do more if I wanted to...

I met the school-teacher too. The 'school' was nothing more than a slightly bigger shanty, with a blackboard, and the children sat on the floor. Only that there were no children. It was funded by the government, he said, but the real issue was getting the children to come. He had to go to literally each and every tent and pull them along. Even the parents were least interested in educating the children. He seemed really excited when I told him I was working with computers. To him, it was a world far beyond his reach. Maybe he can help some of the chidren reach there, someday..

They offered us camel-rides around the place for Rs.50. I did not feel like doing that. Somehow, it felt humiliating. Reminded me of elephant safaris in national parks and stuff.

No, it was wrong. Very very wrong!


See the pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lazystrokes/sets/72157603421425757/