Check out also:
A Visual Story: from Istanbul to Delhi. www.timbiot.blogspot.com
Travel Photography: www.lightstalkers.org/tim_biot
Images of the World: www.lightstalkers.org/tim_biot
New Zealand Landscapes; www.lightstalkers.org/timbiot_nz
The Beauty and Wisdom of our World: www.tim-biot.blogspot.com
All images copyright Tim Biot 2007.
On my recent (2006/'07) travels in Asia I encountered a great deal of poverty.
Wherever there is poverty, there are beggars.
With this visual story I would like to share some of my experiences and show you a part of the world that remains largely hidden for most; because the world doesn't want us to know, or we ourselves simply don't want to see.
Most of the people in this portfolio had fallen to the bottom of society and were forced to beg for survival.
To others, begging was just like any other job. They made a decent living out of it and were as happy and healthy as most other people.
Afghanistan was tough; the land, the people, the system. It is a country with a violent past, a country of fighters. The beggars I met there were in a wretched condition, which reflects in the photo's I took there.
India is different from anywhere else in the world.
So are the Indian beggars.
When I say that for some begging is like an other profession, I mean that literally.
In India, beggars often work for a beggar master who will provide them with practical assistance and protection in return for a commission of the their profit. The beggar master might place them in a profitable location and make sure no one else takes this position from his beggars. He might help them with 'props', like a little platform on wheels for those without legs. He might provide a place to sleep, some food and clothes.
Others take it even further and are part of a union. This is an organization of beggars that functions much like a more conventional worker's union. They have work schedules: one team works the morning shift, the next team does the afternoon shift to ensure that everybody gets an equal opportunity to work equal hours in prime locations.
The more independent beggars also have many ways to encourage sympathy from potential donors. Some women rent babies or young children from mothers who need money themselves. One is more inclined to donate money or food to someone with a baby or a child clinging to them. If the child is old enough, it will participate in the begging process.
An illness or wound can be a blessing, because it will encourage pity and sympathy in passer-bys. Many leave their wounds to fester or emphasize their ilness for the same reason.
Some go as far as to contaminate themselves with leprocy. There are many centers in India that provide free medical service for lepers where they can keep their self inflicted disease in check. I encountered countless beggars with a few fingers missing, but otherwise in good health.
I even met some people who had cut off their own legs in order to become a succesful beggar. In Pune I met a 10 year old girl with only one arm. She told me her father had amputated her arm when she was very young. They were now begging together on the street.
For some this might all come as a shock. It could make you angry, either at the system that is responsible for this situation or at the beggars because you might feel mislead.
But this is India and in India things are usually not what they seem.
Before you judge these people, know that most people, anywhere in the world, would not be sitting on the pavement all day, living off mere scraps and handouts if they had the choice. But then again, it's India and they just might.
Most mothers and fathers would wish a different fate for their children than to roam the streets begging for alms. But then, we're in India and you just never know.
And when you encounter a beggar with an arm of legs missing, you can wonder: did he do this to himself? Whatever the answer, no sane man would ever shop of his own bodyparts if it wasn't absolutely necessary.
But then ...
