Live 8

The dust settled from the whirling of the helicopter blades. A hundred dark gaunt faces, ghost like, cautiously approached the fat machine. Women barely able to carry babies, their stomachs bloated and flies triumphantly gorging whatever little they could find around their oozing eyes and dry lips. No energy even to brush them away. A [...]

The builder

Came out from "Jazz by the Bay', a club in Mumbai, into Marine Drive. Called the 'Queens Necklace', this area is among the most desirable and expensive real estate in Mumbai. Was approached by a really old bent and gnarled woman begging for some money. I asked her where she came from. 'Sholapur' she said, [...]

The Mother

Oscars. Red carpet. Elizabeth. Vanity Fair Party, squeezing through. Frenzied media. Who's this guy in the Maharaja dress ? Better take his picture just in case someone pays for it. Elton John's party. Excuse me, did I step on your Prada shoes ? Oops, sorry, did I spill my drink on your dress as I [...]

The Temple

I often sit in the temple across the street from my house in Mumbai. Not to pray, but just to bathe myself in the vibrations of all those that do, all those lucky ones that so easily believe in the divine power of faith ... I usually have a space in a back corner on [...]

The Fruit Seller

In the bustling metropolises of today, the greatest sound you hear are the blaring horns and the noise of the traffic. But I remember when Delhi was a city full of the welcoming cries of the Street Sellers, the ''Wallah's. I remember very clearly the sound of the Sabzi walla. It went : Sabzzzi le [...]