Hello all, i had done a little shoot for CNN-IBN on another beggar like Bilal (the man in the picture above)....the shoot was not aired( because of "bigger stories" and the beggar dissapeared!!! i was too guilty[because i feel i was the cause of his loss of livelihood-god alone knows where that disfigured beggar remember;the one near the park street metro station went] and scared for bilal and thus did not do any shoot for him. Here’s a little something that i found out about Bilal..............
"Every Kolkatan at some point has walked on this footpath, but it is surprising how very few or none have noticed Bilal. I always remember seeing Bilal, in his mid 40s, with no hands and a body so frail that one could easily count his ribs. According to the hawkers of this chowringhee footpath Bilal has been lying on his stomach, shiverring, for the past 10-15 yrs. Kolkata is full of men and women like bilal, some handicapped, blind with no rehabilitation and some like this man outside the park street metro station, literally rotting away in pain! and some so old that it is shameful to see them, from the comfort of our cars and taxis, having to stand in the sun and beg! Unlike others who have made begging their occupation out of choice, People like them beg because they have no choice; who will give an old man or a man with no hands or legs a job today? There are others who wander with no clothes on without a trace of shame as a lot of them are mentally challenged. The question is, what is the government doing? Where are the ever active human rights activists and NGO's? When it comes to people like this, where does the spirit of the residents of the city of joy go? People like them do not require those extra ten rupees that you have generously decided to spare, they need HELP!! The agencies concerned, the citizens have to join hands to rehabilitate them and ensure them of their basic right, their right to life!!"
"Every Kolkatan at some point has walked on this footpath, but it is surprising how very few or none have noticed Bilal. I always remember seeing Bilal, in his mid 40s, with no hands and a body so frail that one could easily count his ribs. According to the hawkers of this chowringhee footpath Bilal has been lying on his stomach, shiverring, for the past 10-15 yrs. Kolkata is full of men and women like bilal, some handicapped, blind with no rehabilitation and some like this man outside the park street metro station, literally rotting away in pain! and some so old that it is shameful to see them, from the comfort of our cars and taxis, having to stand in the sun and beg! Unlike others who have made begging their occupation out of choice, People like them beg because they have no choice; who will give an old man or a man with no hands or legs a job today? There are others who wander with no clothes on without a trace of shame as a lot of them are mentally challenged. The question is, what is the government doing? Where are the ever active human rights activists and NGO's? When it comes to people like this, where does the spirit of the residents of the city of joy go? People like them do not require those extra ten rupees that you have generously decided to spare, they need HELP!! The agencies concerned, the citizens have to join hands to rehabilitate them and ensure them of their basic right, their right to life!!"
