Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]How many mails about my time in India can I squeeze into a 4 week shoot? Too many. Yesterday I finally got around to something I've been wanting to do for a long time. South Bombay is supplied with water by large bore water pipes coming over the Creek (a swamp that divides the island into north and south) right into Mahim Dharavi. Just as Dharavi has always fascinated me, I've always wanted to walk on top of the pipes since I first saw them and saw people doing just that as a short cut. So yesterday I walked the pipe! It's big, it's slippery and if you fall off it hurts. This was a real buzz for me and I hope I got some nice snaps. The problem is it's been raining here for two weeks solid and yesterday the rain was lashing horizontally, so keeping the lens dry was close to impossible. Where the pipes come into Dharavi is where the metal workers live, as well as plastic sorting and the other rubbish-related trades, so there are hutments and workshops between the two pipes. Among other things, they make giant arrak-distilling barrels out of oildrums (arrak is a country liquor, I'm not sure what it's made of exactly) and carry them along the top of the pipe on their heads - looks good. Also photographed an old couple living under the Mahim-Sion flyover. They have a charpoy (cot made of a wooden frame and laced with string) on the central reservation (about a meter wide) and that's where they live. They've got a roof over their heads (the roadbridge itself), so they're actually better off than some other people, but the diesel fumes are pretty awful. Been there for twelve years. Actually, people living like this isn't really the main thrust of my photography, as I was more interested in how the slums have developed into middle-class areas over the last twenty years, and especially since the Bombay riots of 92, but these things also exist. Poverty itself is not an interesting subject to me, but it's a factor you can't ignore. Last week was a bit of a washout due to dysentery and heavy incessant rain, but this week has got off to a good start. Hope to get a few days no/less rain to finish off the project, this is my final week on it. Looking forward to seeing my wife and five-year old daughter again! Ciao babies, Rob. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.