INVISIBLE MEN
This is not an article about statistics,its an account of lives. The aim of this article is not to criticise the efforts of any social welfare organization in particular, but to bring to notice certain individuals who cannot help themselves ,
obviously in need of aid, some whom I've seen in the same places for the last ten years or so! How did we miss out on them, under our very noses, when, we , the society, when begging for foreign funds with our hats in our hands, claim to reach the far rural corners of India, to help the underprivileged? How often do we walk by someone in pain, how often do we ignore them as is they were a disease, treat them like they were invisible?
It is my belief that social organizations claim to help the poor and the suffering, and to reach rural corners, because itt catches the eye of potential donors. It seems unlikely that they have a genuine feeling towards helping the underprivileged, or else downtown Chennai would not be a gallery of 'frameless heads on nameless walls ' , as Don McLean would put it, a place where one can see suffering on almost every street corner, in areas that shamefully host a number of offices of those very social welfare groups that seem to be so keenly looking for
people to help.
But the aim of this article is not to slap mud on these organizations, but to give certain individuals a chance to leave their fingerprints in time, a little space in a little magazine, so they too can leave a record somewhere. Maybe on seeing this photo essay, just one person, or one organization may wake up to reality and see the wonderful opportunity they have to set some wrongs right.
Here's a little math for all you business tycoons. Add all the money in the world, and divide it by the population of the planet. You know you have more than your fair share, put like that. Don’t come up with "people that work hard make money", you know your employees work harder than you do. Imagine how money came into being, and why it did, following the barter system. Imagine a prehistoric
society in which people co-existed at a common level of status and comfort, dividing chores among themselves. One
section to hunt, one section to fetch water, one to make clothes, one to collect fruits, one to cook…….very organized, like today's society, but 'all the people sharing all the world', John Lennon's dream theme. Obviously one individual from one section decided not to
share what he had. Obviously he must've asked for more than his fair share in return, maybe what he was holding back was vital for survival, say firewood. There
begins the first business deal. There begins the point in time when people start thinking twice before 'sharing all the world'. There begins the necessity for something called money, which divides man from man based on the value of his assets, nothing else.
Life was a race where all the athletes used to hold hands and walk past the finish line together, until one of them decided to break free and make a run for the finish, and then another, and then another. Until some were left so far behind that running would make no sense now, it’s a race that they just cant win. These pictures are about such people.
from my blog, where the photos exist
www.srteetphotographyindia.blogspot.com
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