Am sitting in a café called Mohan Sweets, 10 minutes away from my meeting with Jayalakshmi, a stranger I met with last evening in a cigarette shop. Her interest in my camera and my interest in her life made an instant friendship amongst us, and she agreed to meet me today. She promised me to show me her friends, family and life. In front of me are around 50 women with deep neck blouses, kitschy skirts, flowers in the hair. Contrary to my expectation, Jayalakshmi wore cotton pajamas and a black blouse. She said she took a day off from work to day. Her workplace is a walk away from the café. She is a 22 year old transsexual prostitute from Andhra Pradesh, and is living there since seven years with 16 other prostitutes.
I discovered Budhwar peth, when I lived in Poona for a month in OSHO Commune, and since then I visited this generous community almost every day in the evening, talking for hours over chai, photographing their lives. The love for being photographed overtook their intimidation from an outsider like me. This opened their world for me, and my camera, as I made some of the most amazing friendships ever.
I discovered Budhwar peth, when I lived in Poona for a month in OSHO Commune, and since then I visited this generous community almost every day in the evening, talking for hours over chai, photographing their lives. The love for being photographed overtook their intimidation from an outsider like me. This opened their world for me, and my camera, as I made some of the most amazing friendships ever.
© MUKUL BHATIA, 2013
