Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Night life

25th April 2008, Trichy, South India:

A homeless man shares his dinner with a street dog, under a lamp post by the road, before turning in for the day at the same venue. It is the peak of summer and this town is notorious for its searing heat. The lamp is rendezvous for a swarm of myriad insects, which orbits it for the safety offered by its light. The walls behind serve as public toilet to the travelers of the road. Strewn across the sand are instances of liter thrown from the building behind and by people walking by.



The same night, just a few kilometers away:

Oblivious to climatic effects and other miseries of shelterless existence, I snuggle to sleep beneath rich sheets in this plush hotel room. Around my bed there is enough room for an entire family of street dwellers. The rent I pay for it for the day, could feed the man in the above picture for more than a month.


He has his night, I mine.