Rohit Sharma

People say Mumbai never sleep. It does. Touted as the ‘financial capital of India’, it sustains a population of more than 2 crore individuals. Where do they all live? Inside the city & at its growing outskirts. Like a living entity, the city is growing in size. Every day, new people are entering it with the hopes of earning a livelihood. They scatter themselves in parts and bits of the city based on several factors, one of which is their monthly pay. Last some days, I have started to travel inside the city for reaching the destination of work. Yesterday, I was stuck in a traffic with my vendor. We travelled a distance of 7 kilometers in a matter of 1.5 hours. Now expand this to lakhs of people who were sighing off with me along the highway. Mumbai never stops, but it does get slowed down. After dropping me near my stop, my vendor called me in no time. He said that we know the reason of this clog. Out of all the lakhs of vehicle that traverse the road, one met with a roa...

I had only heard about the situation of finding flats at Mumbai. Well, call it 'The' Mumbai. I have been hearing all kind of scary stories. I have taken several suggestions. When you are first time to live here, you got to listen people's voices. It helps in segregating the perspectives, because what is at cost, is HUGE cost. My office space is situated at Andheri. That's one of the most posh area and thus also one of the most expensive as well. To think about affording a flat here is quiet a sin, that I committed too. Nevertheless I enjoyed the process.  I started my day with peace. I downloaded multiple applications including 99acres & NoBrokers. Post the immediate lockdown phase, since many people had migrated back to their native places, owners of the properties had given their own phone numbers in 99acres. Last time when I was searching for a flat at Pune, I could do many broker free inquiries. It's not like that now. The business is prospering ...

Market of the city of Maihar is jam packed with street sellers today. There are several buyers. It's festive. There are earthen pots, flowers, lights, crackers, sweets and so on.. Portraying a lady in red saree. She is selling lotus flowers... 10 rupee a piece. While there is a permanent concrete market which exist in constant harmony, street sellers play another role in the economy. How? Huge opportunity for the livelihood. Cheap source of purchasing power. Note that in terms of Purchasing power parity, India's economy is third largest in the world! What else? Lots of gender parity. All this is done in primary level. Some items are processed like earthen pots made from the dug out soil, garlands prepared from the flowers.. etc. While this all seems fruitful for them, it's hard too. For ex, no sanitary arrangements as of now in their vicinity, especially nothing for women. They would jus keep sitting for long hours, no matter of heat, or if they are sitting besi...

At around 9'O clock in the evening, it started to rain heavily at Pune. I was situated at a busy old market near the famous Shaniwar Wada. Clouds burst over the city in serious melancholy. There was no warning. People were caught in their act. There was thunder. Some stood at a nearby shed. Some had already been drenched that they don't have to hide anywhere. But who sings in the rain? People. Passing by excited, swirling their shoulders in no worries. In soon time, we knew that it's no normal pour. We knew that it's not gonna stop. The pace was not lessening. It was constant. It brought confusion.. Humans stood in quiet adore. We waited without alternative.  Clogging had started. Roads had thick layer of water over them. Traffic came to a halt.. At some places, electricity went off. Such moments create a little panic in the heart. We tend to remember our comfort zone. I missed the coziness of my home. As I touched the water, I found it cold. I saw people st...

Devprakash knows six languages including Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, English, Russian & Italian. His accent has a professional tone. He speaks sophisticatedly. Standing calmly before the exotic medieval architecture of Virupaksha Temple at Hampi, he awaits customer at his moving ice cream counter. He is wearing an orange Gamchha around his neck & a red shirt which is syncing with the red soil color of the region. A native of the nearby city of Hubli, he has now made Hampi a permanent home. He is still a bachelor while his parents keep living back at his native. On asked, "why didn't you marry?", he just nodded and smiled sheepishly. Perhaps, not all stories are easily spoken. DP has been a cook for 24 years of his life. He told me that he can cook many dishes including Italian, Mexican and ofcourse Indian. During Covid, many restaurants got closed and he got distracted from cooking. At the moment, he doesn't think much about going back to his earliar p...

Not showcasing a fantasy travel. Today I sit at a bus station in a Tier 4 town and await my bus, while also keeping a track of the work. It's different than sitting inside the AC office. In the Indian ground, you sweat, & get dusty. You also see the interior landscapes, greenery, gray clouds scattered over the horizon, rivers & people. People, as I said, they humble you sometimes. I boarded a public bus and I am accompanied by an underweight looking woman. She is carrying a naked baby on her hands and in a while started breastfeeding him. She has two other kids clasping around her. Their feet are dusty and they look tired. One of them has spots in her skin. They are traveling from Bengal & coming to her husband who is ill. She looks desperate for reaching destination and keeps asking me the remaining distance.. Bus started and in some time I got a kind request from the person sitting behind me. She has covered her face with a white cloth, and also wearing bl...

Portraying a salon hair dressing center, situated at a lesser known thin lane, somewhere at a dense colony of the city of Pune. It's cloudy outside. It's mid afternoon. Dark clouds hovering overhead. Not too many customers are arriving today. It's Saturday and also the religious tune of Saawan plays an important role. Many devote this period to Lord Shiva & Maa Parvati. They avoid certain things like not eating non-vegetarian food, avoiding cutting nails & body hair. The salon is run by three gentlemen. Together they have hired the space and run in cognizance. They are good friends. All belong to the village native towards North India. Among themselves, they talk in awadhi language. When there is no customer they discuss all kind of topics. They are easy going. There is a wooden bench inside the room. When there is no customer, they sit there casually, and even not talking for brief, filling the space with comfortable silence. One of them could play a so...

My grand father lives in the village back at my native. Thanks to the mobile phones, I keep hearing his voice and at times, we also video call. Whenever he calls, he talks in louder empathetic voice. He is always excited to talk. Doctor has advised him to keep away from the phones. There is something with his heart. Our conversation would be small. He would quickly enquire about my work & good health. He would ask if everything is 'truly' alright! Back some time when I had to quit job for pursuing studies, he would sneak peek to ask, if I need financial support. He would say to not to hesitate with him and be frank. There is nothing like those lines. It would bring cheers to me. Anyway, our native is at the central of India. It comes under the state of Madhya Pradesh. Unlike the part of India where I am living, it is comparatively much lesser developed. There are socio economic issues, marred with the growing environmental factors. I have a vivid memory of my ch...

It's morning. He woke up disgruntled after an eight hour sleep. The reality was before him. His mind was awake, his eyes wide open & dreams died a while ago. Sitting upclose near the bed, he listened to the chatter of the neighbors next door, the honking of vehicles downstreet & the wailing of a child somewhere. His system was taking time to do a reboot. Some of the pigeons whom he had made friends, were sitting at the edge of the window & empathising with him. He has to get up and be ready for the day. A quote sticking in front of him at the wall says, "Life demands work. Life demands a fight. If you don't, you will be dragged down." He has to go to the workplace and meet lifesized people. That's the deal. The cosiness of his secluded room space will be snatched away from him.  The 24 hours in the day is not enough. It ends too early for him. There needs to be more. But then he is afraid that that would require more exposure, more fight, m...

Her name is lily . She has brown strips and like most cats, she is cute. She comes here at her own will. She sits at the spot and look at the passing crowd of buyers and strangers. It's a fun watch. She enjoys the human circus. She also likes to listen to the ladies' talk, yet we do not know if she understands what they are murmuring. When she is hungry, she just has to meow in a cute little voice, and voila! Human's heart melt to this and they arrange something for her! They feed her. They also caress her fur and it makes her feel comfortable. Some of the street dogs envy her! Anyway, that's not it. Her presence is soothing to the lady keepers. They always have something to express their love. Customers like me stop to take a picture of her & rejoice at her curious look. She doesn't care much. She knows all about social media. Some of her friends are already in the Instagram. Their owners are over-possessing of them. Unlike lily, they are kept indoo...

It is afternoon. Mahesh is busy ironing the clothes of his customers. He works here at a monthly fixed wage. He looks serious and concentrated in his job. This tiny place is his space of work where he spends 50% of his day's time. He is the HR, the commercial guy, the security guard & also the hardworking employee! There is a watch on his left. There is a ceiling fan above him. One calendar hangs by the wall. At empty times he gets to sit on a plastic chair. The place is basically situated at the footpath! There are a number of QR scan code stickers of PayTM, Google pay, etc. that are sticking at the front. When asked, he replied with a non-glimmering face, "sab maalik ne lagaya hai (all posted by the lord)"... When the ironing is done, he keeps the clothes stacked at the back. Peeking closely into the shop, we would find a CCTV camera fitted at the top corner. He dares look directly at it. Iron man is obviously under continuous surveillance by the shop ow...

On those tougher days when you are unwillingly stuck at a certain place, a small lane filled with unknown faces, by a monotonous aura, or a one-room apartment, how do you let it go? What makes you not shout and how do you cope with the inner chaos of wanting to break free? There are no lies. He murmurs to himself, stares at wall blankly & thinks of hope, his only tonic. He daydreams of everything he wanted to become, he wanted to feel and that which he wanted to explore. Time passes and only a meagre part is accomplished. Ambitions suffer. There are no lies. How do you say your name when it means nothing and express nothing. It is just one in a million. How does age matter, when you are aging early and feel pain in your legs even though you haven't walked enough. Oh, these thoughts... They weigh heavy. He feels burdened & chained. There are no lies. You see those imaginary keys? Unlock these doors and open the cage. Let him fly. But, he will return. He will retu...

Packed with at least 14 passengers & a wheelcart overhead, a Tata Sumo private vehicle is ready to make another round of trip from the city of Aurangabad. It is painted black with few yellow strips over its body. A woman wearing a blue saree is talking with someone over her feature phone. There is chatter in the air. There are other vehicles nearby. It takes about 35 to 40 minutes for the vehicle to be full. Aurangabad is a district place and is one of the fastest developing cities in India. More number of people from the adjacent taluka places ought to travel here everyday. They come for several reasons, e.g., to make their day job, to bulk purchase for their local businesses, to celebrate, to visit government offices, for education and so on. With India's Purchasing Power Parity being second only to China in the world, it offers many such cheaper travel options for the people. Besides there is a lack of tax scrutiny on such businesses. Passengers are paying in cas...

It's a clear day at Jalna. Unclouded blue sky is radiating yellowish sun-rays all around. I stand at the public bus station waiting for a person to pick me up. I arrived a while ago. It's nearing 1'O clock in the afternoon. With temperature calming to 42 degree celcius, I feel confused & little sweaty. Over my formals, I am wearing a cotton Gamchha across my neck and intermittently over the head. It helped me to protect from the heat.  I rushed outside and found a shadowy spot by the shop of a tea seller. There are customers at the shop. It's around the corner of the station. A series of buses passed before me raising dust & black carbon into the air. Unaffected, not too many except me covered their noses to not inhale the soot. Jalna is part of the 'Marathwada' region. It recently got famous because of the high number of farmer's suicide news in the media. To put it in right context, If it doesn't rain enough for a year, there is go...

Met Mr. Don Khan at Aurangabad. Folding his hands, he was standing straight near his auto rickshaw. I found him quiet and immersed in his own thoughts as I approached him from a distance. Tall and neatly dressed, he spoke most sublimely the rates of the destination to drop me off. I couldn't have bargained it, as it was so nicely spoken. He was a calm man. I agreed and hopped on the three Wheeler. That's when I noticed his hair style and something very identical in his dressing sense. Couldn't be more curious & as I asked to understand that Mr. Don is a fan of Bachchan Sahab! That's when everything fall into place. I met a real Bachchan Sahab fan! It's a pleasure to meet people who are passionate about something, who we see are in love with a style and an identity! Touted as the angry man of the 80s, Mr Bachchan is no less than an ideology in India. Don Sahab kept open the first two buttons of his sky-blue wrinkle-free shirt & there kept hanging ...

Portraying an aged security guard on the day-duty of the parking compound. He is there when employees enter the compound, and as well, when they fast leave it. He sits under a blue shed by the iron gate, over a broken plastic chair. At a distance, aroma of garbage collected in the green cylindrical plastic boxes is blushing the air. Unlike modern day security guards, he doesn't don a blue khaki. Uncle Guard brings his own tiffin from somewhere he is staying along with a group of other people. He is a native from the central India, living far away from his family. His family stays back at home. He keeps the gate half closed and has tied a string at it to maneuver it. When a vehicle arrives, he directs the gate. The stories of the migrant workers in India is wide, diverse and touching on vivid levels. While skilled labor force do enjoy a piece of cake, there are many who are fitting at the bottom of the pyramid and are dependent on unintellectual works for their survival....

It's afternoon. At least 14 hours have passed since the train started a night before from Pune, Maharashtra. The station of Khandwa has probably passed. Passengers are a bit tired. It's jam-packed inside. It's also a marriage season. It's some kind of penance to travel like this. Ask anyone and they will tell how important it is for them to reach their destination. I asked a guy hanging by a cloth tied between the luggage rack and the upper seat, and he replied that her mother is in deathbed. He just has to travel. There is no other option.  From the window, warm air is coming inside. It's a little humid now. I am sitting at a spot in the upper seat alongwith three other guys. Last night we played ludo and made friends! With time, bonhomie between people increases naturally. People would start talking with eachother, and also make jokes. General coach of the train is one of the most happening & most eye-opening places. I feel that it tests us & w...

We stopped by a roadside tea stall set up by a grey-haired man. He was sitting comfortably in a chair. There was no customer at the moment. Two of us were wandering near a village at the outskirts of the city of Maihar. As we reached the shop and asked for the tea, uncle got up and moved to start the stove to heat it. The stove-cylinder setup is probably just for making the tea. There were no other utensils to cook Maggi etc. He was holding a lighted bidi on another hand. Soon he served us tea in glasses. It is 7'O clock in the evening. The day was long and the temperature touched 45 degrees a few hours ago. People do not come out of their houses during the day. It would seem like an abandoned place. Roads would be empty, houses closed. The black tar road in the front is now releasing the trapped heat into the air. Across the road, there are kachcha houses and village people are sitting in the front of their verandah. This may be the best part of the day to socialize. S...

लम्बी यात्रा होती है तो ट्रेन में जनरल डब्बा होना चाहिए. इससे भाईचारा बढ़ता है. पसीने से पसीना मिलता है. लोग रोटी पानी साझा करते है. हा थोड़ी बहस बाजी होती है. थोड़ी धक्का पेली होती है. जब तक ट्रेन नहीं चलती, लोग बेकाबू रहते है, ऐसा लगता है की अभी हीं कोई किसी को मार देगा. अंतिम में ज़्यादातर लोग सहजता को अपनाते है. ऊंची आवाज़ के अलावा और ज़रा सी गरमा गर्मी के बाद लोग कहते है की काहे को झगड़ा करें, जाने देते है, दो एक रात की तो बात है. वही तीन लोगों के बैठने की जगह में आठ लोग कैसे बैठता है, आप डब्बे में घुसे तो जाने. ट्रेन चलने को आती है तो खुली हुई खिड़कियों से ताज़ी हवा अंदर आने लगती है. यही आशा की पहली किरण है. एक एक दो दो करके सभी को कहीं ना कहीं बैठने का जुगाड़ मिलने लगता है. डब्बे में उमस कम हो जाती है. लोग तबेले में खड़ी गाय भैंसो के तरह एक दूसरे से सट कर चिपक जाते है और चुप चाप एक दूसरे से कंधे मिलाये बैठे रहते है. जो पहले जगह नहीं दें रहा होता, वो भी किसी प्रभाव से जगह बना देता है. आखिर कोई आदमी घंटों से सामने खड़ा है, तो दिल किसका नहीं पिघलेगा! हालांकि ये एक विचित्र प्रसंग है...

A portrait of the everyday scene at the dumping site of this locality. By the morning, the cleaning workers would be seen collecting the great garbage from the lanes and the many societies. They would as well clean the streets off the dust and the several biodegradable & non-biodegradable materials. The task is cumbersome and requires several level of efforts & mental strength. Our cleaning workers stand guarded in the eyes of the society carrying loads of historical disdain and they do this on a meagre salary. Thankfully, nowadays they do wear gloves & put on masks that they are provided by the authorities.  Collected material would then be segregated into dry and wet categories. Not to mention, but it also contains over-saturated items like sanitary pads, syringes, used huggies, chemicals containing medicines and so on, which impact the health of the workers if they come in contact with it. For the whole lockdown phase, they have been in direct contact wit...

Sunil works in one of the corporate offices of the city of Pune. He is a youth from the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh, one with a population of 19 crore! He is a migrant worker in this city. Thin and straight, he works as a office boy. He is placed here by a third party which offer contractual jobs to people. Sunil serves the employees of the office. He rather moves invisibly inside the premises, often carrying a tray in his hands, or silently standing at a distance to count the number of people present in the office. In the morning, he serves hot tea to the employees. The tea would exactly be the same, like each morning. It carries a perfect proportion of ginger, milk, sugar and the tea leaves. Sunil is never late. He serves everyone by 10:20 AM, then he dissolves into the background. Plain and simple. The office has several cubicles. There are meeting rooms. There are washrooms. There are cabins for managers. There is a desk at the entrance. There is a place where IT gu...

This is 2020. The clock ticked 4:30 AM. It is plain dark outside. There is a curfew at place. The streets are plain empty & at its most silent hours. It's been two months that the pandemic has lingered & does not seem to end any soon. The month of May brings the waves of heat to the northern city of Delhi. Agar slept a bit early the day before. He is awake now. His calm has started to break from the chambers of his patience. The pandemic has only been growing in size. The death count has been moving upwards. The human tragedy is broadening at an uncertainly high pace. It's a single room rented place. Agar's body is feeling ached. There is too much sitting and he would spend a big chunk of his time swiping through the five-inch screen of his mobile. There are all kinds of people in that rectangular screen. There are individual stories. There are agonies. There is desperation. There is uneasiness. There is helplessness. And there are happy warriors. They a...

Ganga was flooded. It was a sight to see. It was as if She is rebelling against the humans for the kind of apathy we have displayed to her. The sky was faded in a bluish sense. We don't know if it's a morning or an evening. The height of the swelling water was touching the sky. It was bloated and running in unimaginable volume. The ghats were drowned. Local people had to move up & leave their businesses behind to save themselves from the calamity. Everyone could hear the sound of the flowing water in a tumultuous rung, aggressive yet beautiful, fearful but poetic. A naive would think that an ocean is emerging out of the mountains. It is something else. More abstract than a reality. Raghav, a full-time city dweller, lives afar from the Ganga river. Yet, he has traveled many times to the city of Haridwar & Rishikesh, first out of curiosity and later with the non-defying crave to calm down his bursting nerves with the company of the river. He is still i...

It was midnight when Ramesh sent off his friend and promised him that he is going to board a train for Pune from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal . He waved his hand towards his friend while the cab was taking him away. Very soon, Ramesh stood by himself in the middle of the vast square opposite the CST terminal with the Gothic architecture. Its a UNESCO world heritage site. The structure is grand. Ramesh was not yet tired of the long day. He has plans. He knew that the next day he had to go back to office at Pune and yet, he is here, at Mumbai. He has two carry bags hanging by him on his shoulders, forward & backwards. He took out his mobile phone and once more logged into the IRCTC website to book a train ticket, which he has delayed to the brim uptil now. He is not sure of going back to Pune. He wants to encounter this city. It's already Friday. This one day is an extra road to a two days long weekend. He came here for a training. He could simply apply for the le...

It's a Mahashivratri Fair. A seal-packed crowd is moving forward like an escalator belt. There is chatter. There is friction. There is movement. The air is thick. It's filled with dj songs, bhakti vigour and the noise of pompy toys been played by children! At the roadside, a chain of street vendors are catering to people who have come with their family & friends. Road ends at an age-old temple of Shiva. At the stairs, the queue is long and high with passion.  This is one tattoo maker. He is here since the morning and has inked dozens of human body by the evening. He came with his team to make a place among the many vendors. Has not eaten anything throughout the day. Super busy with his schedule, his forehead is glittering with sweat dots. The dusk is here. It's dark. Someone is standing with a light bulb to make a focus on the subject. One who is being inked is putting his head over her girlfriend's waist. They both seem in their early 20s. She seems com...

It was a difficult day for Raghav. Twice is that he is asked about his caste. He refused to disclose both times. His answer was briskly clear. In the evening, he went on to see a flat for renting purpose. The house owner was concerned about the eating habits related to veg and nonveg food. She wanted to grasp it through her preconceived stereotypical mindset. Raghav denied it casually. He doesn't want to tell his caste. The house owner later remarked with a surprise that only Muslims hide their identity! "You are not a Muslim, right?!". Raghav had to explain his position. He told her about his background. That's like peeling off a wound. The times are always difficult, even though people seem to be more sensitive about imminent issues. But there is fluidity. Once on phone, his client assumed him belonging to the same community as his and asked for concession in prices. Raghav was stupefied. He works in a corporate office. He reiterated that his belonging ...

It was evening. I came back from outside. I entered my room and put down the stuffs that I was carrying. Not so soon, I saw a lizard hanging by the ceiling. I rebounded surprisingly. I didn't know how it entered my room. The windows were closed before the curtains. Oh, it must have entered through the bathroom's glasspane and later would have ventured into my room. She was looking at me. I didn't even have the guts to do the eye contacting thing. I was aware that I was not alone in my room. I had to do something. I took a minute to collect myself. I was obviously not comfortable with her presence. I could not have waited. Sliding my back through the wall, I reached the window & strung it open. The first task was done. There was a way-out. Does she know what was I having in my mind? What is she thinking at the moment? It's a one room & a kitchen apartment. Bathroom is attached. There is a rack above the bathroom where I could pack stuffs. I had a broo...