During my visit to Pushkar for the annual camel fair, I had a chance to meet the gypsies, the Kalbeliya and Banjara people living close to the city deserts. The gypsies have been living here for almost 30 years now, nomads of their own kind, with tents set up along the dusty streets of Rajasthan.
This is where I met her. She had this amazing outlook about her, a light of life that transcends all the pain she goes through daily. Her daily life starts as early as 4am, where she walks the empty streets to collect trash and unwanted items.
Trash which is left along the streets like plastics, empty cans, old clothes or even food at times. Trash which has become the means of her survival today.
Carrying it on her back, a heavy load just so she could earn her daily living.
This was not her pain. This was not her pleasure. This was merely a form of living. To survive, to feed her babies. Her children who were her only priority. The light that I saw was of a mother, an older sister and a wife.
She is happy for who she is, she is at peace with the life she has received, she is proud as she is a gypsy. Living a free life, as happy as she can be.
(Pushkar – India)
