O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other. - Thomas Carlyle
On 26th July 2008 there were terrorist bombings in the city of Ahmedabad in western India. Let’s face it…these days terrorist attacks have become as common news as weather reports. They may be common, but they are still horrifying. Amongst the hundreds of pictures I have seen over the years, this one struck me more than usual for some reason. It was printed in one of the national papers; I am not sure which one now. But I saved it.
The fruit sellers - perhaps husband and wife or perhaps competitors selling different things. Poor people, earning their keep by working their trade on the streets. It is not a glamorous job, nor a particularly comfortable one. But it would have provided for their families…often barely. They would have started their working day, as per usual, hoping for a good business day. Then suddenly, they are a still image, soaked in blood, captured for eternity, making them famous to people who otherwise would not have spared them a second glance.
Isn’t it ironic those poor, wretched lives taken so unjustly, and their wares - bananas, apples, and oranges remain perfectly, neatly arranged on the two carts - both in a neat row? But that destruction of things is not necessarily - two bodies on the road speak loudly enough of the state humanity has been reduced to.
On 26th July 2008 there were terrorist bombings in the city of Ahmedabad in western India. Let’s face it…these days terrorist attacks have become as common news as weather reports. They may be common, but they are still horrifying. Amongst the hundreds of pictures I have seen over the years, this one struck me more than usual for some reason. It was printed in one of the national papers; I am not sure which one now. But I saved it.
The fruit sellers - perhaps husband and wife or perhaps competitors selling different things. Poor people, earning their keep by working their trade on the streets. It is not a glamorous job, nor a particularly comfortable one. But it would have provided for their families…often barely. They would have started their working day, as per usual, hoping for a good business day. Then suddenly, they are a still image, soaked in blood, captured for eternity, making them famous to people who otherwise would not have spared them a second glance.
Isn’t it ironic those poor, wretched lives taken so unjustly, and their wares - bananas, apples, and oranges remain perfectly, neatly arranged on the two carts - both in a neat row? But that destruction of things is not necessarily - two bodies on the road speak loudly enough of the state humanity has been reduced to.
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