As we move out of the confinements of home or we decide to leave the comfort zone and plan to be on our own, we learn a lot. It is not simply going for a stroll or an early morning jog, it is much more than this. You meet a variety of people and they make you think in terms of struggles of life.

In our city of lakes, we find a lot of vendors sitting along road side and selling things like earthen pots or the matkas, vegetables and fruits, even flowers in the form of mala for pooja, clay and wooden toys and even bed sheets and upholstery. I sometimes wonder at their calibre for they can be seen anytime, any season. When it rains they tie a plastic sheet or a tent cloth borrowed or rented, when it is hot they create shelter with their own tattered clothes, come winters and all they need is a piece of a shawl or blanket thrown at them by some onlooker who needs to get rid of his old stuff.

These vendors sleep, eat and even make shelter for their children on road side. You can hear them shouting at their kids to warn them of the dangers on the road and the next minute you might find them politely handing stuff to the “walk-ins”. You might even get to see the negative side of their attitude when they hit the kids or regular man and woman fight becomes a show on the road, even two vendors selling the same stuff might hurl abuses at each other.

From City station road to Goverdhan vilas, Saheli nagar to Fatehpura, sector 11 Hiranmagri to Teetardi these small vendors have their home on road side. There is a gross difference between what we see about these types of people on screen in movies and in the real lives. Maybe that is why photographers find a fascination in capturing the street lives. Many of these must have dreamt of going to school, or may have thought of sending their kids to school since they missed a good part of life by means of education. I once spoke to a vegetable vendor who had high aspirations. She wanted her only kid to study and open a big vegetable shop, a digital one, just like reliance (she had been there once and could manage to steal a look from the window).

“It is not that dreams belong only to the rich or the comfortable class of society, we also have a right to dream and think about fulfilling them”, she had said leaving everything in God’s hands(also cursing him under her breath for giving her a wrong birth).

We cannot even imagine living a life on street, forget about living we cannot even spend half an hour in the scorching heat or a heavy downpour or a biting cold. We need the comfort of our AC cars while on road. We barely get down to even buy tomatoes from them.