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This is an India photo from Kala Ghoda in Mumbai showing a young girl holding a baby in India. Child poverty refers to the phenomenon of children living in poverty. This applies to children that come from poor families or orphans being raised with limited, or in some cases absent, state resources. Children that fail to meet the minimum acceptable standard of living for the nation where that child lives are said to be poor. In developing countries, these standards are lower and when combined with the increased number of orphans the effects are more extreme.
Kala Ghoda is a neighborhood in South Mumbai area of Maharashtra state of India which was portrayed by Kristian Bertel, an India travel photographer. The crescent-shaped precinct is the city's premier art district. It has a large number of the city's heritage buildings and is full of museums, art galleries and educational institutions like the Jehangir Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Modern Art, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and The Arts Trust.
South Mumbai in photos
South Bombay was the heart of the colonial city, and its elegant buildings are a legacy of the British Raj as is the name Bombay, which was officially changed to Mumbai two decades ago, though locals prefer to ignore that fact. Still, until recently, wealthy Mumbaikars and the hot spots that cater to them had been migrating farther and farther north, to converted mills in Lower Parel and Worli and the Bollywood-star-studded suburbs of Bandra and Juhu. South Bombay became the domain of businesses and tourists and Kala Ghoda a bastion of academic institutions. Each year, the area hosts the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. The area is sandwiched between Mumbai Port's docklands to the east, Regal Cinema to the south, Fountain to the north and Oval Maidan to the west. The Bombay Stock Exchange is to its north east. The name Kala Ghoda means Black Horse, a reference to the presence of a black stone statue of the Prince of Wales mounted on a horse that was built by Jewish businessman and philanthropist Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, although this statue was removed from the precinct in 1965 and subsequently placed inside the Byculla Zoo. The Esplanade Mansion, India's oldest surviving cast iron building, is in Kala Ghoda. Formerly known as Watson's Hotel, it was the site where films were introduced to India with a screening of the Lumiere Brothers Cinematograph in 1896. The offices of art publication, Marg, are on the third floor of the historic Army and Navy Building.
Despite the weakening of the caste system, India remains a fairly stratified society. Indians care about a person's background and position in society as is the case elsewhere in the world. This attitude, when combined with the legacy of colonial rule, results in some rather interesting, if unfortunate consequences. Paler skin is deemed desirable but there is no discrimination on the basis of color. In this photo an Indian man is working with marigold flowers in Kala Ghoda in Mumbai.
Marigold flowers in India
As you can see in the photo portrayed above the Marigold flower is very common in India. The name 'Marigold' comes from 'Mary's gold' after Mother Mary and the name used for it in many parts if India is Genda. The word 'Genda' possibly comes from the Gonda, the tribe of Chattisgarh where the flower is cultivated In fact, Gonda even have a legend behind the origin of the flower. In both Hinduism and Christianity, the marigold has a lot of spiritual significance. In Hinduism, the flower symbolizes auspiciousness The saffron or orange color signifies renunciation and hence it is offered to God as a symbol of surrender. While offering the flower one should also remember that marigold is a very hardy flower. In fact the Sanskrit name for marigold is Sthulapushpa which signifies this. It symbolizes a trust in the divine and will to overcome obstacles. This is also why the flower assumes such as Vijayadashmi, the day Lord Rama prevailed over Ravana, the victory of good over evil.
Portrait photo of a begging mother with a baby in her arms in Mumbai, India. Many of the apparent negative associations between growing up poor and children's attainments reflect unmeasured parental advantages that positively affect both parents' incomes and children's attainments, like parental depression.
Approached by a woman with a child in Mumbai, India
Despite India's rapid economic growth in recent years, poverty and begging are still amongst the biggest issues in India. Sadly, in relation to begging in India, there is often more than meets the eye. While the poverty is real, begging is quite often carried out in organized gangs. For the privilege of begging in a certain territory, each beggar must had over their takings to the gang's ring leader, who keeps a significant share of it. Quite a bit of welfare work in India has been directed at reducing begging, with varying degrees of success. The most common problem is that beggars are so used to begging that they actually prefer not to work. Many of them also make more money from begging that what they would if they did work.
The majority of poverty-stricken children are born to poor parents. The easiest way to quantify child poverty is by setting an absolute or relative monetary threshold. If a family does not earn above that threshold, the children of that family will be considered to live below the poverty line. This is a child portraiture photo from the Kala Ghoda area of Mumbai.
Begging in India, photos and portraitures
In Mumbai in particular, visitors are often approached by a child or woman wanting some powdered milk to feed a baby. They will assist you to a nearby stall or shop that conveniently happens to sell tins or boxes of such 'Milk'. However, the milk will be expensively priced often around ₹200 rupees and if you hand over the money for it, the shopkeeper and the beggar will simply split the proceeds between them. While it can seem heartless, it is usually best to ignore beggars in India. There are so many that even if you want to give them, it is not possible to give to them all. Another common problem is that if you give to one beggar, such a gesture will quickly attract others.
In this photo a man in India is working on a lawn near the Flora Fountain in India. The photo represents the many India portraitures and photos taken by the photographer in India from his recent visit to India.
Kala Ghoda located at the Dadabhai Naoroji Road
Dadabhai Naoroji Road, a North-South commercial artery road, in the Fort business district in South Mumbai of Maharashtra, India, is the nerve centre of the city, starting from the Crawford Market, linking Victoria Terminus, leads to the Flora Fountain at the southern end of the road. This entire stretch of the road is studded with Neo-Classical and Gothic Revival buildings and parks built in the 19th century, intermingled with modern office buildings and commercial establishments.
This is a photo of the Flora Fountain in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai. The Fountain is in the heart of South Mumbai within walking distance from Shivaji Terminus and the Church Gate Railway Stations. Flora, sitting at the top of the fountain, is a moot witness to the noise pollution created by the huge traffic which passes through and the vendors who sit all around the square selling just about everything in the sweltering heat.
Photos of the Flora Fountain
Flora Fountain, at the Hutatma Chowk, is an ornamentally and exquisitely sculpted architectural heritage monument located at the southern end of the historic Dadabhai Naoroji Road, called the Mile Long Road, at the Fort business district in the heart of South Mumbai, Mumbai, India. From the time the Flora Fountain was built in 1864 and until 1960, the 'Chowk' or square where five streets meet, hence, also known as the Picadilly Circus of Mumbai, and the fountain stands now, was named as the Flora Fountain area. But in 1960, to commemorate the martyrdom of the brave people who laid their lives in the turbulent birth of Maharashtra State at the square, it was christened as Hutatma Chowk with an impressive stone statue bearing a pair of torch holding patriots. The Flora Fountain, surrounded by the British Victorian era heritage buildings, is very much part of the chowk and has been declared a heritage structure and it continues to charm visitors with its beauty and with its spray of water. It sits admirably well alongside with the Hutatma statue which adorns the chowk.
Photography and portraitures from India online
Danish photographer Kristian Bertel (b.1980) is recognised as an image-maker and his photography is online a lot of places. This illuminating new series of photos from India will tell the stories of the people living in different communities around India, through Kristian's beautifully arresting, color photography. For further information, please:
Contact the photographer
More photographs from India
If you are interested you see more the photos by the photographer. In the slideshow below, which also appears on the photographer's website you can see a range of images from India.
See the slideshow | press here