I had chai at Mr. Mondal’s chai stall a few months ago and took lots of photos, especially with my 7Artisan 4 mm lens. I had attached this lens to my Fujifilm X-M5. These days I am experimenting with all sorts of ways to distort reality.
If you look at the image below, you will see Mr. Mondal sitting at his chai stall. It has a bamboo roof, and while it does not protect him from the hot winds, it did protect him from the sun.
Then, the Municipal Corporation decided to break down his stall. They claimed he was obstructing the traffic, even though he was nowhere near the road.
Mr. Mondal now sits under a tree and sells his chai, but when the sun starts to go down in the afternoon, the infrared rays of the afternoon sun light him up and warm him to an almost intolerable degree.
So why does this annoy me?
Over the last decade, Indian banks have written off 121 billion USD of loans that they gave to big corporations.
A gentleman called Subhash Chandra owes $2.62 billion, and India's National Company Law Tribunal wanted Mr. Chandra to pay $0.774 million as a settlement against the $2.62 billion in dues!
So here’s my question: why do we forgive big business people and torment the common folk who have no recourse to justice or the means to protest?
I used to think I'd become a socialist after my corporate career ended, but I realized I was mistaken and discovered I am an egalitarian. Maybe I have grown soft in my dotage, but I believe justice must be fair to all.
Meanwhile, you can also watch my video about Mr Chaurasia’s tea stall below.
Substack Half-Dead: Mr Chaurasia’s Chai Stall
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