A Drive-by Shooting
Bhuj, Gujarat State, India.
Gujarat is the place to go to see India’s wandering tribes. Many tribes are Hindu and they have no compunction about having their photograph taken. In fact, they enjoy it. The Jhat, seen above, are Muslim and very averse to having their photos taken. They guard their women, who wear this fantastic nose ring, especially.
We spotted this group in Bhuj. We had been driving by the area where the tribe comes to trade but couldn’t get a good shot. I had to shoot this through the windshield. Even so, the man in the red head scarf spotted me and he looks none too happy. For that matter, nether does the woman with the nose ring. That ring is heavy and she will wear it her entire life. She uses a strand of hair to help support it and keep it from tearing her nostril.
It looks similar to the face covering worn by Bedouin in Arabic countries of the middle east.
Once when we stopped to photograph some Rabari women, I asked one of them to pull her head covering behind her baby’s head to give his head a nice background. She shook her head and quickly pulled the fabric away from her head to explain her refusal. Her ear lobe was shredded from wearing the heavy earrings that are prized by her culture and she was acutely embarrassed by this deformity. I sensed that this injury marked her as less pretty than her peers. To paraphrase President Clinton, I could feel her pain. We women, no matter our culture, like to be as pretty as the next or better yet, prettier.