Charlie Shugart Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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mrchile wrote:
Are you sure this guy wasn't an ascetic?
A valid question, MrChile.
Although it can't be determined by the photograph alone, and I cannot say with 100% certainty.
Whenever I encounter such a person, I watch them discreetly for 15 or 20 minutes, even if I only take one shot.
I've seen seriously down-and-out people in several extremely poor countries, and they all have an emptiness in their eyes, a seriously dull expression on their faces, and a certain way of standing and moving that I can't imagine is the result of choosing the life of an ascetic. Add to that the look and smell of a person who may never have bathed, or wiped with toilet paper (the left hand is for that purpose). Plus the way locals sometimes treat the person in public.
So I'm pretty confident that this man was: harmless, of very low intellect, had no family that cared about him, and possessed only what he had with him. Truly homeless in the worst way.
Take note- seriously poor countries and countries with cast systems tend to have no medical or welfare systems for the lowest cast.
They survive somehow, because I've seen them on occasion.
Charlie
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