The Bengali term for carrier is bahak. No load seems too heavy or too large to be
manhandled through the narrow, crowded streets of Kolkata. Whether their
burdens are carried on their heads, or on a yoke over their shoulders, on two-
or three-wheelers or on a hand-drawn rickshaw, all manner of goods and
essentials—furniture, building materials, groceries, books and coal—are all
humped, hauled or carted as they are shifted from one place to another in ways
that are at times quite risky.
Precisely placed and perfectly balanced, these artfully towering loads
are often extremely heavy. Once on the way, every stop becomes a risky
manoeuvre.
Bahak means a life as a day labourer living at the bottom of the social
pile. Exploitation and drudgery for minimum pay; dicing with danger in a daily
struggle with the Kolkata streets; little or no appreciation for vigorous
physical effort, which can all end in total exhaustion.
Nevertheless, in a mega-metropolis, whose streets are too full, too
congested and too narrow to accommodate motorised vehicles to the extent
required, the bahak play a vital role in keeping the gigantic flow of
commodities moving!
I set up a makeshift studio along the edge of these streets for a few
weeks and asked some of these carriers to pause for a moment so that they could
be portrayed individually, detached from the constant commotion of the bustling
crowd—an expression of astonished admiration at the visible artistry contained
within the motion of things.
The photographic work Bahak also makes you aware of the burden of
things—far beyond the city limits of Kolkata.

Ali Iman, 42 years
old.

Kadir Seikh, 28 years old.

MD Alam, 40
years old.

MD Iqbal, 50 years
old.




MD Zahir, 25
years old.

Noor Alam, 40 years
old.




SK Safi Jamander, 50 years old.