The Pink Man
Images by Dilip Ashok Manghnani
As a Photographer, through my multifarious travels over the years, I have been very fortunate to explore different cultures and have a sneak preview into worldly souls through my lens. One such unique personal experience has to be that of the 'PINK MAN'.
While on a vacation in Miami, me and my mate Kevin, a Canadian fellow, were enjoying a pleasant evening at our chic youth hostel at south beach. Of course a couple of chilling beers and a cooler environment was involved, that followed a harsh and humid summer afternoon.
We were just analyzing our bumbling touristy photographs, we hardly got any satisfying shots, thanks to the melting bulb, up in the high skies. So, enjoying the pleasant time now, we were well on our way to say Adele toned Hello… to the third Corona, just then we came across our man of the evening - The Pink Man.
This absolutely conventional looking dude, named Mike, belonging to Bay area of San Francisco, came across in a plain shirt and a pair of denims. He played guitar and displayed a stupendous sense of humour. We joked and shared our experiences about traveling through the U.S. and tracked the bland evening to a lot of fun! After a couple of hours of chatting and a few notes on his guitar we were about to discover a different side of Mr Mike!
The dude went on about how he makes his money while riding a Unicycle around crowded tourist areas in America, hugging people on the go and endorsing deals and offers for night clubs!! It was mind-boggling and sounded spectacular. Excited, Kev and I reacted with a "WOW! Dude, that's bloody cool, if only we could shoot your pictures while you are going around giving Jaadu ki Jhappis, that’d be fantastic". No loud reaction from him, although he must be wondering, what the hell is Jaadu ki Jhappi?. So, we went back to our beers.
It was around 8pm. Mr Mike got up, rested his Guitar and spoke up, "Well, boys maybe it’s your turn to take pictures now, be ready!" and left. In less than thirty minutes we saw a man riding on a unicycle, down the hall of our old hostel, in an unavoidable pink skin suit and supported by a pink cape, shouting " Lets go boys, here comes the PINK MANNNNN!!". The Transformation of the artist was complete. Now picture this , Kev and I sitting in our flip flops, safe to say a few bevys down, visualizing ones into twos, but still sound enough to handle the cameras, have to make a split decision to take this extra ordinary chance of shoot pictures of this crazy man! (or what it might look crazy to us.) Why not? Jumped up and blabbered, lets do this! Like starting of an adventure movie trailer and what was to follow. Hopefully, an Insane night, to be remembered forever.
The fact that he was on a unicycle and with all the balancing that he had to do, there was not one second that he could take it easy or go slow. So me and Kev (me in my shorts) sprinted around him, around the most high profile clubs and restaurants of south beach. We had to capture the awe-inspiring mood of the Pink man.
We ran and took pictures at the same time. Pink man was all over the place, sliding between the Limos and the hummers of the south beach , halting the traffic every now & then (which strangely the drivers did not mind at all), hugging complete strangers and hugging some people who already knew him for his act in LA. Going into the top restaurants and night clubs, which we were mercifully allowed BTW, only because we were with him, shouting out loud "here comes the Pink Man!". This followed by crazy laughs and exhilarating emotions. Me and Kev were like two rookie paparazzi following him in and out of cafes and clubs, in pursuit of some crazy shots.
We were panting, short of breath, however proud to say we never gave up and pretty much crossed the complete stretch of South Beach. We took a break only when he took a break, which was never more than a few seconds, but it meant a lot to our already exhausted bodies.
Towards the end, we had got many pictures and deservedly discerned, as if everybody knew us on south beach. After all, we were with the Pink Man.
Roughly 45 minutes later, since Kevin and I were rushed off our comfy chairs, we were back again on them, this time with a bottle of water, completely sober, however inadvertently high of this amazing night. The lunacy which lasted for less than an hour, certainly left a reminiscence for a lifetime.
Obviously, we thanked the Pink Man for the chance to be a part of his act, and that was that - The end of a truly exciting evening during one of my travels.
