Some older people might remember them - the wooden boxes where you had to look through a hole and the world of cinema burst upon you in technicolour? Well, with my 100-year-old projector and peek-a-boo cinema I represent that forgotten era. I roam the streets of Kolkata, letting people experience the surreal world of the bioscope for a few minutes.

My name is Mohammad Salim and I am the last of the bioscopewallahs, taking the drama, the music, the villains and the fights, packed inside the small box of the bioscope, to the citizens of Calcutta.

The bioscope is a two-feet-long box connected to a 106-year-old Japanese projector. The entire contraption is set atop a hand-pulled cart. The films are short - just 3 to 4 minutes - but in those minutes as you lower your head, position your eyes on the hole on the box, the magical world of Bollywood song and dance bursts forth.

I have been doing this since I was 12-years-old. I started going out with my father and I've been fascinated by it since I was a small child. After my father died I started doing it myself.

I love this job because it gives me the opportunity to meet various kinds of people. I get to talk to them - to know about their lives - it's really fascinating. During my father's time it was a very popular past time and there was a great demand for our services. My father died in 1970 - since then I have been carrying the tradition forward alone. I am 52-years-old now and I have been plying my bioscope trade on the streets of Kolkata for 40 years.

I used to earn around 200-250 a day. Even today I charge only Re 1 for watching my bioscope. My earnings are a higher when I attend fun fairs. The charm of the bioscope is still very popular in fun fairs and there I sometimes earn up to 500 a day as there is no competition - I am the only one who stands in the corner with my bioscope.

I live in the Kalabagan slum in central Kolkata. It is a poverty stricken and crime infested locality. Everywhere there is poverty and filth. I live in one room with my four children. I have eight members in my family to support and we all live in that one, small room. When my daughter starts cooking in the morning, it becomes difficult for us to go out or enter the room from outside because we have no separate kitchen. The small area outside the door to the room serves as a kitchen.

My life story has been made into a short film by independent American filmmaker Sternberg and cameraman Francisco Bello. I heard that the film titled, “Salim Baba” has been nominated for an Oscar or something - although the producers did not let me know anything, I found out from the local media here.

The producers did not even tell me they were shooting a documentary on my life – they just told me that they were making an educational CD for children. I am poor so many people try to take advantage of me just like they did.

However, for me money doesn’t mean much that is why although I have had offers from abroad to sell my bioscope, I have said no. It is the heritage of my country - why should I sell it to another country?

When I used to go along with my father in the 70s, there were many bioscopewallahs like us. At that point of time, people were mesmerized by the picture. They didn't need sounds or songs. However, times changed and most of the bioscopewallahs went out of business as it was not profitable for them anymore. But I just couldn't abandon it.

I did try to do many other things but I always left them and came back to the bioscope. I love my projector and the fact that this small box contains all the wonders of a cinema hall.

The old bioscope did not have any sound. I went to the cinema halls and asked people about how they put the sound on the lip movements. We tried to replicate that in my projector and succeeded. It was because I went with the times that I have been able to keep this alive. If there was no sound no one would have watched it anymore.

I am a one-man-band. My bioscope is such an old relic that no one is able to fix it when it goes wrong. So over the years I have learnt to repair the machine myself. In fact when any part of the machine gives up, I take the defunct part, and get it copied by a hammersmith and put it back in myself.

I buy the reels as scrap from a distributor at 10 rupees per kilo. I then listen to the reels and choose the bits that I want to put in my film. I choose interesting bits that I know people will like - like songs and dances and fight scenes. It takes me one whole day to listen to the material - another day to cut the scenes out and stick them together in sequence with tape. After that it is ready to be shown in the bioscope.

This hard work is compensated when I see a crowd building up near me and my machine on the streets. I don’t think that the appeal of the bioscope is limited now. People still love to watch my films. When my cart comes in sight people just come running. I don't have to call anyone.

I go out only twice a week now because of ill health. I go out at noon and return around 4-5pm, and sometimes if the party gets going then I return late in the night. I go to all the areas just once a month so there is always that eagerness to see my films. I know television and videos are there but still people want to come and see my films because they can see it as many times as they want.

They also ask me to show the trailers of certain film stars. No one likes to see one movie over and over again all they want is to see some good scenes and the songs and that's what I give them.

Sometimes I feel very angry with this - I want to just stop doing it but then I think, how can I relinquish my heritage? It's true that I didn't do well in life but it is also true that I have got recognition in the world through this bioscope only. People know about me and they respect me for my work and that means much more to me than making money.

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Shiunarayan Sharma told his story to Nilanjana Bhattacharya, in Kolkata.