I had been to Ahmadabad for a few days to attend a friend's wedding. When I reached there, I could see that the city dwellers were mostly indulged in kite flying. It was some kind of a festival there. My friend, who was getting married, who was also my colleague some time back, had done arrangements for our (my other ex-colleagues) stay in a neat hotel. After spending some good time with my friends in that hotel, I climbed up to the hotel roof to check out the kites. I could see children, their parents, newly married couples, old age couples, middle age couples perhaps people of all age group flying kits. I used to fly kits with my school friends when I was a teenager. I would have tried kite flying again, if I had not got my camera. I had bought a very sophisticated camera (D-SLR) few months back and after getting that I have been looking for good subjects for trying out decent photography. I thought kites were the ideal subjects for my amateur photography.
I met a school going kid on the roof of the hotel who had got few kites to fly. I introduced my self to him and started chatting with him. I feel glad that I learnt Hindi, I can now 'aaram se' communicate with more people in our country. I took pictures while talking to that kid and he did find it nice that I took many of his pictures, in fact he started flying kite according to my interest. With his coordination I could take some decent pictures and well, now I can call my self an amateur photographer. After taking good quantity pictures, I decided to explore that area of the city before it would turn dark.
I saw a teenage boy selling kites on the street. I wanted to take a picture of him with the kites, later I requested for the same. He was glad to do so. He came up with a stylish pose by himself holding kites in his hands and resting his back on some new car. I thanked him, kept my camera inside my bag and moved ahead for a walk. Less than ten meters from that kite boy I saw a road side tea/coffee seller. I took a cup of hot tea to feel more comfortable in that chill weather. A man who apparently saw me taking pictures of the kite selling boy asked me weather I could take a picture of him along with few other people standing there as well. I agreed immediately, as there was absolutely no reason to say no. I saw some more people approaching the tea/coffee shop to get photographed. I did take pictures of all those people. They were super happy for being photographed and looking at their pictures on the LCD screen made them even thrilled. I was also kind of thrilled seeing that smile on there faces. One person, who called him self as Arjun Pandith, asked me weather I was some kind of a journalist. I informed him that I am an ordinary person with no such background and added that I just love taking pictures. He wasn't ready to believe me as he was kind of convinced that my camera wasn't an ordinary one. He requested me to publish his pictures where ever possible. I didn't know what to tell him, I just smiled at him and moved ahead on the street.
That incident on the street created an impression on my mind. I kept thinking why were they so keen in getting photographed, what is that makes them so happy, what is that created that immediate bonding, what is that made me feel so nice, well, I still think about it...
( Do check the pictures of these people who made that evening a very special one....
