Photography.
That amazing tool that gives us the ability to freeze fleeting moments that catch our eye. A spectacular sunset… a beautiful face… a colorful scene… Just a squeeze of the shutter and one hundredth of a second is captured forever.
And if that’s not powerful enough there is often an added bonus.
I think it was Confucius who said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” How often have we looked at a picture and been amazed by so much more happening in it that we hadn’t noticed before?
I took the above picture from a moving taxi. The colorful balloons prompted the snap. But they pale in comparison to the study in human nature that revealed itself only when I opened the image for processing on my computer!
Let’s start with the little boy. His open-mouthed expression as he looks longingly at the balloons speaks volumes! His mind is probably weighing his options – throw a tantrum and get a balloon or risk getting clipped on the back of the head!
The girl with the boy (his maid, perhaps?) has a far more serious expression on her face. Her brow is furrowed as she gazes fixedly ahead with a steely, I’ll-tolerate-no-nonsense look. Although you cannot actually see her holding the boy’s hand, the rigidity of the arm suggests a very, very firm grip!
If I were a betting man my money would be on the maid!
Both are oblivious of the other three people in the scene. The three vendors.
It does not need a rocket scientist to see that business is not roaring. The stuff they are selling is typical of street vendors in India: gas balloons, popcorn and Kulfi.
Products that are aimed squarely at children and they couldn’t have asked for a more mouth-watering business prospect than the approaching boy!
But wait! From the direction of their gaze, the boy is definitely not the focus of their attention. Business may be slack, but their expressions suggest that earning a quick buck may not uppermost on their minds!
And if the signboard in the picture is anything to go by, these three guys could well be courting arrest purely on the dubious quality of their thoughts!!
truly moved by the picture, moreover when the creator’s mind is laid open and in full, makes you wonder so much to make sense of such a casual moment we see almost everyday! Thanks Doc!
Thanks Vinayak. The beauty of any photograph is that it freezes a moment in time. Images like these bring home the fact that our senses register only a tiny fraction of what we are exposed to!