Paints of a photographer's life

In the photo: SHAN (gshankarnarayan.wordpress.com)

In the photo: SHAN (gshankarnarayan.wordpress.com)

It was a cloudy evening and Shan came out with his girlfriend from photography class. Shan was learning photo journalism and was a passionate photographer from his childhood.  When he stepped out of the building it started raining heavily. He pulled out an umbrella from his bag and unfolded it. He pulled his girlfriend as close as possible and made sure she did not get wet. There was not an inch gap between him and his girl. He explained to his girl whatever he saw around as he closed her eyes and took her around in the rain. They walked along for a while till he saw a small boy dancing in the rain.  He immediately opened her eyes. He was always particular in what his girl sees. Either he let her see too beautiful scenes or sad scenes that told a lot of stories. They both enjoyed the boys play with the rain. He looked at her face for a while and said “How cute the boy is, Niki you are the best” and he kissed her on her cheek.

Yes, Niki was his camera and he considered her his life, his wife, his dream and his everything. It stopped raining and Shan planned to spend few more hours with his girl before going home. He folded the umbrella and kept it inside his bag. He hung niki around his neck and walked around. A beggar fell in his sight and he kept clicking photos of the beggar. He wanted a close up shot and hence went close to the beggar, sat there and clicked. The beggar noted this and was so excited. He thought Shan was going to pay him. He came close and asked for some money from Shan. Shan refused. The beggar went back to his spot and sat disappointedly. Shan captured the disappointment with his camera lens. That was the exact expression he wanted from the beggar. Then Shan smiled and gave the beggar 100 Rupees. The beggar smiled for the first time that day and Shan clicked that too.

Shan did anything for the sake of a photo that he wanted. Dogs have chased him, cats have scratched him, kids have thrown balls on him but nothing stopped him from clicking photos. He saw a beautiful building in front of him. He was new to Mumbai and he had never seen that building before. “Give me your camera” someone said from behind. He did not bother to listen and continued his romance with his camera. “Will you stop it and hand over your camera?”. Shan turned and was shocked to see a policeman saying that. “

“But why sir?” Shan asked.

“That is a government building, you are not supposed to capture photos of it”, saying that the policeman took away Shan’s camera.

“Arrest me if you want but give me back my camera.”, saying that Shan had angry tears in his eyes.

“How dare you? I wont give the camera. Do whatever you want”

“Under what section are you arresting me?”

The policeman was impressed with Shan’s attitude and gave back the camera. “This is the last time I should see you clicking government building.”

Next day:

Shan got up at 10 in the morning as he usually slept late. He switched on the coffee maker and went to brush his teeth. He came with hot coffee and started searching for the remote. He switched on the television and sat down on the sofa. He switched the channel to NDTV and became numb for few minutes. The building he shot yesterday was blasted by terrorists. He immediately took his camera and looked at the photos of the building. He kissed the camera and hung it around his neck. He locked the house and ran down to get an auto. “Go to police commissioner’s office” “Fast” “Fast”. He reached the place. He was asked to sit there in the lobby to meet the commissioner. There came the policeman who caught him the previous day. He came near Shan and Shan smiled at him.

“Was waiting for you only. Sir…This is the guy I was talking to you about.” The policeman said. Another policeman called someone and said “We have got him come ask them to come back”. Shan did not understand what was happening around him. 2 constables took him to a cell and they started asking him question about the terrorists who exploded the building. Shan tried saying something but they did not listen. His dreams started getting dissolved in the pain of the beatings he got. He did not open his mouth till they asked him where the photos he shot were. He loaded them in the laptop they gave and showed them photos of few people and not the building. “I did not ask you for these pictures. Show me the building pictures you gave the terrorist. How much did they pay you?” a policeman asked.

Suddenly there prevailed silence. They all seriously stared at the screen as the photos rolled in order. The commissioner stood up and saluted Shan. The policeman at the other side of the laptop asked “whats wrong with you sir” and the commissioner turned the laptop to his side and showed him the photos from the beginning again. There were few faces of people getting inside and around the building. Each of the face expressed something; the photos told exactly what ran in their mind when he had clicked. There were 2 tensed faces, then followed lot of photos of those two men, which perfectly revealed they were related to the bomb blast. They zoomed in a photo and there was a gun protruding through their dress. 


That’s a partially imaginary partially true story of a photographer whose photos tell you stories, brings out the exact emotions.