Kids are perhaps the easiest and also the most difficult to photograph. While it is difficult to make them pose for a specific photograph, they can throw the most awesome and expressive smiles at you at the most unpredictable moment.
And who can deny the purity and truth of a child's smile? There seems to be no extra burden of masked sorrows. The smile truly extends to the eyes. Try to cover the lower half of this child's face and see if you can make out only from his eyes whether he's smiling.
Clicked these school kids spontaneously and each of their faces is reflecting a different emotion.
A lone school boy who was coming towards me suddenly stopped and looked back. Perhaps he was waiting for his friends to join him. Whatever be the reason, I got a good, natural photograph.
A young boy with an older man, perhaps his grand father. These are the only two age groups who have some respite from the mundane day-to-day hassles of life. People between these two age groups are mostly found humming "Dil Dhoondhta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din."
A child after his dip in the ice-cold water of the river. This is the only age when you can enjoy life's little pleasures without having 100s of worries running at the back of your mind.
When I was a child, I never appreciated what I had. I spent days worrying about the homework, school, the morning assembly. Didn't realize that those were nothing compared to the problems I would have to face once I grew up.
Serenity and deep-thought on this child's face brings back to me the times when I thought I had the burden of the whole world on my shoulders. Now I would give anything to exchange my present life for all the worries of childhood.
Games such as Chupan-Chupai, Aankh-micholi, pitthu that we used to play with friends when we were kids were far more creative than carrom, basket ball, volley ball, and cricket played by grown-ups. If given an opportunity and if the world promises not to laugh, I am sure that 80% of grown-ups would like to play a round of Aankh-Micholi or two.
And, of course, that was the time when papa was also young and we could travel anywhere on his shoulders. The worse part about growing up is that parents grow old. Parents should never grow old. They should always be young.
And being alone was no big deal. We could have enough fun alone. Just give us the most meaningless of objects, small rocks, a comb, a rope, clay and we would make toys out of them and amuse ourselves. Now, even the most cutting-edge technology fails to keep us entertained for too long.
No big reason was needed to make us take off with excitement. Small joys like a new toy, a visit from our favorite maasi, or breaks from schools were enough to wipe all sorrows out.
Agility, sharp-reflexes and enthusiasm were enough to help us make the most of all opportunities that presented themselves to us. No training was needed to take that perfect catch...
Or to bowl that perfect ball... Our instinct was automatically to try our best. Disappointment did not have the devastating effect that it does now. We had not yet learned to fear failure.
Fear of getting dirty or for that matter getting hurt never stoppd us from doing anything. And as a result, we did everything whole-heartedly.
Sometimes I wonder how even after playing for hours I never felt exhausted. Now even a short walk from office to home is enough to leave me huffing and puffing.
Children are known to make work sound like fun. But it is indeed a big worry for our country when children as young as these have to start contributing in field work or other chores.
Friends of the childhood are always remembered with fondness. There's no falling apart, no difference of opinion, none of these complicated phrases to take a friendship apart.
A child's best learning tool is curiosity. Everything is new, everything is worth exploring. Growing up, we learn too much and lose that curiosity gradually.
Some curious kids observing our activities. Kids exude an innocent trust in everyone they interact with.
Some children try to get out of the frame when you try to click their pictures
While some kids oblige you with an awesome pose. It all depends upon the mood and the temperament of the kid concerned.
The only thing I can say for sure is that childhood is definitely a phase that all of us look back at with a lot of nostalgia. But isn't that true for all phases of life? Ten years from now, wouldn't we be looking back at our late 20s and early 30s and long for these years the same way we long for childhood and college life today?
All the captions added in this post are written by Vibha Malhotra.
All the captions added in this post are written by Vibha Malhotra.
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