Say cheese! It's the World Photography Day!

Today, across national boundaries, most photography lovers like me are celebrating the World Photography Day. Photography is a hobby which gives me immense joy and helps me discover this world in ways different from a casual observer. The thrill of having visualised something (a story or a moment) and being able to capture it "forever" is something indescribable. Photography has now been around for over 150 years and yet, as a medium of communication, it still remains the most powerful. This is owing to its ability to convey reality as well as the mood in a manner that directly appeals to the sensibility of the viewer.

On this day, I am sharing with you one of my favourite clicks - a picture that I took recently on a rainy Sunday morning while out on a nature walk inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. While I was strolling inside the park and enjoying the greenery, I came across a house where a boy, seated outside on the rocks, was quietly observing a heated conversation between two people. As I observed closely, I saw that his face was melancholic (probably saddened by the commotion), he was poorly dressed and was looking in a direction away from the bicycle leaning against the house. That's when I took this picture...

Whither Childhood! - one of my favourite clicks!

Later when I saw the picture on the camera's LCD, it seemed to convey a totally different story (or as any third person who was not present at that moment would wonder) - one of a boy perhaps reflecting upon his lost childhood! The boy would have been out cycling or playing with other kids on any other Sunday morning, but something was holding him back today, something had saddened him. Was it the end of his childhood? Would he soon have to head out in search of work to meet household expenses? Is he going to miss his school in order to work? Or was it that his house was going to be relocated outside the national park and he would miss the surroundings where he spent the best days of his childhood? Or was it just that he was waiting for the sun to come out so that he could play? Or was he just unwell that day and hence appeared weak and sad?

Pictures such as these have the power to create a well of emotions inside us...words will never be able to achieve that!

Wishing you all a happy World Photography Day! May our tribe increase! Happy clicking :)