Looking back through old photographs and albums is something I enjoy since childhood days. I remember whenever my exams got over, first thing I used to do is opening up the cupboard where my mom kept all the photo albums and have a look at the old photographs. Still now, whenever I go home, at least once I open that cupboard to have a look at those old pictures to refresh my childhood memories.
This time when I went to India, I showed some of my childhood photos to Jojo and he couldn't believe that the little girl who is almost of his age could be his mother. He asked me, " Ma, who is she?" and when I said its me, he was so excited and the smile on his face made me so happy. And I really appreciate the way my mother has kept all our childhood photos. May be some of them have faded but none are lost or damaged.
Since my birth, I have seen that still camera which my father still uses and it has captured several memorable moments of our life. Its a Minolta camera which his friend got from US as a gift and still now he takes good care of it. There was a shop in New Market at Kolkata from where he used to buy the film and also developed the negatives. The camera had become a member of our family as it has witnessed each and every occasion at home, every place we have traveled and every moment we wished to remember.
With one film we could take 36 photos and so my father was very particular while taking out photos so that none were wasted and he could capture 36 perfect pictures. And the most exciting moment was to wait for the day when he would take the delivery of the prints from the studio and literally me and my sister used to fight about who will see the photos first. Then keeping them in the album and putting dates with a little description about the place and the moment on every album were something I used to enjoy.
But with the development of technology, we are now used to digital photography. Now, in the age of selfies, we just don't care to take hundreds of photos at a time. We keep on clicking the camera till we look perfect with our eyes properly opened, a perfect smile on our face, a beautiful background and so on. Now all our photos are kept in facebook albums instead of those old albums with hard covers. Now we don't have to wait for getting the negatives to be developed, rather within a second could see the photos and don't even hesitate to delete them immediately if not clicked properly.
I too before buying my smart phone, checked the camera on it so that I could take some good photos. But still I miss those films, still photographs, that old camera of my father, the containers in which the films were kept and specially that wonderful feeling of getting the negatives developed.
