Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Picture Yourself



For some time now I have been meaning to write a post about a photo my father brought with him when he came to visit us earlier this year. It is a photo taken when I was two and half years old and was rather unusual in our family given that it was taken when there was no wedding or a celebration in the household.

What is even more surprising about the photo is that it holds just a single person - me. I have noticed that back in the days when photographic cameras were a rarity, there would often be several people crammed into a photo when one was taken at home (unlike a photo in a studio). Sort of like more people per precious click.

It is also one of the few pictures that we have from my childhood. It reminds me and reassures me that even in that household heaving with people, individual children mattered. That someone thought it important to document me as a toddler.

I took a photo of myself holding a similar pose earlier today and put the two together. It was only when I was putting the old photo back in its case that I noticed a thin scribble in pencil at the back. 14th of October 1975, it said. Exactly 39 years ago today.

I am attempting some poetry (or broken down prose, as I like to think of it) and submitting it to this call out curated by the very talented Sridala