Photographs evoke memories and emotions. One is overcome by nostalgia, joy and even sorrow as one turns the pages
of an old family album, Today pictures have gone digital but they evoke the same memories and emotions that photographs in an old-fashioned album would.
Leafing through albums of yore - those thick books with coarse black pages, and their four-cornered gummed photograph holders that preserve memorable moments and places can tear you up. When a cousin dug out a few of these old photo albums and posted old pictures of our grandparents and parents on social media I was a bundle of mixed emotions.
My maternal grandparents staring out of the picture reminds me of the gentle and pious folk that they were having left behind a legacy of love and kindness. 'Nana' standing among the pigs that she reared and another one of my uncle chasing a pig for my parents' wedding feast filled me with immense joy and laughter. My parents' wedding pictures - my parents seated in the bridal car, a Fiat that has become history and starkly different from the Tata Estate(that too is off the roads now) that I sat in as a bride. In 1963, Indians did not have much to chose from in terms of cars. The Ambassador, Fiat, Landmaster and Standard Herald were just about what was available. Then there are pictures of my cousins and me in various stages of babyhood, childhood, and adolescence. A family picture of my maternal grandparents with their teenage children just thrilled me. I recognize my mother at once and happily put names to the other aunts and uncle.
I very fondly remember my paternal grandmother or 'Pune Nana ' as she was referred to when I look at her pictures surrounded by family. Nana lived by the motto, 'Where there are pains, there are gains', a motto that I remember ever so often, and words which I frequently repeat to my children.
Time stands still every time you look at a photograph. Distance and time have dimmed the faces, the pictures may have faded but the memories are yours to have and to hold.
School and college photographs evoke similar emotions and can send you on a nostalgic trip all over again. I was lucky to be part of a crazy, happy - go - lucky group in college and there are pictures aplenty that speak of those crazy, happy - go -lucky college days.
It was back to History, Geography and Maths for my fellow Steel Magnolias and me (class of 1980) when somebody posted pictures of some our bright and beautiful teachers. We did not remember all of them but had a jolly good time remembering the good old days.
When a dear aunt recently passed on suddenly cousins and I immediately dug out pictures to relive some happy moments and times that they had shared with her. I hold on to memories of my now 'young adult'sons as babies and young children through heaps of pictures in treasured albums. I am amazed at how swiftly the years have passed and swiftly they have grown into the young men that they are today. It seemed like just yesterday that we were changing diapers and washing feeding bottles.
Cell phones with their inbuilt cameras have replaced the old-fashioned camera to a large extent. Hence I was happy to see a friend fish out an old-fashioned pocket camera to click a picture of both of us.
They say, a picture is worth a thousand words and yes, clicking and looking at pictures both old and new definitely counts as one of the many 'little' joys of life.
of an old family album, Today pictures have gone digital but they evoke the same memories and emotions that photographs in an old-fashioned album would.
Leafing through albums of yore - those thick books with coarse black pages, and their four-cornered gummed photograph holders that preserve memorable moments and places can tear you up. When a cousin dug out a few of these old photo albums and posted old pictures of our grandparents and parents on social media I was a bundle of mixed emotions.
My maternal grandparents staring out of the picture reminds me of the gentle and pious folk that they were having left behind a legacy of love and kindness. 'Nana' standing among the pigs that she reared and another one of my uncle chasing a pig for my parents' wedding feast filled me with immense joy and laughter. My parents' wedding pictures - my parents seated in the bridal car, a Fiat that has become history and starkly different from the Tata Estate(that too is off the roads now) that I sat in as a bride. In 1963, Indians did not have much to chose from in terms of cars. The Ambassador, Fiat, Landmaster and Standard Herald were just about what was available. Then there are pictures of my cousins and me in various stages of babyhood, childhood, and adolescence. A family picture of my maternal grandparents with their teenage children just thrilled me. I recognize my mother at once and happily put names to the other aunts and uncle.
I very fondly remember my paternal grandmother or 'Pune Nana ' as she was referred to when I look at her pictures surrounded by family. Nana lived by the motto, 'Where there are pains, there are gains', a motto that I remember ever so often, and words which I frequently repeat to my children.
Time stands still every time you look at a photograph. Distance and time have dimmed the faces, the pictures may have faded but the memories are yours to have and to hold.
School and college photographs evoke similar emotions and can send you on a nostalgic trip all over again. I was lucky to be part of a crazy, happy - go - lucky group in college and there are pictures aplenty that speak of those crazy, happy - go -lucky college days.
It was back to History, Geography and Maths for my fellow Steel Magnolias and me (class of 1980) when somebody posted pictures of some our bright and beautiful teachers. We did not remember all of them but had a jolly good time remembering the good old days.
When a dear aunt recently passed on suddenly cousins and I immediately dug out pictures to relive some happy moments and times that they had shared with her. I hold on to memories of my now 'young adult'sons as babies and young children through heaps of pictures in treasured albums. I am amazed at how swiftly the years have passed and swiftly they have grown into the young men that they are today. It seemed like just yesterday that we were changing diapers and washing feeding bottles.
Cell phones with their inbuilt cameras have replaced the old-fashioned camera to a large extent. Hence I was happy to see a friend fish out an old-fashioned pocket camera to click a picture of both of us.
They say, a picture is worth a thousand words and yes, clicking and looking at pictures both old and new definitely counts as one of the many 'little' joys of life.
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