Last night
seemed very long. The entire night I kept looking at my wall clock for it to strike
seven. I had to go and talk to dad. Dinner table had turned onto a battle
ground of words. He kept asking me why I wanted to spoil my life by doing
something that had no value. Basically my parents, especially my dad, wanted to
believe that there cannot be any other stable career beyond a degree in law. So
high time! I had to make him understand that I am not meant to be a part of
that boring law college and I don’t understand anything about that
subject.
So as soon as it
was seven, I told myself, “keep your calm, everything will be fine.” I opened the door slightly to check what
everyone else at home was doing. Mom was in the kitchen as usual preparing Poha
and sandwiches for the breakfast. Dad was in the balcony reading the newspaper,
absolutely in no hurry to reach his office and Rahul seemed like texting his
girlfriend (I am good at reading faces) lying in the couch. So this was the perfect time. Whole night I
had rehearsed the entire scene. I went
up to my dad and took the newspaper from his hand and started counting the
number of colored images in those 20 pages. There were about close to 60 images
including a new car that was to be launched this week, a necklace piece from
the collection of our city’s renowned jeweler, some home appliances which were
available on discount, a picture of our city’s amusement park, a new real
estate property that was coming up in the suburbs, some images of the ongoing
cricket tournament and some pictures of our politicians and people from the
corporate.
I think he got a
slight hint of what I was doing. But I had to do more. He didn’t seem
convinced. I picked up the Airport Magazine lying next to Rahul. Dad had brought it home when he was travelling
to see grandma last month. So I repeated myself. There were again some 45
images of different places and some commercials. Now, I told him “look dad, everything around
you has photography in some form or the other. In today’s time, nothing sells
without photography. Everything around us needs to be advertised and
advertisements without photography is absolutely incomplete. Our print media
heavily banks upon photography. With each passing day, the demand for the
photographers has only been going up. So how can we say that it is not a stable
profession? There is always a scope for good photographers in the industry. And
above all Photography is my passion and I love everything about it. I do not
wish to hurt you. But those thick text books don’t get inside me. I only
understand things that I see with my own eyes and not what is written
somewhere. Please allow me to enroll myself in a photography school.” He stood up and walked off.
It’s been two months
now since I took admission in a photography school. Dad is still upset with me.
But I am quite determined. I will convince him soon. I will follow what my
heart says and not what a textbook says.
(..to be continued)
Author: Anuja Agarwal
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