Say Cheese

Every single day, a new tourist group with their guide visits the gems and jewellery manufacturing and retailing store right next to my work place. While observing them over a couple of days, the one thing about them that struck me and led to a string of thoughts was the manner in which they would go about clicking pictures.

These people look like they are on a mission to shoot everything in vision.

They start with shooting their individual portraits. Posing outside every possible section of this store. Even while going up the elevator and coming down from it. They also shoot all else which is visible from this point.

Then its group picture time. First its a group of two, then three, then more. It goes on till all combinations between everyone completes.

Finally, the guide shoots pictures of the entire traveling group. It takes a few shots before everyone is included in the frame and captured smiling. 

During each of these shots, you can see the women turning conscious before the shutter clicks. They would usually wipe their faces, check the hair, apply fresh make-up if needed and even practise the manner in which they are to stand or turn their faces.

The men would put on their shades and also light up a cigarette. They would be more bothered about the background in the frame when compared to how they look. Hence, you would find them shifting places till a frame satisfactory to their requirement is created. 

Their joys are immense after every click. Almost a sense of accomplishment. They would usually check how the picture came on the camera display and more often than not, show a bit of disapointment. Then they would begin preparation for the next shot with greater ferocity.

While there is nothing unusual about tourists clicking pictures anywhere around the world, the close similarity in behviour exhibited while doing so, makes me wonder why?

People from completely different cultures tend to be as excited and consious as anyone else when it comes to being captured on the lens. There is a universality in this behaviour and would be interesting to understand what is the deeper desire that prompts it. Is it just about having the opportunity to relive pleasant memories? Or is it about the desire to be preserved in a certain manner forever? And why is this desire so universal in nature?
 

Main Road

I wonder if there are others like me for whom directions are based on figuring out the 'Main Road' and then all the roads around it.

As a child in the pre-maps era, I had been used to forming mental tags of places by understanding if they were to the right or the left of the main road. This road was known as the main road because it was  the road which ran through the heart of the town, the buses plied on it and it was the link to the nearby towns. This road was wide and cemented. And had street lights. There was an occasional broken footpath.

If you ever asked anyone about directions to get to any of the nearby towns, they would always guide you to the main road and then ask you to turn to into one of the sides.

While learning how to ride a bicycle, we were barred from entering the main road. Till you were a pro at the motorcycle, you were expected to keep to the lanes. Any kid seen on the main road with a bike was an seen as breaching an unspoken rule. The responsible citizens would take it up to themselves and inform the parents immediately. Even in those times with limited means of communication, the news would reach the parents even before the child managed to get home.

Owning a property on the main road was a prized asset. An address on the business card which showed the main road was respected. The milkmen would keep their buffaloes and cows away from the main road. An accident on the main road would would not be blamed on the larger vehicle since it belonged to them. The opposite happened when it came to the other lanes.

The cycle rickshaws used the network of lanes. The prices were higher if they were asked to take the main road. A person was considered as growing successful in life if he took the cycle-rickshaw through the main road - since time was precious for him and since he was paying an unnecessary additional price for it.

Looking on both the sides before crossing was an event reserved for the main road. Sticking to the extreme sides while walking was also a main road affair.

Street food and other vendors wouldn't dare enter the main road.

Any work of repair to the main road disturbed the entire town while the absence of pot-holes in the lanes was a matter of surprise and discussion.

For us kids, getting to walk through late nights on the main road during festivals brought about an immense sense of pride and fulfillment.

City after city, that I have stepped into, I crave for roads which look similar to and also assume the importance that the main road did for me.