The Camera

Yashika's grandmother had a chest full of old photographs. As a child, she would sit down with her grandmother to watch those photos as she narrated the stories related to them.

Every now and then, Yashika would go through the chest, watching the photos of different places that her grandparents visited. Those old pictures were taken from an old camera that belonged to her grandfather.

The camera that was kept in the highest chamber of the cupboard, always called for her attention. Whenever she entered her grandparents' room, her eyes got glued to the camera. The besotted look on her face would always garner a throaty laugh from her grandfather.

One day, her grandfather Ramakant asked, "Yashika, why do you keep watching those old photos again and again?"

"Dadaji, those photos have an unexplainable charm to them. Each one of them narrates a story of their own. I feel like I get transported to those moments," she answered, with twinkling eyes. Then she cast a look at the camera and sheepishly mumbled, "Wish I could click some such photos," and sprinted out of the room, leaving a smiling Ramaknt there.

*

*

Yashika cut the cake to the sounds of claps and birthday song. This birthday was special as she had just entered the life of college student. When the guest left, she sat down to unwrap her gifts. Every gift made her eyes sparkle but the one that had truly filled her with joy was from her grandparents - the camera.

"Hah! Dadaji, dadiji you have gifted me your camera! Thank you." She hugged them lovingly.

From that moment onward, the camera stuck to her side as her companion - until one day....

*

A doleful Yashika re read the notice. Had the notice been pasted a few days ago, she would have all exited; but not today. The notice board displayed a notice about a photography competition where the contestants were supposed to make a collage of the photos clicked by them. On reading it, Yashika remembered about the incident.

*

As Yashika got the news of her naughty cousins' visit, she got all alert. She knew the kids were some other level of naughtiness, which had her worried about her camera.

The day they arrived, she had kept her camera in a secure place. Only when she was asked to click a group photo, did she take it out. She left it perched on a shelf just for a minute to help her mother, when a loud clattering sound was heard.

There it lied shattered to pieces as the cousins stood guiltily near it - her camera broke. With eyes filled with tears, she picked up the pieces and looked at her cousins. Being the eldest among them, she couldn't chastise them for it. So, she rushed to her room and shut the door close, behind which she silently mourned the loss of her precious camera.

Few days later

On a family outing, while strolling around the city's famous tourist place, Yashika's eyes fell on a man clicking photos of the people there. She realized it was his way of making a living for himself and his family; people got themselves clicked and paid him for those photos.

Instinctively, her gaze travelled to the camera in his hand. To her amazement, it was the same one as that of her grandfather's.

Within no time, Yashika was standing face to face with 'the cameraman'. "Hello, can I have your camera?"

'The cameraman' frowned at her and then looked at his camera. "Why?" his frown increased as he asked.

"To click photos," her reply was quick.

"I can do that for you," he suggested.

"No, not that way.....I have to click a few photos at my own," she tried to reason. She kept pursuing him to rent his camera to her for three days, offering an amount in return.

Bewildered at her suggestion, he gaped at her. Though the amount at offer was much more than he could make in three days, still he was reluctant in parting away from his family's sole bread-winner.

Sensing his reluctance, Yashika quickly jotted down her address. "Here, this is my address. You can come and collect it from here on the fourth day." Her eyes twinkled as she said so. That twinkle in her eyes made 'the cameraman' accept her offer.

Fourth day

'The cameraman' once again read the address before pressing the doorbell's button. He heard the door bell ringing and within few minutes the door opened.

Yashika's father called her to come and see him as 'the cameraman' sat down in the living room. There, his eyes fell on a collage of photos, which, he recognized, were taken from his camera. A prize adorned the said collage.

Yashika came out with the camera and gave it back to 'the cameraman'; her lips stretched in a beautiful smile.

'The cameraman' took it and once again glanced at the collage with the prize. He felt as though the prize on that collage of photos championed what he did on day-to-day basis. The prize stuck there, aggrandized his livelihood.

"Thank you." Yashika looked at him with smiling eyes.

With slight tears in his eyes, he lovingly patted the head of Yashika. "Thank you," he said as he turned around to leave, while the photos taken from that old camera shined on the collage.

The end

There are few terms in the story, you may not be familiar with, so here they are:

Dadaji means grandfather (paternal)

Dadiji means grandmother (paternal)