Pictures turn every moment into a memory

It was a series of coincidences that led me to write this post. Those coincidences revolved around picture... simple photographs that chronicle our everyday lives! It began with a unique contest that I had been part of which said, 'Pictures Do Get Us Talking'. I was particularly kicked about this contest because I truly believe that pictures do get us talking. How many of us need to just be reminded of many memories that surround that particular pose?

Apart from the memories these pictures evoke, pictures are also great conversation pieces. I have spent many hours with friends--laughing, joking, crying, reminiscing over pictures and the memories they evoked. This also got me thinking about how much of a picture person I am. Thanks to technology, taking pictures and reviewing them was never so easy, making us all so trigger happy. Even our mobile phones come equipped with high-tech cameras, which means that no 'picture' moment would ever be missed.

I have over 300 photographs with me; saved from across years and generations. In fact, my most prized possessions is a suitcase filled up with photographs that I have painstakingly collected since childhood over the years from family and friends across the country. I have this dream that one day, I will sit with this suitcase and sort through all the photographs with the aim of creating not just a pictorial family tree but a chronicle of all the happiest, special (and sometimes embarrassing) moments of my entire family. I've already begun that process in a tiny way... there is an entire wall in my house which is filled with all types of pictures... featuring all my closest family and friends!!

Coincidentally this week, I also added pictures to my Facebook and Orkut profiles. There was this sudden discovery of capturing moments of my life, here and now, and sharing it with my friends in the virtual world. I was trigger happy, truly excited about the endless possibilities this presented. The conversation that ensued with my Facebook friends was astounding... my album began with a photograph of a stunning huge ship stationed in the open sea like the prince and so many people had their own memories to share.

The week however, closed on a very sad note for me. The luminescent Rajmata Gayathri Devi and the beautiful yesteryear actress Leela Naidu left the mortal world. They made huge impacts in their lifetimes on millions like me, as seen in the pictures spread across the newspapers over the past few days. I gathered from the pictures that the Rajmata was the epitome of beauty, grace, strength and courage... a woman who fully experienced life and dealt with every situation with poise, dignity and grace.

I glanced at her through pictures, remembering her sharp intelligence and wit. For all of us, the vivid visuals of her extraordinary life, captured in thousands of photographs, provide us a small but somewhat intimate glance into this extraordinarily beautiful queen's life. Rest in peace you wonderful ladies. The mortal world will always remember you.