The Old and the Young

A usual day in Mumbai. I was walking around Nariman point in Marine Drive. Since I am a photographer, whenever I visit this side of Mumbai, I usually carry my camera with me since I feel I find beautiful stories here. Or in other words, beautiful moments. And so did I find one that day too(smiles).

There was this old man in an all-white kurta and pyjama, sitting all alone. You usually see either couples, families or a group of friends enjoying the sunset. But this man was all alone. And that grabbed my attention. I walked towards him. He seemed tired. Maybe he was tired after a full day of work. He was not looking very happy; neither was he looking sad. It felt as if he were picturing his life’s ups and downs in those high-rise buildings on the other side. It is said that a sea carries a person’s memories. A sea can be cruel at times, thus carrying away the bad memories. But a sea at times can be the calmest of all, thus bringing the good memories to you. And like I said before, I found my story that day. So, I decided to accompany him and started our conversation.

“Good Evening Kaka(with a smile)”, I wished him. He said nothing but smiled at me. “May I sit here?” He said “Yes yes please sit (with a smile)”. Without making it any longer, I asked him, “Why are you sitting here alone? You seem to be thinking about something. What is it Kaka?”. “And you look tired as well”, I added. Thus, he told me a little about himself, how almost over 50 years had passed and he would always sit at the drive watching every sunset. “I’ve watched this city grow over all these years; seen people change. But this moment, this sunset, this sea has always remained the same. I’ve had the best and the worst times. But somehow, when I sit by this sea watching the sunset, I always remember those moments and feel thankful for this moment”. “For me, a golden sunset has always meant that no means how hard my life is, I’ve had the most wonderful life one could have wished for”. Listening to his story, I lastly asked him “Has the future turned out how you had predicted it would be?”. And with a smile he replied, “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, be without flavour”. I could not say anything after hearing that. The sun had set. And thus, the end to a beautiful conversation. I thanked him for this moment and left saying goodbye.

Written by Pritom Gohain Baruah

Published 30/08/21.

Pritom is a self-employed music producer, a great cook, photographer, writer. For him, the perception of photography is to create a sense of depth and perspective to a shot that can help the viewers to interpret the image better not to miss the fact interesting perspective create impressive images. You can follow his amazing music work on youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGXcCzYCiUxRMZJtKxvaMbA and his instagram account for impressive images @pritomgohain_life.