Aug 26, 2023
Photographs bring back memories
If you ever come to our home here... I would wait to see your expression and reaction to what you see in the dining room. One entire wall is filled with photographs... and each time people see this large display of Time in our lives... we end up having a lovely discussion on present and past times.
The black and white photos are not many. A camera was not always handy and I bemoan the fact that there are not enough photos of my beloved husband but the few that I had my daughter...my Bahu (She is all daughter and no Bahu- ness in her) came up with this great idea of filling one wall entirely with our collection.
These photos are our moments that we can laugh or cry (‘senti’ me) about... Times captured forever. By the time my granddaughter is grown up even the current time photos will look outdated. People can never be anything but interesting... and lively conversation erupts when funny, not so funny, even odd moments are related to, remembered. There’s no end to memories.
Since the 1970’s Time has galloped exceedingly. In my youth we were taken to the photo studio for photos to be clicked against a nothing backdrop or a fancy one as if one were somewhere else!!

When girls grew up they were dressed in a pretty sari with a fancy hairdo done at the beauty parlour specially for the photo shoot. Then they went to a stylish studio where the ‘mama’ or ‘masi’ or ‘bhua’ or ‘bhabhi’ sat and watched from afar. I reemember how we were made to move our heads... kabhi chin up...kabhi chin down. Sometimes we were made to stare into the distance or sometimes look dreamily at the huge camera.
Then the best photo would be given to the lady who arranged marriage alliances... but really black and white photos had their mystery and their charm..
The young men also went thru this ordeal ... wearing suits or breeches and ‘bund gala’ jackets to pose for photographs.
But as that song goes... ‘Times... they are a-changing...’ photography has gone to another level!! But my age group is left behind holding our old albums, our old golden memories of an age gone by.

Kum Kum Ajit Singh
Kum Kum Ajit Singh a former teacher at Mayo College Girls’ today enjoys the life of a satisfied and doting Dadi. Residing with her family in Ajmer she loves to reminiscence, observe and write.





