I remember this. i took this picture when i was returning home from my friend’s house. it was a busy day and i know that we had some serious discussions about life , career and stuff, a regular and normal conversation which friends usually do. after a day out we decided to go home and have tea to relax and we took a load off from our shoulders. i knew it was time for me to leave and i left. i remember driving my car around the streets as i had lost the way. i was so occupied in my thoughts that i forgot which way i came from. now i had to return but i forgot my way home. it was not even night ,it was early evening and still sun was shinning but me i was lost.as i drove past one corner i saw something on the right. i don’t know why but i had to stop, i had to stop to take a look at it. i stopped my car and shut the engine down like i was not ready to drive anymore. what i saw was beyond was imagination yet so simple and beautiful.
To some it can be just as common as breathing but for some its a life saver. to me that evening it was indeed a life saver. it was a portrait of a baby , a child in mini dress , a frock. the baby was at its natural self. so innocent and so kind , so lovely and i felt like embracing this baby. i wish the baby was alive, i could have hugged. i really needed a hug , an embrace that evening. i was looking at this image without any undivided attention like i had no clue of what’s happening around me. who is watching , who is talking , who said what , who saw what , i had no idea. i was like an unknown and like the only one alive rest everyone was dead for me. i don’t even remember how much time i spent there at one spot with my car and looking out of the driver’s window on the right hand side where i saw this image.
Thousands of people pass this corner but no one would ever notice , no one would ever give attention to it , no one would ever care but to some it can be an event of a lifetime. it was for me. that lovely smile , kind eyes of a baby looking right at me , i felt love deep inside my mind and heart and my body was ready for change , my heart and my mind was ready for change and i was ready for change. after the busy day and mind occupied since morning with all sorts of stuff going around me i needed peace and i got one at very unexpected location , where i never ever thought would happen. it was like this baby was waiting for me , to charm me with her cute and innocent smile and it gave me strength yet again and encouraged me to not to stop no matter how tough or bad the situation is. i will not stop.
This is what a father would wait for , an embrace of his child , those little fingers around the neck and the warm of small body. those little toes when a baby starts walking for not to stop ever. those deep eyes with millions of dream in it.
A father would die for this. i want to be a father and i need a baby because i know i can be a father a baby wants and i know i can contribute to my baby life to make my baby what he/she wants to become.
I felt like a father that evening , i had to embrace this moment in my camera. i could not stop and i will never stop.
Dheeraj Gautam 