Memories are made of these!

Out of the blue, when one of my students, Vikas Thakur asked me for a softcopy of a photograph from the year 2003, I was in a tizzy! I recognised the snap as one I had taken in the year 2003, on a Kodak camera the Mr Anil Virmani had decided to allow me to purchase. It cost the school all of ten thousand rupees. The camera had a maximum resolution of not more than 1.3 megapixels. I remember him telling me to check out on its white balance. I, however, remember the day quite clearly now. Madam Shiela Dixit, the chief minister of Delhi had decided to organise a rally on the importance of cleanliness involving all the Government schools in the area. I remember helping the students prepare slogans for the occasion. We rallied forward and shouted slogans about the importance of cleanliness. It was a moment of fun and I strode forward holding this rather diminutive camera in my hands. The police personnel accorded me condescending respect and all the other organisations seemed to want to have their photographs taken. But then what matters most is that I was transported to a time many years back. I will probably not be able to identify Vikas in the photographs though I am thankful to him for asking me to send him the same. Time flows and we realise, on looking at photographs about how we were then and how we felt then. One person I remember from this snap is Subodh. I wonder what he is doing these days.

It has been many years since I took these snaps and I can't hel[ but feel emotional about how time has passed, the water flows and we never cross the same river twice! My formative years were spent in the Dhanpatmal Virmani Secondary School and I cherish the things that I learned while working there.

These photographs certainly transport me to a time that once was and will never be! The year was 2003, about sixteen years ago. It is difficult to imagine how fast time flows, and today when I went through some of my old data, I went through a lot of memories that I had almost forgotten. I would like to, however, thank Vikas for being a trigger for re-kindling my memories of all those years ago. I wish him all the best in whatever endeavours he has and am thankful that I have something to show him.