The School photo graph
The photographer
came at five o' clock. He was slated to come from the city town. We
were small children studying in class six in those days. We were
told that he would come in the late afternoon and we should be ready
for photo-graph after the school.
So all of us waited
with baited breath to hear the final bell. Once it sounded all went
out running to take their baths and get ready for the photograph.
This was the first time a photograph was being taken. There was no
taking of photographs in those days. Children were seen directly
only. Now the photographer is coming. !
All of us and the
two elderly brothers all came ready after their baths and getting
dressed in our best clothes. The bath was quickly accomplished at
the well side. We were trained for that. One of us will draw the
water from the deep well and pour on another one who will be standing
in a small Kerala bath towel at the waist. One or two more little
buckets of water will finish the bath of one. The the one bathed
will repeat the process for the other. All went for their dressing
which included a small shorts and a slack shirt and bit of the Cuticura carefully preserved in our little boxes. Once ready
all assembled in front of the residential school and arranged a
cou;le of benches. That was the seating arrangement.
The Master ji gave
orders for the fine tuned arrangements. Small children sat in front
row, the teachers and medium boys on the benches and the tall
students stood behind. The three rows made it it all. A football
which we used to play was filled up and brought. The year '1964' was
chalked on it and it was kept in front with a small trophy cup which
the school had won in a local boys match
on top of it.
In
between the photographer came. A white shirted middle aged man was
the photographer. He came in a rikshaw being pulled by another man
who respectfully put down his side of the rikshaw on the ground and
helped the traveller in his rikshaw to get down. Once he came down,
the rikshaw puller took out a huge box and gave it to him. This was
the photography camera. He brought it in front of us children who
were arranging ourselves. He surveyed us and moved to a distance and
opened the box to pull out a black box and a wooden contraption. He
manouvered the wooden stuff and made it into a huge tripod and
settled it in front of us children. He came close to Master ji and
murmered to him to get us seated according to height and moved back
to his box and stand.
Once
at the stand he picked up the black box and settled it on top of the
tripod and covered it with a black cloth, similar to a blanket. The
camera box had a glass eye facing us. Once the blanket was in
position he went under it from behind the tripod stand and started to
moved the stand back and forth and settled in a place in a wy he
thought was best for the capture of a picture. Then he started to do
something with the box. Master ji told us that he is adjusting the
length of the box. Once that was over he came in front and looked at
all of us who were sitting like statues with eyes bulging out to see
what he will do next! He told us to sit in relaxed positions and went
near the camera cloth and removed the cloth from the front and
removed a cap from the aperture eye. Now we could see the glass eye
of the camera. The photographer went behind the camera once again
under the blanket and started adjusting the box a little more. Then
he settled that and once again covered the camera glass with a black
cap.
The
he went down to his box again and brought out a slate sort of frame
and took it inside the blanket. Once inside, the Master ji explained
to us that he was fixing the film. The man came out with the frame
in his hand which he kept back into his box. Now he became very
serious! He came near us looking at each one of us.
He
pulled down some ones face a little, pushed up some others faces,
told some of us to be more relaxed. He even went to the Master ji and
physically turned his face a little. To some he told to turn their
faces a little to the left or right etc. Then at a point he said
ready and moved back to his camera. Once near the camera he surveyed
all of us from left to right and said: “Now I will say 'Smile
Please' – and then all of you should smile, ok?”
This
was going to be the moment. All of us kept ready to do our Smiles and
he slowly, ever so slowly, facing us put his hand on the eye cap of
the camera eye and looking at us said 'Smile Please' and we all
smiled. This was the
first time somebody was telling us to smile and all of us pulled our
lips to both sides and stood with the blandest of smiles and kept on
standing like that. In the mean time the photographer removed the
camera eye cap in a jiffy and covered it again. Then he turned to us
in a relaxed form and told us “Sabaash” ! The Master ji got up
and told us that the photograph is over. That was the first
photograph which was ever taken in our life.
We
were told that a proof will be available after a week and then the
real photo will be available in a month when each one will get our
copy on payment of its value of one Rupee each.
When
it came it was a great photograph with the Master ji sitting in great
style in the middle sitting row and all others in their respective
place. I was in the front sitting with my lips pulled maximum to both
sides presenting a large smile as much large as I could! It hang on
our little house wall for many years with the football in front with
'1964' written in chalk on it until we lost it to the photo-framer
who had been entrusted with it for a new frame.
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