there is nothing beyond you...

If life is a gamble, she is a clear winner……no doubts….anyone can make it from her face. The innocence, contentment, energy, smile and the blush on her face told that she was very much into life. Even the clothes she was wearing were synchronized to it… And that’s the thing which attracted me towards her. She was washing clothes at the banks of river indrayani at dehu near pune…we were on our way back from a shoot at bhandara when I asked my friend to turn towards indrayani ghat at dehu….in fact I was looking for some good portraits…it was a typical ghat scene, few people taking bath, some washing clothes and others just lazing around in sun….. I had a quick look around and finally my eyes zoomed in to this lady…..she was in her sixties….washing clothes at the river bank very meticulously…it had a method….her wrinkles were a testimony to her hard life… I watched her for some time but she spotted us only when she was finished with her work…..we asked her to pose for us…and she just blushed….then she smilingly agreed to it and adjusted her (saree) clothes so that she looks better….she was so cute in her sixties…. a very happy and content face and when I asked her to grant us a smile on camera….that was fabulous…. I could see in her eyes that she was in love with her life……I don’t know how many shots I took….but neither my camera nor I had enough….

She reminded of those so many people I knew in my life….who despite having all the comforts and goodies of life, were unreasonably unhappy with their lives…..who never enjoyed what they had but always looked at things they did not have…..ever yearning for more….the ‘more’… which was just not quantifiable by any mathematics of life……….

She also reminded me of those innumerable articles published, of how in recent times the senior citizens are ‘living a second life’ after retirement….how they are enjoying the overseas holidays, amusement parks, shopping malls and branded cloths and accessories….without knowing that what they are after is……just a state of mind….nothing is beyond you….