What job would you do for free?

Jay stood on the terrace. In his hand was a new digital camera, which was in a sealed box three hours ago.

Jay stood looking for a subject. He couldn’t focus in school the whole day, the excitement was just too powerful for him to focus on anything else.

The camera was a gift from an aunt.
“Maybe I will make clicking pictures my new hobby,” Jay had told her 4 months and 11 days back on a phone call.
What Jay had not anticipated though, was that his aunt would actually send a camera for him.. his very own camera.

A colourful card accompanied the gift. ‘Enjoy your new hobby’, it read.

If Jay could have his way, then he would rush off to the park with the new camera, but, “You are not taking the camera out of the house, without me or your father accompanying you,” his mother had sternly said.

But, maybe, just maybe, if he could just quietly… “Don’t even think about taking it to school. The camera will be kept in the cupboard after use, and when I check, it better be there,” Jay’s mother added before Jay could complete his thought or have another one.

So, Jay found himself standing on the terrace with his new camera in hand. His father wasn’t back from work and his mother was busy with hers, so no one was going to accompany him to the park today.

Jay looked down at the road where people and vehicles passed. He tried clicking a few pictures of the passing subjects, two cars speeding off, a group of children returning home after playing, an old man returning from the market with a bag full of vegetables.

Jay enjoyed using the camera but wasn’t quite satisfied with the photos he clicked. The subjects were just too far, to zoom in and click a decent photo

The Sun’s light was now barely peeking through the sky. It was going to be dark soon. Maybe, the next day one of his parents would be free to accompany him to the park.

“Is that a new camera?”… Jai looked at his neighbours terrace where their little girl stood looking at Jay.

“Yes, it’s new,” replied Jay.

The little girl smiled and then spoke, “will you take a photo of me?”

“I will”, Jay replied, switching the camera on.

“Will you take money for taking my photo with this camera?” the little girl innocently asked, seeing such a camera for the first time in life.

Jay laughed with his eyes focused on the LCD screen of the camera and his index finger on its shutter button.

Well… the day did end with a good photograph afterall.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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