Pure innocence, a camera and some wonderful memories

They say life is a continuous cycle. It has it's twists and turns but in the end, it follows the same old pattern. Unless you are Benjamin Button, you come into this world as a cute little baby with natural bumper pads, unaware of life's cruel tactics and then you grow up to be old, matured and cynical of life's ways. You come and go in diapers. But it is the journey in between which matters. These days, in every place, I see my friends, family and co-workers putting up images of their kids, nephews and nieces on the computer, on social networking sites and their Cellphones. Needless to say, I do the same. Babies are cute.... let's not deny that. They are so cute and loveable, you would forget the crying and tantrums just looking at them. Ask the baby's parents and they will probably agree or disagree on this. But one thing is for sure, they love the kid no matter what.

My mom once said that obviously pregnancy is a harrowing experience. But once you are into labour and when you get to see your baby's face for the first time, the pain just takes nano seconds to fade away. I will never know how true that actually is, maybe it's just how mothers are built and that is when the maternal instict takes over, but it must be true. Babies have the most innocent and pure expressions. That is where probably the snaps come in. You get to take snaps of that innocence because in some years, it is going to be diluted by the harshness that comes with maturity. And these snaps will then be memories of wonderful times. The times of your life which you will explain as stories to your friends and probably bore them to death telling them about how wonderful your kid's first step was, how he cried when you didn't give him the gift he wanted, or how peaceful he looks when when he sleeps. And all these times, you will be filled with emotions!

My dad takes snaps of me and my family. He has been doing that since we were kids, filling countless photo albums in the process and a big box with those albums. And ever since my

brother got him a digital camera, every event has clicks associated with it :) There are snaps of me and my brother when I was a kid. And every time my 'Aai' (my mom) and 'Baba' ( my dad) see them, their face lights up remembering those days with the most wonderful smile possible. I think it is their way of having solid triggers for the memories.

Now, when myself and my brother are away from home, I realise how much they must be missing us. More than 20 years of looking out for the kids has now been partially replaced by waiting for them to come home in vacations. Face to face quarrels (mind you I accept that my mom and dad have always been right) have now been replaced ( Partially again... I fight with my Mom all the time) by phone calls to ask me if I am still at work at 11 PM or at home preparing to sleep. And all along what remain constant are the memories of the time spent together. Some in the form of snaps... and many more in their hearts! Thanks Aai and Baba, for all the wonderful times.