MY THREE MUSKETEERS

I had been walking, cursing at the baking earth and naked sun while passing through this construction site in Gurgaon on my way to the bus stop from Power Grid Corp., where I was doing my industrial training this summer. The building that was coming up at the site seemed to prompt me in its own subtle imposing manner, to photograph its rising, and I was clicking at the camera in no time. I often get these fits of sorts, taking random shots of the inanimate, a behaviour that is usually ignored each time it happens, by man and beast alike.

So it was surprise that I encountered, when I saw three urchins watching me clicking away, standing close by, attentive to what I was doing. The tallest among them, a girl, made her way behind me, shifting her weight to the toes to match my height, trying to grab a peek into the viewfinder, giggling at my interest in the building where her dad could have easily been a daily wager. Their sudden request - "Bhaiya humari fotu kheench do (take our photo, bhaiya)" seemed amusing even though I yielded to their request, but was struck at how beautifully each one of them posed - not a tinge of artificiality, and an innocent indifference to the fact that they wouldn't get to keep the photograph...I showed them their image that was captured on the camera, which drew careless laugter and merriment from them. There was something about that laughter that was way more real in quality than what I was used to. Or maybe it was my heightened sense of imagination... I can't be sure.

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All the same, I realised that it wasn't really the baking earth or the sun that's the real cause of our consternation. At least I am certain of that now.

the Guy Next Door