Photography and Death!

My 5 yr old is currently crazy and obsessed about these two topics. 

Photography – The craze!

It started a couple of months ago when he was gifted a toy camera by a friend. He went clicking all day and was quite happy to show me his imaginary pictures on the pretend viewer. Over time, I noticed that he took care of this one as well as we did our Canon Digicam. He would put it in its pouch and keep it at a specific spot in his toy chest, and let his 2 yr old brother use it only with proper instructions and supervision.

I also noticed that he chose some very interesting subjects to capture, and felt sorry that he couldn’t actually save them. To name a few - When his 2 yr old brother, did something new and exciting (which included, the first time he ever used the toilet to pee). He took pictures of me when I sported something new (didn’t spare my oiled hair look). Unusual views of animals or birds (a pair of parrots on the tree outside our window, indulging in some public display of affection). Two, Three, Four Wheelers on the road, when we are out (half an hour well spent in a traffic jam, when his parents were going bananas over reaching 15 mins late for a doctor’s appointment).

So, one morning I sat him down, and taught him how to use my camera. How to put the picture within the frame, click with a firm grip and wait for the flash, and then admire the picture. He was overjoyed when I told him he was allowed to take a few pictures everyday. He would then come running to me at odd times and ask for permission to use it, and justify the effort with a lovely picture.

I hope this craze sticks, and becomes a lovely hobby he will be proud of someday.

Death – The obsession!

This has been going on for about 6 months now. It started when I lost my very close friend in Chennai, and he saw me grieving. He had never seen his mother so unhappy. He concluded that death is something really unpleasant and it can shake one's core. So now he wanted to know how, why, when, etc.

I found his questions very logical, though the answers were difficult. But yes, I made an honest attempt to ensure that I gave him the facts as well as I could, while also trying to keep it simple enough for a 5 yr old. There really is no right or wrong answer here and I think I have done the best I could.

He talks about death at least once everyday ... either comes up with questions about a specific person, or a general query on the subject, or after life, or God, or simply shares his thoughts. One of these sessions a couple of months ago even resulted in “I am scared of God!” But we have sailed through each day with more information, less fear, and a happy ending.

The Combo – Crazy Obsession

One late afternoon, I was in the middle of cleaning up my 2 yr old (takes about 10 mins) after a marathon paint session. I heard the older brother running up to the bathroom and asking me if he could use my camera. He seemed highly excited, so I said yes.

Just as he ran out of the room, I asked him what he was going to take a picture of. His excited, high pitched answer came “Mamma, I saw a murder!” I started to panic!

The small one wanted to run after him, so I had to do a quick job of cleaning him up, but it still took me a good 5 mins. Then I frantically ran from room to room, window to window looking for the gory image in my mind, dreading the impression it would make on the 5 yr old. After what seemed like hours, I could neither find the gory picture, nor my son. When I finally called out to him, he came jumping and skipping happily from the balcony, all smiles, camera in hand, and proudly showed me the picture.

Just a few days before this incident, he and I were reading a book on animals and birds. We went through an interesting list of collective nouns here. Obviously, my 35 yr old brain didn’t retain as much as his 5 yr old one did.

The picture that I saw in the Canon’s viewer brought shame, pride, and most of all relief! It was the view from my hall window, the tall coconut trees, the neighbor's terrace, its grey unpainted walls, and right on the parapet? At least a hundred crows.