The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. A photographer, camera in hand, stood by the roadside and spotted an elderly couple on a cycle cart. Dressed in simple, worn-out clothes, the old man pedalled steadily, his wife sat behind him, clutching a massive bag loaded onto the cart.<\/p>\n
“Photo khichwayenge? <\/em>(Would you like to have your photo taken?)” asked the photographer. Their faces lit up with childlike eagerness. “Yes, yes,” they said in unison.<\/p>\n The photographer suggested they park their cart by the side. He gestured towards a tree in a small patch of greenery. “Udhar jagah hai<\/em> (There’s space over there),” he pointed.\u00a0<\/p>\n As he adjusted the old man’s gray hair, the woman looked down at her clothes and hesitated. “Kapde toh humare gande hai <\/em>(Our clothes are dirty),” she said softly. The photographer took the old man’s arm and placed it around his wife’s, signalling them to pose together.<\/p>\n The woman let out a shy laugh, her eyes crinkling as she looked at the camera.<\/p>\n As they settled into the moment, he guided them through different poses – one where they looked deeply into each other’s eyes, a glimpse of a lifetime spent together.<\/p>\n As they chatted, the photographer learned that the couple travelled three hours in one direction daily and then made the same journey back in the evening. Waiting for the photographs to print, he reached into his bag and handed them each a cup of ice cream. “Aaplog tab tak meetha khao<\/em> (Till then, have something sweet),” he said.<\/p>\n When the prints were ready, he handed them over. Seeing their images in print for the first time, the woman let out a delighted giggle, her fingers tracing the edges of the picture. The old man, too, smiled.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asked when they last had a photo taken, the woman responded softly, “Kabhi nahi khichwaya.<\/em> (Never before.)”<\/p>\n As they admired the pictures, the woman turned to her husband and murmured, “Someday after we are no more, our children will look at this picture and say – these were our parents.” She held up the photograph and whispered, “Ye rahe mummy papa.<\/em> (Here are our mother and father.)”<\/p>\n With deep gratitude, the couple joined their hands in a respectful namaste<\/em> before carefully tucking the photos into a rucksack on their cart. Then, they pedalled away, carrying with them not just a printed memory but a moment they would cherish forever.<\/p>\n As the photographer watched them take leave, he reflected on the moment. The overlay text on his video read, “Sometimes the things we take for granted are the very dreams of others.”<\/p>\n\n