A friend of mine had posted this on his Facebook page.
I was fascinated with this observation for its depth and truth but also its appeal at the superficial level. I decided to change it to reflect the physical aspect and came up with this one.
I wanted to insert an older photograph of mine but, I was too lazy to go to my collection of hard copies and spend time looking for one. Facebook came to my rescue and gave me this photograph with my siblings and two cousins which my sister had posted some years ago.
Rear row from the left, my late father, I, my late younger brother Arvind, my uncle’s driver Narayanaswamy; front row from left, my younger brother Barath, my sister Padmini, cousin Gayathri and her elder brother Ramani. Another important fellow, the brother between Gayathri and Ramani, Shankar, is missing as he was playing hard to get to pose for the photograph. This was taken in one of the ubiquitous photographer’s studios that used to proliferate those days.
I took a cropped version of me alone, to show how I looked when I was about twelve, circa 1955. The occasion, was a day’s outing to a temple outside Chennai, then known as Madras.
When I sent the middle image to my friends and family on WhatsApp I received some amazing responses about how either I have not changed at all (!!!) or, how I am still as handsome as I was then and so on! Very flattering but, the point was totally missed!
The outer scores over the inner.
And it’s the inner we’ve lost. Of course you’ve changed, as we all have if we’re lucky enough to live long enough.
Great post!
XO
WWW
Thank you.
That’s funny that your uncle’s driver was in the photo but not your mom.
Interesting to think about the many versions of yourself others have known.
My mother was at home that day minding my grand mother.
Funny to think of all those out-of-date versions of myself floating around out there. So much has changed – my appearance, my political views, my physical location, my home, my likes and dislikes, you name it. It would be interesting to track down people from my past and see their reactions to the present-day me!
Whenever I get to chat with my friends from my long ago past, a few of them are still around and in touch, we do wonder at the changes that have taken place in ourselves.
I’ve always believed that the original version of us is there somewhere…you just have to dig a little deeper! Great post, Ramana!
Thank you Diane. I really enjoyed writing it.
Wow – this would have been a good weekly 2 on 1 topic -I love the comment and the possibilties. As we continue ti change and grow there will be folks that are not aware of changes andthat makes the statement very true as far as I see it
Yes, it would have and it never occurred to me to suggest it to you. I should be more careful and not be a cowboy.