It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon, and I’m having a late lunch. By my side is the ‘HINDU’ newspaper. As it is the last week of December, the newspaper has essays on the “year of extremes”- 2015. December is the time of the year when most of us quip, “Ah! Another year has flown by”. I’m one of those romantics of ‘time’ who marvel at its fluidity and relativity. I love going back in time, reliving perfect moments, feelings, scenes and dwelling in the beauty of the past. I’m the kind who says- “It’s been thirteen years since I joined high school, ten years since I joined college and eight years since I joined medical college, and yet it seems like last week that we went on that awesome trip with friends, zooming against the winds on our bikes. I feel old and yet young at heart. I miss the good old times in Mysore, and yet I look forward to what the exciting/scary future has in store.”
It’s a perfect time for nostalgic trips down memory lane. In today’s digital age, photos and music – the two things that trigger nostalgia are very easy to come by. Revisiting old times is so much easier. Just browse through your face-book pages and you’ll know how the year that went by was (This is strictly for those who are ‘active’ on face-book). For others it is the pictures on their smart phone or laptop.
Going back by a decade or two, when smart phones were not the ‘must have’ gadgets and people still used cameras, the ‘reel’ ones and later the ‘digi-cams’; taking ‘prints’ and housing memories in ‘albums’ was common. Now that trend is probably coming down.
I remember the yellow pages of the ‘stick-on’ albums that belonged to my grandfather. They had black & white photos being separated by butter paper so that they don’t stick to each other. How much photography and capturing memories has changed since then!
The next generation saw my dad capturing our childhood on the ‘Kodak reel camera’. We have loads of small albums of different events of significance all locked away safely in our cupboard at home. Looking at them makes us feel so good. Visiting good old times always does!
And now there’s us, clicking away on our ‘smart phones’ and taking selfies. Wonder what the next big thing would be in the nostalgia scene.
In this photo-crazy world (that definitely includes me); I lately realized that some of the best holidays/times are the ones where you sit back, relax and actually forget to take pictures!
Happy New year everyone! Have a great year ahead, with lots of memories to treasure in the eye of your mind!