The Lost Art of Organizing Albums

My mother yearned for a girl child long before I was born. But, as things turned out, she gave birth to a boy and that’s me. On my second birthday, she dressed my hair like a girl, a braided one. As if that was not enough, she made the photographer capture me standing in front of a Tulsi plant, folding my hands and beaming at the camera. Such an innocent kid I was then, I readily agreed to the injustice being done to me. There are many such injustices!!! But whenever I look back at those pictures, I cannot resist laughing at them. Such were the memories the photo albums bring back. It’s fun to relive the moments every now and then. 

Occasionally, my mom used to take the photo albums out of the shelf and scrolled through the folders, involuntarily smiling at them. Seeing that, me and my siblings used to gather around her and laugh at each other’s photos. We used to make fun of each other for the way we dressed, cried, ate the birthday cake, and all the other naughty things. And we ridiculed our parents by looking at their marriage photos and made fun for the way they were dressed. We used to fight a lot during our childhood but those photos brought us together. Whenever she scrolled the photo album, a joyous aura filled the atmosphere and the day passed without any fuss.

Photo albums enable us to rewind all those moments we cherish. Our first walk, first birthday, favorite birthday costume, old dressing and hair styles, our first bike, our classmates, our own parents wedding, holidays, festivals and all the naughty things you do all appear in a flash. Our brain gets flooded with the memories and it seems as if we are time travelling, living in different ages at the same time. It would be more fun if we open an album along with friends or family. It surely brings chuckles on all the faces. It acts as a mechanism to strengthen our bonds with friends and family. Whenever you feel low in life, just take a look at the photo albums and all your problems may not get solved but your mind gets freed from the negative energies. It truly works!

But, gone are those days when we get bored, we take some time to revisit the photo albums, look at the laughing faces (not smileys) and refill our hearts with ecstasy. Organizing albums was a lost art. Arranging the newly taken photos and rearranging the old ones was fun. Now, the smart phones took the responsibility to arrange them chronologically. All we need is to sync our mobile with the Google Drive and start taking as many photos as you want. Let the Google take care of it.

Smart phones are really smart. They are enabling us to look the world with the camera lens and not with our eyes.

Now-a-days, on the other hand, we are focusing more on taking photos and less on enjoying the moments we live in. Instead of savoring the delicious meal with family or friends, we focus more on taking a selfie and posting on social media. We go on a road trip to enjoy the weekends but concentrate our energies more on taking the pictures while riding. We take a leave from the hectic work schedule to explore the nature but experience its magic through the camera lenses. We wear a new dress and the camera acts a perfect judge than a mirror or a friend. Smart phones are really smart. They are enabling us to look the world with the camera lens and not with our eyes. With flash enabled selfie cameras, we even look at ourselves through them. Instead of storing our sweet memories in our heart, we started storing them in a device with an artificial memory.

The more number of photos we take the less is the chance that we relish upon them. Though they give us the instant dose of happiness, it doesn’t last longer. They are pretty much safer than the albums, but that security is blinding us. As we are busy with the smart phone 24/7, 365 days, we rarely look back at the photos and there is no point in photos being secure. The lesser the number of photos we take, the greater is the chance that we care them a lot and more grater is the chance that we visit them now and then. It also gives us ample time to spend our time on what we ought to spend.

Instead of looking at the photos in each other’s mobiles or laptops, storing them in the form of an album stimulates us to venture into past. With the number of photos we take in a week or month, it is not at all possible to maintain an album. There are some softwares and apps to organize our photos in digital albums but I don’t think they bring back the magic the photo albums used to give. But there is one thing we could do. We can collect few important photos of ours, take hard copies of those and arrange them in an album (yes, they still exist). We can time travel whenever we wish!!!