{"id":811,"date":"2021-04-18T12:35:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T12:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/?p=811"},"modified":"2021-04-18T12:35:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T12:35:51","slug":"the-free-hearted-cameraman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/the-free-hearted-cameraman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Free-Hearted Cameraman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chaitanyamoi Chetia
St. Joseph\u2019s High School, Moranhat<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the best time to go for an elephant safari on a jeep for the tourists.  Joy and his parents had already set out in the early morning, and their destination was at the Kaziranga National Park. All the resorts located there were beautiful to look at, but Joy\u2019s father preferred the alternatives recommended by the Assam Tourism Development Corporation. After much effort, Joy\u2019s father had been able to book one double-bedded room having a balcony and that also many weeks before Joy\u2019s annual examination started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother packed all the necessary and requisites for their stay there. She had been giving a strict vigil to the wrapped things like the mobile phone and the charger because it was their only camera mobile through which they would capture pictures; warm clothes and his father\u2019s medicines prescribed by the doctor were also packed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His parents\u2019 curiosity for purchasing one new camera abated from their mind when they had lost a steady SLR camera at a children park due to their negligence when Joy had been a small boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They checked in at the reception desk and signed in their names in the book. Joy took his bath and changed his casual attires, and started enjoying cartoon films on the mobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother said, \u201cThe battery life of a mobile is not a day\u2019s worth. Get it fully charged; instead of the mobile, you can enjoy the TV while reclining on a chair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy answered, \u201cI will keep only after watching five minutes, Mother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They took their lunch at the banquet hall of the resort and came out: the manager of the resort was a nice man who told that the landscape of the Bagori range at the Kaziranga National Park spreads in the western range of the wild forest and also considered the best zone for wildlife sighting. In fact, the manager suggested that they should prefer that range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy\u2019s parents took the mobile phones without wasting any time, and Joy took a mineral water bottle and headed for the jeep safari. Innumerable tourists with different types and sizes of cameras were seen walking here and there with smiles on their face near the booking counter organised by the forest officials; some children of Joy\u2019s age were also seen hopping and jumping in joy. In an open hooded jeep, they took their seat, and the jeep drove towards the Bagori range, and it stopped for a while at the security checkpoint. Many jeeps were parked there, and tourists from different parts of the globe were wandering and taking photos near the timber plank standing straight and on the plank written – KAZIRANGA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy and his parents got down to click photos, and Joy\u2019s parents were looking cheerful. \u201cJoy, take us a photo near this timber plank,\u201d said his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy struggled a great many times to click a photo, but every time he attempted, he failed. Then came his mother and tried through her mobile and the same thing happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cAlas! what will happen now,\u201d Joy wandered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother said desperately, \u201cJoy, arriving here, I warned you to give a wide berth to mobile, but you didn\u2019t pay heed to my saying. Now, we failed to click even a single photo for a lifetime memory. Now what on earth are you going to do!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy felt like he was between Scylla and Charybdis, for the camera mobile had failed. Just then, he approached a tourist who had a camera in his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUncle, you are looking wonderful with your Van Dyke style beard,\u201d said Joy. \u201cWould you kindly take a photo for us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the camera in his hand, the man said, \u201cOf course, take your position and tell your parents to come; after clicking, I shall transfer it to your mobile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe man\u2019s photographic etiquette suggests he must be a professional photographer,\u201d Joy\u2019s mother told his father. \u201cAlso, look at his white beard and the blue denim attires he is putting on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA full goatee with detached moustache and his facial feature highlights he is from a foreign country,\u201d his father said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Van Dyke style white beard man also wondered himself, \u201cThis boy\u2019s eagerness for photography shows he is an aspiring photographer, though he has no camera in his hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The security guards in uniform checked the booking tickets of the tourists. Barring cameras and mobile phones, edible things and water bottle were not allowed to take inside. Slowly one by one, all the registered tourist jeeps went inside the dense jungle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy saw from a close range the water buffaloes and one-horned rhinoceros everywhere and a herd of deer and wild elephants and many migratory birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy\u2019s father inquired, \u201cWhat was the problem with the mobile phone that we could not click a single photo?\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy\u2019s mother answered, \u201cI asked Joy to limit himself in enjoying the mobile phone and be careful so that the battery charge does not hit zero; Joy did not listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His father took the matter lightly and said, \u201cOur destination choice was a nice one. There was a great feeling of camaraderie and togetherness which developed in the tourist spot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His father again added, \u201cLook at the wet alluvial tall grassland fringed with tall reeds and the beautiful one-horned rhinoceros.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Joy was watching the rhinoceros grazing and wallowing, he was in jubilation and excessive joy when he saw a few security vehicles escorting British Royal couple, Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visiting the Kaziranga National Park at the Bagori range in an open jeep. Joy couldn\u2019t believe his eyes; he felt like he was looking at the Taj Mahal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sun had set, and they arrived at their resort. Joy saw some of the boys at the tourist spot playing and rejoicing in the ground under the bright halogen lights. On the room’s balcony, reclining on a chair, Joy\u2019s mother was conversing with somebody through her mobile phone. She told Joy to go down below to the ground and play and get himself acquainted with them, for the next day after the elephant safari, they would check out. Joy was sad and remorseful that no pictures could be clicked through the mobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMother, I am reluctant to go down,\u201d he said. Now I must get the battery charged to the full so that no obstacle creeps up tomorrow in the elephant safari when my father would try to capture any picture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just then, a concierge of the resort came to the room to give the message that the next day morning, they would have to arrive at the Kohora range for the elephant safari. When asked about the time, the concierge replied to arrive early in the morning: and were told that the Kohora range would be about a few kilometres from the resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued, \u201cThere would be dense fog outside in the morning, so it would be better if you carry warm clothes with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the morning, Joy and his parents set out for the elephant safari. Joy handed over the mobile phone to his father so that when necessary, his father could click pictures. There was fog everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy said, \u201cFather, for me, it is a different experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the mobile battery fully charged, Joy\u2019s father clicked a sleeping fawn who was fast asleep; the fawn awoke and ran away immediately; the fawn\u2019s amazing scene made everybody laugh and while running away even the dead fallen leaves and the twigs made a sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy shouted in ecstasy, pointing to the fawn, \u201cRun, run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy\u2019s father captured many photos of this fawn. Sitting on the elephant and taking photos made Joy\u2019s father jubilant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy said to himself, \u201cMy father is feeling so happy now; he captured without any difficulties many animals from different angles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy\u2019s mother said, \u201cWe should be thankful to the mahout (the elephant rider who controls the elephant), because the latter had made the elephant move by the side of the sleeping fawn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They returned to the resort. They had breakfast, and Joy\u2019s father took the prescribed medicine which was wrapped in a small paper. The receptionist and all other members there requested them to visit again. Joy and his parents got into their car. While coming out of the tourist gate, Joy again saw many new tourists congregating at the booking office and engrossed in talking with one another. Most of them were moving everywhere with different types of cameras in their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One tourist approached a man, shook hands, and said, \u201cWhat camera are you carrying in your arms?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man answered, \u201cThis is a DSLR camera.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One lady came to one woman and said, looking at the camera, \u201cThis camera is looking nice; what camera is this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She answered, \u201cOh! This is a mirrorless camera.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy looked at his father\u2019s face and he could understand his father was feeling elated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy said to himself, \u201cI want to see my father in this way in a smiling face always. I pledge that I shall never again disturb my father\u2019s mobile phone anymore. The photos that father captured during the elephant safari shall always remain a great memory for my parents as well as to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother joyfully said, \u201cIncredible!\u201d looking at the photos transferred from the camera clicked near the timber plank by the white beard man to her mobile phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chaitanyamoi ChetiaSt. Joseph\u2019s High School, Moranhat It was the best time to go for an elephant safari on a jeep for the tourists.  Joy and his parents had already set out in the early morning, and their destination was at the Kaziranga National Park. All the resorts located there were beautiful to look at, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-simply-express"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":813,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}