Picture-perfect!

(A short long story based on not one but many true incidents)

“When you don’t have evidence, why try to refuse it?” argued Ali, shrugging his shoulders and closing his lunch box.

Shekar gave him a cold stare and said, “Fine. I don’t have evidence. But, do you have any evidence to prove that they exist, sir?”

Ali paused for a moment and snapping his fingers, shouted, “Area 51!”

“Area 51? Seriously? Is that your evidence to make me believe in extra-terrestrial beings?”, asked Shekar, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Well.. You can’t say that the happenings there and the reports about…” and Ali stopped abruptly. His eyes widened. Shekar asked him why he had stopped. Ali signalled Shekar with his eyes to look behind.  Shekar turned and saw Reshma standing by their desk.

“Yes, Reshma! What is it?” asked Shekar. Reshma tilted her head slightly and continued staring at Shekar without replying. Shekar looked at her confused for a few moments before he remembered the text message she had sent him last night. “The book review, right?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with the joy of discovery. She nodded without answering.

Shekar quickly turned to Ali and asked for his English assignment note. Ali, who had been looking at Reshma till then, quickly bent down and fetched the note from his bag.

“Here Reshma!” said Shekar, handing her Ali’s assignment note. “You will probably never come across a better review of a book. Ali is the best when it comes to books. ” Shekar added.

Reshma smiled and looking at Ali, she said, “I will return it in a day or two.” Ali nodded and quickly added, “No problem. Keep it as long as you want.” Shekar turned towards Ali and glancing at him for a moment, he turned to Reshma and said, “Yeah. You can probably even tear it to pieces after you complete the review.”

Ali nudged him as Reshma let out a chuckle. She opened her mouth to say a statement when the hour-bell rang. She quickly turned and hurried off to her desk.

“Keep it as long as you want? So weak a romantic line?” Shekar asked Ali after Reshma left. Ali stared at him plainly. “Why didn’t you tell me that she had asked for it yesterday?” he asked Shekar. “If I had told you, you would have jumped up and down in joy. But how could I let you be happy, my dear?” asked Shekar, his eyebrow raised. Ali punched him in the stomach and as Shekar raised his hand to hit Ali, entered the Physics teacher and everyone in ‘XII -B’ classroom rose from their seats for greeting her.

****

“Did you notice the way she smiled when you said that I was the best when it came to books?” Ali asked, a large smile spread over his face, looking at the road below.

“Yeah! But I guess she smiled taking it as a joke.” snubbed Shekar. Ali raised his head and gave Shekar a nasty look. “Are you going to rejoice because she smiled when I said something about you?” asked Shekar, in a bit serious tone.  Ali remained silent.

“But it doesn’t matter much anyway, Ali. She already knows that you like her.” said Shekar, in a very calm tone. Ali froze and stopped in his track. Shekar kept walking forward not paying heed to Ali who had stopped.  Ali continued looking at Shekar hoping that he would turn but as Shekar kept walking on, Ali quickly ran ahead and stopped Shekar.

“Does she really know?” Ali asked, fear visible in his tone. Shekar let out a hearty laugh, shaking his head in denial. “But we can actually change that.” he added to Ali. Ali punched him on his shoulder and continued walking.

They kept walking for a few steps, their footsteps the only sound that could be heard on the 5^th main street that led to their homes.

And suddenly breaking the silence, came Ali’s statement. “I want a good photograph, Shekar.”

Shekar looked at Ali confused. “Profile picture! I want to change my profile picture.” Ali explained.

“Why suddenly?” asked Shekar. “I just felt like changing it. Why? Can’t you take a photograph?” Ali asked him. Shekar smiled and a few steps later, he suddenly stopped. “Reshma? Are you changing your profile picture for Reshma?” he asked, a bit shocked. Ali did not answer. “Ali, this seems silly. Do you seriously think that changing..” but his statement was stopped halfway by Ali.

“Please. I felt like changing it. Let alone the reasons.” he said. “Could you possibly take one today?” he asked, a minute later. Shekar nodded. Ali’s face brightened up.

”You know.. I have always wanted a photograph with the sun-setting-orange-sky as the background. The beauty it brings about is something amazing. Especially, the sky with the sun slowly.. ” Shekar placed his palm on Ali’s mouth. “I will take care of the setting. Walk quietly.” he told Ali.

About half an hour later, Ali was adjusting his hair for the fourth time as Shekar stood patiently, holding his camera. They had come over to a small pond that lay at a five minute walk’s distance from Shekar’s house.

“Do you think that my shirt colour would match with the background? Shall I perhaps rush to my home and change my shirt?” Ali asked with a sheepish smile on his face.

“Yeah. Please proceed to your home.” Shekar said bluntly. Ali quickly sprinted ahead. “You bloody fool! Do you think the sun is going to keep waiting for you to change your shirt?” shouted Shekar at Ali. Ali stopped immediately and slowly returned back to the spot where Shekar had told him to stand. He dragged his shirt a bit down and adjusting his collar, he pulled his stomach in. He then showed a thumbs-up signal to Shekar who removed the lens-cap and bent down a bit, holding the camera near his eye. He slowly adjusted the aperture setting and as he tuned the ISO, he lowered his camera.

“Why are you holding your breath trying to keep your stomach in?” he asked Ali. Ali let out the breath he was so difficultly holding and as his tummy came out protruding, he slowly moved his hand over it. He then looked at Shekar asking for some compassion.

“If you are going to be your normal self, I will go ahead with taking your photo. If not, I am leaving.” he warned Ali.

“Shekar, please! Just see how big this fellow is!” Ali pleaded, shaking his tummy.

“If you are going to hold your breath, I am not taking your photograph.” iterated Shekar. Ali remained silent for a moment. “Fine. Let’s do this. One photograph with the stomach in for my sake and one with the normal self for your satisfaction. How about it?” he asked Shekar.

Shekar opened his mouth again to argue but he looked at the sky. He was already losing the lighting required for the photograph. So, he agreed and asked Ali to stand with his head lowered a bit.

He then started clicking the capture button, slightly lowering and raising the camera angle with every photograph. “Two is enough, Shekar” shouted Ali from his spot. “Stand quietly.” shouted back Shekar and continued snapping photographs. A few clicks later, he slowly lowered the camera and pressing the play button, he looked at the photos that had been captured. Ali quickly rushed to join him and watched the photos along with him. As the photos went by one after the other, stopped Shekar at a photograph and handed the camera to Ali. “I guess this one’s the best” he told Ali.

Ali took the camera from him and looked at the screen. On it was seen a beautiful photograph of Ali, till his waist level with a bleak smile on his face, at the left corner with a blurred background of the pond and a magnificent orange sun, occupying a majority of the top-right corner. “It’s fantastic Shekar” Ali delighted in joy. Shekar nodded and asked back the camera.

“Wait for a few minutes. I need to take some photographs” he told Ali and walked towards the pond. Ali walked behind him. Shekar wore the camera’s strap around his neck and sat down on the ground. He then picked a peculiar looking stone and placed it at the edge of the pond. He searched around for a bit and at some distance, he found what he was looking for. He looked at Ali who was standing nearby and asked him to fetch a dried-up yellowish leaf that lay a few feet away. Ali quickly brought him the leaf.  Shekar placed the leaf resting on the top of the stone and moving the stone a few inches more to the edge of the pond, he removed the camera from around his neck.

“Move back a bit” he said to Ali and as Ali moved back, Shekar prostrated himself on the ground. Adjusting the aperture setting, he focused on the leaf resting on the stone and started clicking a few photographs. “Why did Sheela aunty take a break from photography, Shekar?” asked Ali suddenly. Shekar gave him an angry stare and Ali quickly placed his hand over his mouth.

A minute later, Shekar got up and seated himself before the pond. He then slowly took the peculiar looking stone and threw it inside the pond, very close to its edge. As the stone fell inside, started spreading ripples and he quickly threw the dried-up yellowish leaf into the pond. The leaf flew in the breeze and landed on one of the ripples getting carried away. Shekar quickly rested his camera on the ground and focusing on the ripples, he slightly adjusted the aperture setting to bring the leaf into focus and a moment later, he got the ideal image that he was looking for which he photographed.

“Why did Sheela aunty take a break from photography?” asked Ali again, as Shekar stood up dusting off the mud from his shirt and pants. Shekar looked at Ali for a moment. “Why this question suddenly?” asked Shekar, continuing to dust off the mud.

“The last time I visited your home, I noticed the ‘India Today’ cover photograph that aunty had taken hanging on the wall. I thought of asking about the photograph and as to why she had taken a break then but for some reason, I didn’t. I suddenly felt like asking now seeing you engaged in photography” Ali explained.

Shekar hung the camera around his neck and signalling Ali to proceed, started walking towards his home. “It was that photograph which you saw hanging on the wall that caused the break” Shekar said, as they had taken a few steps. Ali looked at Shekar. “Do you remember the photograph?” Shekar asked him.

“Yeah. A little girl smiling from inside an overflowing garbage bin. It kind of shook me a bit” Ali said.

Shekar nodded and explained, “It shook my mom more than a bit. She had managed to capture the photograph easily. But when she saw her photograph on the ‘India Today’ cover, she broke down. She ran to her room and smashed two camera lenses that came to her reach. She then grabbed this camera..” Shekar pointed to the camera around his neck and continued, “.. and was about to smash it too. But my dad hurried in and snatched it from my mom. It took him more than a week to completely console her. She felt ashamed for having taken the photograph of the girl inside the garbage bin and told my father that she was never ever returning back to photography. ” Shekar ended.

A minute of silence prevailed as the two of them kept walking towards Shekar’s home.

“Why then hang the photograph on the wall?” asked Ali slowly, looking at Shekar. “To remind herself not to get back to this” Shekar said, pointing again at the camera that hung around his neck.

A minute later, they reached Shekar’s home. “So, does she never even touch the camera?” asked Ali, still pondering over Shekar’s mom’s break. “It’s not so. She does teach me a few techniques about lighting and camera angles. But it’s been about two years now since she captured a photograph.” said Shekar.

“Not even a selfie?” asked Ali, smiling.

Shekar raised his eyebrows in anger at Ali’s comment and as Ali’s smile slowly disappeared, he let out a hearty laugh and slapped Ali’s back.

****

Ali refreshed his Facebook page again.  It had been more than an hour since he had changed his profile picture. He had got only 6 likes.

He clicked the tab that lay nearby the current tab on his browser. He had opened Reshma’s profile picture on it. He looked at her photo – a simple image of her standing by a tree – and as he scrolled down, his heart sank a bit. 231 likes.

He banged his head on his computer table. A set of novels that lay at the edge of the table tumbled and fell below. Ali let out a sigh and got up from his chair. He picked up the novels and set them on the table. On his way to returning to his chair, he passed the full-sized mirror that lay attached to the wall. He stopped and turned towards the mirror. He walked towards it. As he stood a few inches away from it, he looked closely at his reflection on the mirror. He then turned to his left and looked at his sideways reflection on the mirror.

He slowly moved his hand over his protruding stomach. He then slowly pulled it in. Pulling it inside to the fullest, he looked at the mirror. He kept staring at his image having a flat stomach and he slowly moved his hand over the reflection’s stomach. As he kept moving his hand, his body couldn’t take it anymore and his stomach came back to its normal self. He abruptly stopped moving his hand and dragged it back from the mirror.

He then slowly walked back to his chair and seating himself on it, looked at the screen. It had Reshma’s photo on it and the likes had gone to 240. He moved his mouse pointer and returned to the nearby tab that had his profile. He closed his eyes as he clicked the tab and slowly leaning forward, he opened them. The same 6 likes.

Frustrated, he removed the photo from his Facebook profile and switched off his system. He then leaned back on his chair and began staring at the black screen of the computer, slowly punching his stomach.

****

“Who the hell told you that a girl is going to be impressed by the likes you get on a Facebook page?” Shekar asked angrily, as he opened his lunchbox. Ali did not reply. He sat staring at his unopened lunchbox.

“Are you not going to open it?” Shekar asked. There was no reply. Shekar dragged Ali’s lunchbox closer to him and opened it. Arranged neatly inside were 5 chappathis, rolled and stuffed with potato curry. “Wow! My favourite! Are you going to have one or not?” asked Shekar, holding the lunchbox to Ali in one hand whilst biting a large piece off a chappathi roll held in the other. Ali remained silent staring still at the spot the lunchbox had been before.  

“Fine.” said Shekar bluntly and placed the lunchbox by his side. As he completed one chappathi roll, he took out another and started eating it. Ali, still staring at the same spot slowly moved his hand towards his lunchbox. Shekar, seeing this, moved the lunchbox a bit further from Ali’s reach. Ali stretched out his hand a bit further. Shekar moved the lunchbox a bit more and Ali eventually turned and looked at Shekar. Shekar slowly dragged the lunchbox back and pushed it to Ali’s side. Ali got hold of a chappathi roll from the lunchbox and started munching it.

“So, tell now, my dear. Who the hell told you that the likes you get for your profile picture would impress a girl?” Shekar asked, smiling.

“Nobody” said Ali bluntly. Shekar smiled a bit more. “Why do you care if she gets 240 or 250 likes? It just means that there are those many jobless people in her friend list.” he told in a sarcastic tone.

Ali let out a chuckle, spitting out a bit of the chappathi roll.

“A profile picture is after all just an identifier, right? People need your profile picture to help them recognize you. Why the hell has it been made into a tool to measure your attractiveness? Does 240 likes mean you are handsome and does 5 likes mean you are ugly? ” Shekar asked, the last statement in an anger filled tone.

“Actually, it was 6 likes.” corrected Ali, still munching at his roll.

Shekar let out a hearty laugh. “Idiot!” he exclaimed, laughing. “By tomorrow morning, I want to see your photo back as the profile picture. If it doesn’t get even a single more like, I don’t care. I like you the way you are. I like your tummy. I like the entire 90 kilos of you. Be happy and proud of who you are and how you are, Ali. And I will kill you if you lay your hand on the last roll!” he finished, hitting Ali’s hand that had reached for his lunch box.

“You were saying something very seriously. So, I thought you might not notice” Ali said, laughing.

“You are important to me. Fine. But the chappathi roll is, on any day, more important” said Shekar, mocking. Ali let out a laugh and a moment later, his laugh abruptly stopped. Shekar asked him what it was. Ali signalled with his eyes to look behind. As Shekar turned, he saw Reshma standing.

“Ali, I completed my review last night. But I have given your assignment note to Kavya. She said that she would definitely return it by Monday. Hope you don’t mind” she said, looking at Ali.

Ali shook his head furiously, signifying a no, trying to swallow hastily the food inside his mouth.

“And I also wanted to say that your review was fantastic. I have not even heard of the book – The Reluctant Fundamentalist. But you had reviewed it so well that I felt like I had read the book after finishing your review. Really great, Ali! ” she said, smiling. Ali kept looking at her, his eyes widened. He wanted to thank her but he could not bring about his mouth to say it.

“Ali becomes a statue when someone praises him. I thank you on his behalf.” quickly added Shekar, smiling, looking at Ali. Ali nudged him but he still couldn’t bring himself about to thank her. “It’s fine. I should only thank you” said Reshma to Ali and turned to leave.

“Ask her which book she chose” whispered Ali to Shekar, hurriedly. “So, which book did you choose, Reshma?” asked Shekar, making Reshma turn.

“Twilight. I chose Twilight.” she said, smiling and walked away.

After she had gone a few steps, Shekar burst into a hearty laughter. He started banging the desk, unable to control his laughter. A minute later, still laughing, he slowly turned to Ali. Ali was still reeling from the shock.

“Hey! Your face seems to have become as pale as the Edward’s face described in Twilight.” exclaimed Shekar and started laughing even more. Ali landed a hard punch on his back and told him to stop laughing. But Shekar was able to control it only after about two minutes.

“What an irony! Of all the books in the world, your dream girl chose the one book – the only book – that you hate. I really feel sorry for you Ali” said Shekar, beginning to laugh again.

Ali was silent for a minute and then he said something which made Shekar laugh even more.

“The first thing I am doing after reaching home is keeping my photo back as the profile picture.”

****

Shekar looked at the clock. It was 8am. He wondered for a minute as to why he woke up early on Sundays when he found it extremely difficult to wake up on the working days of school.  

He switched on his desktop computer and shouted out, “Mom! A drinkable coffee please!”

There was no reply for a few moments. He slowly peeped out of his room, sitting on his chair. A moment later, his mom came out of the kitchen and gave an angry look. “It would take at least 20 minutes. After all, I need to make it drinkable, right?” she smirked. Shekar grinned widely and nodded. His mom returned back inside.

Shekar opened the web browser and logged into his Facebook account.

The earlier day, Ali had been constantly whining about Reshma’s like for Twilight but by evening, he had come to a phase where he had started saying that everyone had a few negatives and it wasn’t a big issue. Shekar had become afraid that Ali might get back again to feeling sorry for his profile picture and had lied to him that Reshma, during a conversation with Shekar the earlier night, had mentioned that she had felt that Ali’s photo had looked good and had asked Shekar why Ali had removed it. Ali had not believed it but Shekar had threatened him that he would call Reshma right then and make her say that she liked the photo and so eventually, Ali had agreed.

Shekar had decided to ask Reshma, if she came online, to ‘like’ Ali’s photo. Shekar had told her a few months back about how much Ali liked her and so he knew that Reshma wouldn’t mind liking Ali’s photo. She, though did not like Ali in the complete sense, had considerable respect for him.

But as soon as he logged in, Shekar saw that he had received a message. It was from Ali. As Shekar opened the message, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Ali had sent him a screenshot. It showed a Facebook notification, from Ali’s profile, which said: “Reshma Saravanan likes your photo”.

Shekar was overjoyed. He wanted to congratulate Ali and as he glanced at the left bottom corner of the page for the list of people online, he could see that Ali’s name had a green dot accompanying it. As Shekar began typing, he noticed that Ali was also typing something and Shekar stopped.

A moment later blinked the message: “This is going to be a lengthy message. Please bear with me. I need to tell you this :P ”

Shekar was a bit confused on seeing the message but he waited patiently, expecting a long-winding message about Reshma.

And then came the lengthy message bit by bit.

“Kavya messaged me yesterday on Facebook. She had messaged to let me know that she was having my English assignment note :D”

“She told me that my review on the book was great. She admitted to have read only 3 books in her life and asked me how many books I have read so far. I shamelessly admitted as to have read about 300 books  :P I also told her to read more books and suggested a few good ones :D ”

Shekar smiled as he read the message. Ali was the only guy he knew who would type entire sentences instead of using short phrases even on Facebook.

“But here is the main part :D She told me that my profile picture looked good :D I thanked her and only then looked at her profile picture. It was a photograph of a small child. I asked her why she had not kept her photo as the profile picture.”

“And the reply that she sent made me feel really bad. She sent this – ‘LOL :P If I keep my photograph as the profile picture, I would probably not get any more friend requests :P :D’. I really felt very bad, Shekar. And you should not scold me for what I did after this :P ”

Shekar started imagining all kinds of possibilities as to what Ali would have done when appeared the next message.

“I sent her the following message – ‘The profile picture is just an identifier. Why do you say such stuff? Take me, for example. I have a huge tummy. I weigh 90 kilos. But I love my tummy. I love the entire 90 kilos that is me. Be happy and proud of who you are and how you are :D And sorry if I had said anything wrong :) ’. I know what you would be thinking after reading it but like I said, please don’t scold me :D ”

Shekar let out a hearty laugh reading the message. It was stuff like this that made him love Ali.

“And do you know what Kavya replied? She sent me this – ‘ No aplogies please :) No one has ever shared such things with me. Thanks a lot. I guess this book review has not just given me a book to read but also a great friend :) ’. And she actually changed her profile picture – it now has her photo :D ”

Shekar smiled reading it.

“All of this happened only because of you :D Be it Reshma :D Be it my photo :D Be it the advice that led to Kavya becoming friends with me :D I will somehow beg my mom and bring chappathi rolls tomorrow also :D Thank you my friend :D ”

The last message made Shekar smile even more. This was another characteristic of Ali’s which he loved. Ali never hesitated to express his gratitude even for the smallest of things. But Shekar knew that this time, he didn’t deserve Ali’s gratitude. He typed:

“ Congrats on Reshma’s like – I told you yesterday na? :D And hats off with Kavya – you have made a girl feel proud of herself :D Seriously super :D And stop thanking me. Everything happened only because of your book review :D Realize that and thank yourself :D And please Ali, somehow make your mom agree to the chappathi rolls :D”

And he sent it to Ali. He got back a “Definitely :D” from Ali after which Ali went offline.

Shekar read the messages that Ali had sent him one more time. As he read Ali’s thank-you message again, he experienced an overwhelming feeling of happiness but this time it was tinged with a slight guilt.

He recalled all the statements he had said to Ali the previous day about profile pictures. He looked at Ali’s message again and he couldn’t help feeling bad. He moved his mouse pointer to the top of his profile and clicked on his profile picture.

It was a photograph of a butterfly rested atop a torn shoe that Shekar had taken.

He kept staring at the picture for a few moments and began scrolling through his earlier profile pictures – a bird perched on a railway track, a line of water droplets about to fall from a clothesline, a lonely hibiscus flower that lay fallen on a long empty road, a dog resting on a bench with its one eye open, a caterpillar crawling across a leaf – all of them captured by Shekar.

He recalled the instance when Ali had asked him, a few months ago, as to why he never kept his photograph as his profile picture. Shekar had smartly answered him that he wanted people to recognize him by his ‘photographs’ and not by ‘his’ photographs.

But now, as he kept looking at the photographs he had assigned as his profile pictures, he felt sad. He knew the real reason as to why he had not kept his photo as the profile picture.

He did not consider a picture of himself worthy.

He slowly got up from his chair. He walked to the balcony and looked out at the sky. The sun was at its most powerful, shining brightly.

As he kept staring at the sky, he recalled Ali’s message. He also recalled Kavya’s message that Ali had sent him.

As his eyes became blinded by the sun’s rays, it slowly dawned on him.

He decided that he would no longer be a hypocrite and turned to enter his room. He saw his mom standing by his computer table with the coffee cup in her hand.

And his heart skipped a beat.

As he looked at her standing there, he recalled all the hours he had spent with his mom learning about photography. He had, on a lot of occasions, asked her to photograph various images that had caught his eye but she had refused outright on every single occasion.

He now remembered the one thing he had never asked her to photograph.

And he entered the room quickly. He took the coffee cup from her hands and placed it down on the table. He held her hand and dragged her to the balcony. He told her to stand near the entrance of the balcony and entered the room again. He grabbed the camera th and came back to the balcony. He told his mom not to move and hung the camera’s strap around her neck. She tried to lift the strap off but Shekar told her to wait for a moment.

He then walked towards the edge of the balcony. Looking at the sky and the sun for a moment, he positioned himself at a place where the sunlight bathed one half of his body while the other remained dark. He looked at his mom.

She was grasping the strap of the camera, ready to remove it.

Shekar looked at her eyes and bringing about a smile on his face, he slowly asked her,

“Mom, would you take a photograph of me?”

                                                

*****