Aurora, The Photographer

Strange.

How the person you loved the most can become the person you hate the most.

Aurora, born in an upper middle class tambrahm family fell in love with Nivin born in an upper middle class Kerala christian family . Nivin grew up in Chennai since he was 2 years old. Aurora fell to his charm, he to her beauty on a Friday evening to be exact when they returned from an office treat and at 9. 30 pm to be even more exact when he dropped her at her house and looked at her with love. They both were independent minded and marriage was not on their radar until that moment. She felt it could happen with him and he felt it could happen with her. They wouldn't let their origins to stop them from getting married. They could afford to do so.

That seed planted on the Friday evening grew well beyond their expectations. Nivin was interested in photography and poetry, Aurora in travelling and food. Nivin was 5 feet 10 in tall, Aurora 5 feet 8 in. Nivin was introverted, Aurora extroverted. Nivin was 28 years old, Aurora 29. Nivin thrived in books, Aurora read to pass time. Both worked in the same project in an IT company in Chennai. That company was Nivin's second and Aurora's fifth. They complemented each other.

"When I see me in your eyes

And you see you in my eyes

Time stands still to eye us

Do you know that?"

he asked her just like that one day over dinner looking deeply into her eyes. Aurora got used to this charm of him and she couldnt believe that a practical lady like her would fall to his whimsical poems. Yet she loved it.

Time rolled on . A year passed. And another. They were not interested in tying knots so soon. They explored themselves and their life together. And then, it happened.

Julia, Nivin's childhood friend pinged him over facebook that she was shifting to Chennai. They had been thick friends at school. She studied her college at Coimbatore, worked for an year in a consultancy in Kerala and then moved to UK . She learned Tamil during her college days and was very comfortable in speaking and reading it. After 8 long years she came to Chennai on account of her job. She was single, had big round eyes and the beauty of Keralites.

They met. They met regularly. They chatted. They chatted regularly.

Aurora started feeling uncomfortable about their friendship. She felt they were more close than friends. And one day she revealed her feelings to him. They fought face to face, then over phone call and then over whatsapp.

 What started as an argument over his friendship then spilt over their differences. That seed planted unconsciously grew well beyond their control. They broke up and more than that they started hating each other .

Strange.

How the person you loved the most can become the person you hate the most.

    Days rolled on. Aurora said to herself that she would stop cribbing over it like a teenage girl and start facing her life like a woman. She moved on with her life, over her pain . She broke his contact with him. A few months passed. She didnt want anything of Nivin anymore in her life except his interest that he passed on to her, the interest in photography. Aurora had firmly believed she wouldnt be good at photography. Nivin had convinced her and encouraged her to start small with her iPhone. She had started a Little Photo project when they were at the peak of their relationship. She uploaded a photo a day for 100 days to her instagram account, improving and exploring her skills day by day, discovering a new passion. Since their breakup she hadn't paid attention to this passion of hers.

It was December 31. New year eve celebrations began.

Aurora was chatting with her friend over whatsapp. .

And so Aurora began her Year of Photography.

January was the 'Month of Smiles' . She uploaded one photo every day for the entire month on her instagram account. The first one was of her parents wishing her all the best with a big smile. On some days she took 2-3 phots, on some days she got nothing satisfactory, yet she was dedicated in uploading a photo everyday. January ended on a good smile note.

February was the 'Month of Shadows', March, the 'Month of Clouds', April the 'Month of Kids', May the 'Month of Streets', June the 'Month of Architecture', July the 'Month of Portraits', August the 'Month of Lights'.

7 months thus passed successfully. She missed not a single day come whatsoever. The eigth month was dedicated to a single photo, a photo which meant so much to her. She had chosen September as she had a better chance of taking a good shot on that month. She travelled to the United States of America. She then travelled to Alaska in the United States. From there she booked an excursion trip to Fairbanks.

                     

The temperature was freezing cold. The time was 11 pm. She was wearing three layers of cloth, a base layer and then a woolen sweater over it and then wind proof coats over it along with wind proof pants. Along with them she also wore a hat, winter boots, foot warmer beneath the boots,, glove liners and mittens over glove liners so that at the moment of taking the shot she could remove the mittens and shoot wearing glove liners. Adding to all these she also wore a head lamp.

She readied her tripod and kept her DSLR camera on it. She had bought a wide angle lens exclusively for this shot.

"It is unpredictable" a fellow tourist told her "No one is entirely sure when it will appear. We need to be patient"

"I wish it appears tonight" she smiled back . She had done a lot of homework for this very moment.

Moments passed. And then it happened. The time was 12:33 AM.

She saw faintly glowing bands of greenish white light. They started moving in the east - west direction across the sky. Slowly they started gaining momentum becoming more dynamic in color and position. She adjusted her camera settings. She experimented the exposure time from 2 to 20 seconds, the aperture with f2. 8 and faster, the ISO with 1600 to 2500.

The lights were getting intense and fell like rippling curtains on the sky. And then the curtains became more intense turning into arcs and spirals.

"Click"

Time was arrested and captured inside her camera lens. The atmosphere was mystic and the winter frightening.

She captured the 'AURORA' her namesake.

Few days later:

               Aurora felt she was even ready to die at the moment. She was too happy . She returned back to India the same month. She stumbled upon 'Your Shot' page of the National Geographic website accidentally while reading articles on photography. She created a profile and uploaded her selected images including the 'Aurora'. Her image quickly drew eyeballs and took the attention of the editors. They picked her image for 'Photo of the Day' assignment, an assignment regularly run on the website. She was on the moons.

Few days later:

            "Beautiful as its namesake"

She saw a comment beneath her photo. It was Nivin.

"How did he know this?" she wondered and looked at his profile. He had been an active member on the community for 3 years. Having chosen for 'Photo of the Day' her photo drew his attention and so did her profile. Her happiness and excitement now dwindled. She got confused for no reason. Her heart beat faster. Out of curiosity, she went to his facebook profile. She had stopped using facebook since she broke up with him. And as she browsed his newsfeed,she saw a photo of him with Julia on her marriage with her fiance. He didnt lie her! She browsed more and saw another selfie with Julia,her fiance and himself. They were indeed thick friends she realised. Embarrassed and ridden with guilt, she wanted to apologise with him. Thoughts started hitting her hard. Will he accept my apology? Has he moved on too? Does he have another girl friend now?

Embarrassed to speak, she send a 'hi' to him on WhatsApp.

And then she called him, they spoke, they spoke for hours.

And they met.

And he saw himself in her eyes

And she saw herself in his eyes

And Time stood still to eye them

She continued her journey of photography with him.