The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time.
On my latest photographic exploration I embarked on an experience that came with a lesson
This shoot consisted of 2 models. A Chunilal Gada 81 year old man and Maniben Gada a 80 year old woman that played the roles of being a child, a sibling, a parent, a grand parent, an in-law, a great grand parent, a life partner, a god lover and a mentor.
The journey of so many roles is timeless and at a point where happiness and memories is all we all earn through our life times. These 2 are my Grand parents in law. Well they are my darlings, so lets refer to them as nana and nani and while I lost the last of my grand parents (my dadi last month), these 2 became even more priceless to me.
I ventured into a day of this couple to be captured in nostalgia for generations to come.
A timeless black and white shoot to capture the value of our grand parents.
Nana is a self made man, having built himself from rags to riches, an independent and principled man from Gandhiji’s era. Never taken a favour from any one. A wise man, a man of his word and always dressed in a white kurta and pyjama across his life time. A man of few words, we don’t hear more than a few wise words from him but can always see the light of love and affection in his eyes for all his family members.
Nani on the other hand is this tiny cute thing that never stops smiling. Its like you see her face and the stress of your day will vanish. Always wanting to explore more and very talkative. She has always been a home maker and raised a well settled happy family.
Well you know what they say – Opposites attract!!!
The religious god fearing couple lives independent in a cute little house, content, happy and healthy without an ounce of dependency even at this age.
So the typical day for them is waking up at 5 am and going through the morning religious rituals that last 3 hours. Then comes the breakfast, which is still cooked by my nani, and the couple eats together. Nana is off to his shop by 9 am, (Oh yes!!) and Nani is back to prayers and resting and cooking lunch. Nana comes home for lunch every day and again the 2 eat together.
Well I joined in after lunch to disrupt their schedule for the rest of the day where Nana goes back to work after chai time at 4pm and Nani gets back to prayers and dinner preparation, only again to meet and eat their dinner together.
Nani was resting but couldn’t sleep excited for the shoot and well nana was restless, for there is no work to do (the workaholic that he is!!!).
I was capturing candid so I dint really tell them what to do and waited till they settled in on my presence and continued their normal way of life.
Then starts the shoot from Nana’s wise look to the city from the balcony to him combing his hair and reading the newspaper (well he had nothing to do, I dint let him go to work, haha) and Nani’s smiling with cuteness and had unstoppable excitement revisiting some memories by looking into some old vintage photographs.
They shared some pictures of their trip to Kashmir and their old bungalow in the native village of Kutch.
After a little bit of more chatter I asked them to pose for a portrait and left the timeless couple only to endure more gesture. They always wave good bye from the balcony when any family member leave. It’s a ritual. I think many of us can relate to that.
They have been married for a good 60 years and still do everything together and are a perfect example of what we refer to as #CoupleGoals!!! 😀
They don’t stay in a big house but they have a very big heart. They are wealthy enough but have chose to live a simple life. They live in content without desires and expectations and that makes them happy all the time.
P.S. Visit your grand parents when ever you can because family and us is the only thing they have and value. We are their only wealth and not some car, house or money.
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