Naive scientist and loitering
I was walking down the old lane to refresh my mood with fresh air. Though fresh air and Lucknow don’t quite go well together but let’s address one thing at a time.
As I walked down the path, I saw the blooming bougainvillea, sprouting Dahlias with diverse color palette. An old man with his piping hot beedi and young men with their lit chillam, all enjoying their almost killing eve. Some ate the very famous momos, some drank tea and some enjoyed the warmth of a comforting conversation.
Amongst these mundane clicks, one particular image which stayed with me was of a flyer where the local leader had wished a happy new year and a merry Christmas to his people. Here’s the catch, he was not alone. Wishes were raining all around me. Each party had carefully cut out caricatures of the local leader alongwith a reminder who actually ran the party. I wanted to stop, click all these similar images but the moment I took out my camera, something happened!
I felt a sense of invasion as if clicking the posters would imply I’ll be captured too by the onlookers. To put my hypothesis into testing, I took out of my camera, stood in the middle of the road, all non-chalant and looked around. Nobody looked at me. Not a single soul. I was shocked and relieved. Shocked because I had to refute my hypothesis and relieved because nobody was watching me. I felt like I could claim that space now, loitering was comfortable. A small social experiment made me realize this space belonged to me.
So can we, every day, get over our fears of being looked at by becoming a naive scientists? I am aware that the answers aren’t as simple but exploring it here is beyond my capacity and I wish to lock my small walk memory here, right here.
