Photographers

It was an amazing evening. The sun rays had etched shades of crimson on the horizon. The perfect sun set it was.
Refreshing gentle breeze blew. How pleasant and serene!

Sarah sat on a big rock and looked at the setting sun.The glow that it had cast on the distant rocks made it look like the whole mountain side was on an orange blaze.Ah..The beauty and the vastness of nature.The one moment when even the hardest atheist would whisper involuntarily about the greatness of the creator. She inhaled deeply.The air was so fresh and sweet.

“Excuse me” She woke up from her thoughts with a start.
“Can you take a snap of us?” A bunch of trekkers were looking at her expectantly.

Sarah looked around, the place was already crowded.And nothing surprising in it, this was one of the most scenic sun set views in the state. Thousands of travelers flocked from around the country to catch a glimpse of the magnificent view.

She nodded and took the camera from their hands.
After a minute’s tutorial on how to operate the gadget, the group stood together, each one of them striking a unique pose.”Can you get the background, the setting sun and all the colors?”they asked earnestly.

“Yeah….here we go..”Sarah clicked a snap and handed over the camera back.
Everybody flocked together to look at the photo and muttered quick thanks to Sarah and walked away.

Sarah went back to her rock.The colors in the sky were getting more vivid.A poetry weaved on to the clouds with miraculous shades of red. Breath taking, beautiful.

“Excuse me….”
Sarah reluctantly tore her eyes from the splendid spectacle and looked around.
A family of four- father ,mother and two little kids- were standing before her.
“Can you take a snap of us?”
The guy asked, passing her the camera.

Sarah obediently took it from his hand and went back to snap a picture of the family.They paused to review the picture. Happy and contented, they howled at the younger kid’s captured expression and thanked her before walking away.

Sarah looked at other people assembled there.Every single person had a camera, or a camera phone or a tablet. They were all ferociously clicking, pausing to look at the genuineness of their work.

Many had tripod stands erected and were very proudly zooming and un-zooming the lenses of their very professional looking cameras.
Some of them lay crawling on the ground, some crouched on the rocks and some in very unusual amusing indescribable poses, may be trying to capture the sun in between the rocks or the trees or God knows what.
“Excuse me” Sarah turned around yet again.
A well built guy stood before her.
“Can you take a snap of us?” He asked her handing over the camera and rushed to the side of a pretty lady who was waiting by a rock. Sarah exhaled , she indeed was a little annoyed.But on her face she plastered a fake smile and nodded.

“Can you get the colors alright?” He shouted between the smiles.
Sarah gave him a thumbs up sign.She handed back the camera after clicking.

She looked around.The crowd was busy snapping pictures.She was one among the few who stood still, not doing anything.Or was she the only one?No wonder she was approached to be the group photographer!

Sarah quietly moved to the farthest corner of the mountain. There were not many people there.The view was not as good as the other spot, but was enchanting enough.
The reflection of red in the distant river looked deep and dark. The sun would now take a dip in those scarlet waters. She smiled.

Out of the corner of her eyes , she saw a man sitting still on a nearby rock.
He did not have a camera, she noted with relief.

May be he was a wanderer like her, who had come to be in peace with the nature.
May be he feels the heart beats of the mountains too.
May be he too has got lost in the maze of colors.
May be he too is waiting for the colors to fade in to the darkness to re live the exhilarating experience of fading away in to the unknown.

He looked her way.

May be he was her soul mate, the one who would walk with her, appreciating the wonders of the world.May be he was as weird as she herself was! She gave him a smile.

He returned her smile and asked jovially “Did your camera run out of charge too…?”

Darkness spread as the sun vanished beyond the horizons. The flash of disappointment on Sarah’s face too got lost in that enriching darkness.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.