It all started at the beginning of my free photography classes. I was a young photographer and I wanted to teach unprivileged children as I also had a very humble beginning. I used to admit kids from slums and other low-class areas. Soon, the word spread and teenagers started attending my classes. It wasn’t long when I started getting requests from adults as well. I was the happiest man on Earth at that time as I was fulfilling my dream of helping people with my passion, photography.

Everything was normal until she entered my class. An unprivileged girl as old as me and as beautiful as the moon, maybe even better than that. For me, she was the most beautiful being in the Universe. The moment I saw her, I felt a chill down my spine and goosebumps all over my body. I could hear my heart beating faster than a running horse. Her name is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Unfortunately, I cannot mention it here.

I’ve been a multitasker my entire life so I was able to concentrate on the class and also on her. Soon we started making constant eye-contact and she knew I was interested in her. And the way she looked at me, made it clear that she was into me too. Soon we started taking walks in the park while the rest of the class used to complete the assignments given by me. I know this sounds like a wrong thing to do, however, everything is fair in love and war, and this was true love.

We started going out on the weekends when the whole class was on off. We used to watch movies, have dinner, go to amusement parks, picnics, and do many other things. That’s when things started to get serious and I fell for her completely. I was willing to do anything for her. I was willing to give up everything for her. I was willing to give anything to her. I wanted to give her each and every inch of happiness that I could. Seeing her happy made my mood wonderful. That’s when I realized I was even more happy than I was when I started my classes.

Things kept going like this for two long years. Two happiest and most memorable years of my entire life. I wanted to settle down with her. I wanted to marry her, however, her family… had some other… plans. I went to her house to talk to her father and that’s when I experienced the highest intensity of pain I’ve ever felt. He refused, on my face, without any hesitation or consideration. He said he had already given his word to his childhood friend that their children will get married as soon as they become adults. Also, they were Hindu so ours would have been an inter-caste marriage which her father would never want to happen.

That’s when we last met… after that, we stopped talking and I felt a deep void inside of me. I stopped going out, I stopped talking to people, started eating less, and even stopped touching my camera. That’s when I realized that the strength of true love is so powerful that it can shatter even the strongest person alive. I was heartbroken and believe me when I tell you, it was the most horrible experience of my life.

That phase of my life went on for six months and I felt like I would never be able to recover from that pain. I became so hopeless that I even started skipping baths and meals, thinking… what good will it do. My life became very negative and didn’t want to make any changes in my life. I wanted to live like that forever. Well, I still would’ve been like that if it wasn’t for my camera.

I was just sitting on my bed, sad and depressed until I heard something falling in my study. I rushed there and noticed my camera on the floor. I picked it up and suddenly, I remembered how we first met. I remembered that we first met in my photography class. I realized the reason I held a camera in my hands in the first place. “Photography is your passion”, a voice echoed in my head and I started clicking pictures of the view outside the window. At that moment, I realized what actually made me feel happy.

I learned a lesson that day: the only thing you need to do to be happy in life is to follow your passion. The people in your life will come and go, however, your passion will always stay with you. Just like my camera, the camera that kept sitting unused on my table for six months before God gave me a sign to reunite with my passion, my one true love, my camera.