When life was at one of those crossroads….

Managed to catch up with one of my old friends from school a few days back who is currently working as a wildlife photographer. It was so good to see a friend choose a profession that differs from engg and medicine for a change.

There are not many people like my friend, Shiva, who talk passionately about wildlife photography. Of course, there are people like my colleague at work too.  He also talks a lot about photography and he tries to enlighten us with the technical concepts involved in a desperate attempt to try and impress the rest of us with his knowledge of the subject (most of which he would have read in some forum or blog just minutes before and have no real idea about himself). But in my opinion, there is a huge difference when people like Shiva/S Karthikeyan/Sandesh Kadur/Austin Stevens talk about photography and, in particular, animal behavior. I see the same twinkle in their eyes which I used to see in Hari sir’s eyes (my zoology teacher in school) when I used to bug him with all those doubts about animal behavior.

I still think about what happened two years ago, when I joined my first full time job. About how I had an offer from one of my seniors (also a well known photographer) who asked me if I would like to work as a wildlife naturalist. The offer still rings a bell in my head. Of course, logically speaking, it was dumb on my part to even consider the offer in the first place (as my Dad later explained to me) because of a lot of factors. But maybe, just maybe, did I make a mistake of not listening to my heart for once?

You know how it sometimes feels like one life is not enough to live all your dreams.  The last few days have felt just like that.