World’s best camera

“Here, over here”, she screamed from a distance.

I ran towards her faster than I have ever before. It had been almost a year since I had last seen her.

“Wow, that was some Olympic race you won there”, she laughed.

“You know, Aditi, distances contract when things move fast”, I sarcastically pointed out.

She laughed, without understanding the relativity joke that I had just cracked.

We spent the evening together. Her flight to return to Pune was in two days. I wanted to scoop out every last amount of time I had with her before she would go back for another eternity. We went to a movie, a park, and then to the place we used to go every day before she left — the nursery. I know it is unusual but she understands I don’t like expensive places and how much time I love to spend in nature. On the way back, as we walked through the footpath, my right arm moved back as she suddenly stopped in front of a fashion store.

“Oh my God, this dress, I can’t believe it. It was twice as costly in Pune. The exact same one. God knows how badly I wanted to buy it. I am buying it right now. Please, Rohan, I want to buy it”, she said as she breathed heavily.

“Um… you know… um right now..”, just as I tried to explain to her my financial situation, she disappeared into the store.

By the time I entered, she just walked out of the trial room with the new dress and… damn! I swear to God, I didn’t breathe for at least half a minute. I can’t even explain how beautiful she looked. Let me explain.

You know how the plastic models on which those dresses are displayed are made with almost perfect body shapes so that they look attractive? Well, they just got beat. If she would participate in miss universe, she would be first and the next most beautiful person in the world would be in the 100th place with nobody in between.

By the time my eyes were no longer blinded to everyone except her, she had bought the dress, still wearing it!

“Rohan, Rohan, Rooohaaan!!!”

“Yeah… sorry… I was… uh… you look…”

She laughed after understanding my situation.

“Look na, Rohan, I can’t imagine I would buy this at such a lo…”

“I’m really sorry, I wish I could buy you that, but you know, right now my…”

“No, no, no. I mean it is much less expensive here. Anyways take a pic na, my phone’s camera’s really bad”

“Huh, pic? Aditi, I’m…”

How would I tell her my condition? So here’s the thing. She got a job as a software engineer in Pune, but I didn’t make it. I was left with no job after my graduation. My parents had taken a loan for my education which they thought would be cleared by them and me eventually after I would get a job. But then the pandemic hit and my dad lost his job. We were about to lose our house to clear the debt. I didn’t even have a smartphone. One old feature phone which I used to SMS Aditi when she was in Pune. How would I tell all this to her? She would leave me. Yes I was being selfish but I had already lost a lot, I couldn’t afford to lose her too.

My eyes were one step before squeezing out a drop of tear, but that’s when I made up my mind.

“Hey yea about the pic. You know what? I have a much better camera than any phone at home. Why don’t you come to the old amphitheater near the college building tomorrow? There will be no other people there and I will bring my camera for some amazing pics?”

“Yea good idea! Tomorrow evening, at 5?”

“Sharp”

So how did I afford such a good camera? Wait and watch.

We met at the place the next day. When I reached it was 5:10. Aditi was already there.

“Not so sharp I see”

“I will sharpen that later”, I said and she laughed. Then I continued, “You know why I called you here? Such a beautiful dress on such a gorgeous person. Only thing missing is…”

“What, really? You want me to dance right now?”

I smile and there she goes! What I didn’t mention is how good a dancer she is. I will explain that in detail some other time.

She places her legs front and back, I take out a wooden stand and adjust its legs. Her body twists and turns, I bring a large white board and place it on the stand. Her eyes move left and right, I mix the colors of the world on the palette. Her hair dances with her as she moves through the air, I pull out my brushes and dab them in the colors. She jumps off the ground, I splash colors on the canvas, she moves her hands fast, I make sharp lines with the brush, she spins around, I splash water, her dress waves in the air, I spread colors on the water, she moves, the brush moves, she jumps, colors splash, she spins, strokes go round and round… Finally she kneels facing left with her right knee touching the ground, her left hand holding her chin, her right hand resting on her left knee, and her eyes looking right at me. I dab all three brushes in paint and splash diluted paint all around the canvas.

And there it was, a portrait with a million colors as if the dancing girl on the canvas would come to life. Aditi’s pic taken with the world’s best camera.