Yesterday morning, a friend I know from the Special Olympics Texas movement asked to meet me for an interview. She was doing a class project and needed to do an interview on cultural differences I experienced as a non-immigrant Indian in the United States. We met at a very nice coffee shop on the Square called Jupiter Coffee House. The hot chocolate here is to die for. For once I also tried a grilled bagel sandwich with pepper jack cheese  and garlic cheese spread. It was super tasty.

While I cannot disclose what exactly I was interviewed on, I can say this. After several years, someone asked me to tell my life story. I am sure I blew her brains by telling her about so many things she could never guess about my life from just the look of it. For her all these years, I was an Indian Masters/Doctoral student volunteering to learn about Special Olympics or Adapted Sports. Nothing else about my life showed on my face ever when I was working (volunteering). Not sure if it is a gift or not. Still figuring it out.

After talking about who I am, in real words, vocally, I felt this sense of liberation to just go out and click some frames about what caught my eye. I don’t know after how many months I was actually able to do that without any regard to time or other pressures. It felt very liberating. I look back at my life back to the dark days and feel extremely thankful to the invention of photography. And then to Hyderabad Photography Club and its very early members. Extremely supportive and encouraging group of  open mined men who supported my curiosity to learn. I am still not sure how much and what I have learnt in a true sense about photography :). This is yet another time again when I will shamelessly compliment the Indian men who backed my efforts to survive the dark days of my life. Will always be thankful to you all guys. Daddy, I can never thank you enough for going out of your way to buy me a camera that was going to be easy for me to learn with. I always remember what it meant to make that financial decision for you and Amma. And I can never forget the value it brought to my life right when I needed it.

Dedicating this to all of you for always letting me have my training wheels on. And for smiling with your hearts for every little accomplishment I make in my life.