Thursday, June 17, 2004
Fortune (cookies) favour the brave!
Last night I had this funny incident with the lady in the Community Store who runs the cash counter. Being the handsome hunk in Korea that I am, I always used to get a smile from this lady whenever I was there treating myself to an ice-cream, or some noodles, or whatever.
Well, it was the sixth role of film in my camera, and I had grown really bored of clicking mostly inanimate objects or sceneries. So, after fooling around in the office clicking candid shots of all my labmates, I mustered up enough courage to go out and do some street photography. The real thing (tm)!
Well, 1:00 AM in the night, the best "street" I found for photography was the Jigok Community Store, thanks to my growling stomach. So I go up to the store, after failing to get some "interesting" shots in there, I get this bright idea of clicking the cash counter lady in action (which here implies accepting cash, and giving goods!)
I go right upto her and stick the camera in her face. And she starts blushing and giggling and shaking her head, and all that stuff people do when they become conscious. She stops one of the Korean lads, and asks him to ask me why I was clicking her snap! Well, surely I was dying to say... "Lady, I was getting bored, and this is the last shot in my camera, and I really dont know what to do with it, so I thought, why not you?!" But I realised explaining so much of English to the Korean lad would take me another hour, and it really wasn't a nice thing to say anyway.
"For memories. I go back to my country!"
Well said, Saurabh Nanda.
The Korean lad translated it to her, and immediately she bowed, expressing her gratitude.
"Indo?", she asked. I don't know how they got this name, probably from watching too much of live coverage of the Indo-Pak war, but that's what the Koreans call India!
"Yes, Indo", I replied.
Finally, I took the snap, ignoring the sneers and comments from Dhamija, who was standing in the corner somewhere, lest he be identified as a friend of mine!
The photograph was far from candid!
But anyways, while I was cooking my noodles in the microwave oven (there are two of them in the store itself)... the lady comes by with a pack of cookies, smiling from ear to ear. And offers me some cookies, says something in Korean, which I obviously dont understand! So lady, if a billion years down the line you learn english and you happen to read this blog, you'll know why I didnt mail you the prints!
Well, what the heck! If you get cookies for clicking such horrible snaps, who cares, keep clicking!
PS: This was one of the few shots I tried with the flash on - I know, it sucks!
Well, it was the sixth role of film in my camera, and I had grown really bored of clicking mostly inanimate objects or sceneries. So, after fooling around in the office clicking candid shots of all my labmates, I mustered up enough courage to go out and do some street photography. The real thing (tm)!
Well, 1:00 AM in the night, the best "street" I found for photography was the Jigok Community Store, thanks to my growling stomach. So I go up to the store, after failing to get some "interesting" shots in there, I get this bright idea of clicking the cash counter lady in action (which here implies accepting cash, and giving goods!)
I go right upto her and stick the camera in her face. And she starts blushing and giggling and shaking her head, and all that stuff people do when they become conscious. She stops one of the Korean lads, and asks him to ask me why I was clicking her snap! Well, surely I was dying to say... "Lady, I was getting bored, and this is the last shot in my camera, and I really dont know what to do with it, so I thought, why not you?!" But I realised explaining so much of English to the Korean lad would take me another hour, and it really wasn't a nice thing to say anyway.
"For memories. I go back to my country!"
Well said, Saurabh Nanda.
The Korean lad translated it to her, and immediately she bowed, expressing her gratitude.
"Indo?", she asked. I don't know how they got this name, probably from watching too much of live coverage of the Indo-Pak war, but that's what the Koreans call India!
"Yes, Indo", I replied.
Finally, I took the snap, ignoring the sneers and comments from Dhamija, who was standing in the corner somewhere, lest he be identified as a friend of mine!
The photograph was far from candid!
But anyways, while I was cooking my noodles in the microwave oven (there are two of them in the store itself)... the lady comes by with a pack of cookies, smiling from ear to ear. And offers me some cookies, says something in Korean, which I obviously dont understand! So lady, if a billion years down the line you learn english and you happen to read this blog, you'll know why I didnt mail you the prints!
Well, what the heck! If you get cookies for clicking such horrible snaps, who cares, keep clicking!
PS: This was one of the few shots I tried with the flash on - I know, it sucks!
