A fantastico photo experience

In 2014, there was a competition for some medical students’ magazine. It was a picture contest; we were to take a picture of whatever we felt depicted hospital life. Photography is a hobby of a close friend of mine, so I tagged along with him as he went into the hospital attached to our college to find something worth taking a picture of. We didn't have a plan in mind; we just walked inside, in search of something, a moment maybe, that was worth capturing. By the end, he managed to take a picture of a stretcher being pushed across the hall with a patient on it. It was a fantastico photo - he used a technique to make the stretcher appear clear while the background looked like it was in motion!

While this picture was a hit with many, the one that he took before this one was my favourite. We had wandered into the paediatric department and into the room where babies were given vaccines.

My friend stood in a corner of the room, waiting for the right moment to arrive. A mother walked in with her child, uncomfortably looking around the new room. The nurse asked her to sit, with the baby in her lap, and began to prepare her syringe for the injection. The mother looked rather tense; such a big needle would pierce her tiny baby!

But the baby was in blissful oblivion, gurgling and smiling, looking around at the new room, excited by the unfamiliarity of his surroundings. As the nurse brought the needle closer, the mother cringed. The baby's expression didn't change even a bit! I'd never seen this procedure from so closely; I couldn't believe a baby to be so innocent as to not even know that a needle would hurt him. But to my surprise, he was! And then the nurse introduced the sharp needle into the baby's tender, soft, supple thigh. At this moment, my friend clicked the picture. Only after two entire seconds did the baby realise how much pain he was in, and at that moment he began to bawl. The nurse removed the needle from his thigh and taped a bandage over it, leaving the mother looking relieved. The baby didn't quit crying though! He was inconsolable.

I felt like the entire incident played in front of my eyes in slow motion; like I'd seen way too much detail! It was beautiful to see it that way. I was stricken by the sharp contrast in the reactions of someone who knows the ways of the world and someone who doesn't. I was surprised to see what polar opposites the thoughts of a child, and the child's caretaker are at! And of course, this was my most favorite picture that he ever took!

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.