Paradise.

This image is one of my favourites. I took this during an event called Spectrum, which my university organises for special children. Special were they, just like this photo. I knew from before that this year's spectrum would be special in terms of both- the pictures that would come out of the event, as well as the experience that I would gain from it.

📷📷A special child enjoying life.

I must say, this was an image that would stay in my mind and eyes for a very long time. Like all other great images, this was totally unplanned. For every picture to take shape, there are a few elements that need to come together in proper synchrony. And I was blessed to have all of them come together so well for this image. The framing, where Joanne and Kanak walked past me, with the perfect amount of distance between them, at perfectly the same speed, the kid's sense of timing with the balloon, the way she showed her back rather than her face, adding a bit of anonymity and curiosity to the image, as if it were all meticulously planned. I don't think one could get such a telling image even with such planning. I am forever thankful for every element of this image.

Now there are other things that I learnt from this day, as well as this image especially. The kids who came to Spectrum served as a reminder of how blessed we are in life. We're blessed to have limbs that function. We're blessed to have a mind of our own. We're blessed to have eyes, we're blessed to have parents who care for us, we're blessed to have an education of so many possibilities, we're blessed to have so much of what's been labelled 'facilities' or 'necessities', but are pure luxuries in the absolute sense. We're blessed to have a roof over our heads. We're blessed to have good physical and mental health that supports our passion for sports. We're blessed to have a community of so many young people and so much energy, enough to create a revolution.

The event served as an opportunity for me to really reflect on the choices we make in our life. We choose to not use our mind and work out a solution, relying entirely on things to happen by themselves. We choose to spend hours and hours watching the screen, which is neurobiologically proven to eat away bits of our attention span. We choose to pointlessly roam around the city rather than have meaningful conversations with people who matter in our life. We choose to attend classes just for the sake of attendance, and not make any effort in trying to understand the meaning of education. We choose to not make proper use of the available facilities and look for more and more comfortable and luxurious options. We choose to spoil our health by succumbing to habits which we know will spoil our health. We choose to isolate ourselves instead of integrating communities for noble causes.

The event also made me realise our reaction to things around us. We complain about how we're always tired, while simply going to sleep half an hour earlier has been proven to keep us brisk in the mornings. We complain about how things are always out of our control while staying calm and working out one solution at a time can solve all our problems- that's what makes life interesting. We complain that we don't have facilities while we barely make use of the available ones, without realising how valuable they are. We choose not to consider how people consider our 'necessities' as luxuries. Wi-Fi is our necessity while a telephone is someone else's luxury. Energy drinks, alcohol and cigarettes are our necessities while bacteria-free water and cough syrup are someone else's luxury. Instagram likes are our necessity while some shoulder to lean on is a luxury for someone else. Perfect air conditioning is our necessity while a roof to sleep under is someone else's luxury.

The reason why I brought up so many things is that we can complain about how our life is full of defects. But that's how life is supposed to be. A life of pleasures has an unbelievably short tenure. We could do something else as well. We could look at the good things in our life, and before saying that nothing is good in your life, which is one of mankind's easiest claims, let's look at how good our life can get. Take these kids who came to my university for Spectrum. They had such a fun time there, they were deeply engaged and enjoyed one another's company, they seemed to have no worries in life. They seemed to be so happy that you do become jealous for a brief amount of time, about how positive they are, given the challenges they're faced with. They are literally the heroes of mankind. They are the role models we need to appreciate. They are the ones we need to learn from.

I think that if people, faced with challenges so severe that they constantly need supervision for the rest of their life, can be this happy, we can certainly do better. I think we can be more happy, for that leads to a chain of good things. And when our mind is clear and happy, it becomes the most beautiful paradise in the world, irrespective of where or how we live.

This image is one of my favourites. I took this during an event called Spectrum, which my university organises for special children. Special were they, just like this photo. I knew from before that this year's spectrum would be special in terms of both- the pictures that would come out of the event, as well as the experience that I would gain from it.

I must say, this was an image that would stay in my mind and eyes for a very long time. Like all other great images, this was totally unplanned. For every picture to take shape, there are a few elements that need to come together in proper synchrony. And I was blessed to have all of them come together so well for this image. The framing, where Joanne and Kanak walked past me, with the perfect amount of distance between them, at perfectly the same speed, the kid's sense of timing with the balloon, the way she showed her back rather than her face, adding a bit of anonymity and curiosity to the image, as if it were all meticulously planned. I don't think one could get such a telling image even with such planning. I am forever thankful for every element of this image.

Now there are other things that I learnt from this day, as well as this image especially. The kids who came to Spectrum served as a reminder of how blessed we are in life. We're blessed to have limbs that function. We're blessed to have a mind of our own. We're blessed to have eyes, we're blessed to have parents who care for us, we're blessed to have an education of so many possibilities, we're blessed to have so much of what's been labelled 'facilities' or 'necessities', but are pure luxuries in the absolute sense. We're blessed to have a roof over our heads. We're blessed to have good physical and mental health that supports our passion for sports. We're blessed to have a community of so many young people and so much energy, enough to create a revolution.

The event served as an opportunity for me to really reflect on the choices we make in our life. We choose to not use our mind and work out a solution, relying entirely on things to happen by themselves. We choose to spend hours and hours watching the screen, which is neurobiologically proven to eat away bits of our attention span. We choose to pointlessly roam around the city rather than have meaningful conversations with people who matter in our life. We choose to attend classes just for the sake of attendance, and not make any effort in trying to understand the meaning of education. We choose to not make proper use of the available facilities and look for more and more comfortable and luxurious options. We choose to spoil our health by succumbing to habits which we know will spoil our health. We choose to isolate ourselves instead of integrating communities for noble causes.

The event also made me realise our reaction to things around us. We complain about how we're always tired, while simply going to sleep half an hour earlier has been proven to keep us brisk in the mornings. We complain about how things are always out of our control while staying calm and working out one solution at a time can solve all our problems- that's what makes life interesting. We complain that we don't have facilities while we barely make use of the available ones, without realising how valuable they are. We choose not to consider how people consider our 'necessities' as luxuries. Wi-Fi is our necessity while a telephone is someone else's luxury. Energy drinks, alcohol and cigarettes are our necessities while bacteria-free water and cough syrup are someone else's luxury. Instagram likes are our necessity while some shoulder to lean on is a luxury for someone else. Perfect air conditioning is our necessity while a roof to sleep under is someone else's luxury.

The reason why I brought up so many things is that we can complain about how our life is full of defects. But that's how life is supposed to be. A life of pleasures has an unbelievably short tenure. We could do something else as well. We could look at the good things in our life, and before saying that nothing is good in your life, which is one of mankind's easiest claims, let's look at how good our life can get. Take these kids who came to my university for Spectrum. They had such a fun time there, they were deeply engaged and enjoyed one another's company, they seemed to have no worries in life. They seemed to be so happy that you do become jealous for a brief amount of time, about how positive they are, given the challenges they're faced with. They are literally the heroes of mankind. They are the role models we need to appreciate. They are the ones we need to learn from.

I think that if people, faced with challenges so severe that they constantly need supervision for the rest of their life, can be this happy, we can certainly do better. I think we can be more happy, for that leads to a chain of good things. And when our mind is clear and happy, it becomes the most beautiful paradise in the world, irrespective of where or how we live.