Kodak Express 📷

Around the time Prerna started standing up and walking on her own, my father bought 2 camera film rolls to capture her childhood. Money was very tight back then, but we all agreed her childhood was too precious to miss out on.

None of us had any photography skills and since you could not see the pictures until the negatives were developed, the pictures came out blur in most cases.

There are 4 main spots where these pictures have been taken –
• Outside our home
• Nearby Temple
• Shiv Tirth Park
• Dhule Railway Station

My father took almost all of these pictures and hence there is no picture of/with him.
I am not sure if Prerna understood, she was being photographed.
Her initial understanding of being photographed developed from a tragic event about a year later, more on that in another post.

Location #1 – Outside our Home

We grew up with our grandparents (Nana-Nani). My father’s side of family lived in Solapur.
Our family has always been conservative and orthodox like most families from our community.

Our family thought bad Vastu had something to do with this and decided to fix the house in 2002 according to Vastu rules, in order to keep the family safe.

We didn’t have enough money for this reconstruction, so the house became very patchy after this.
Concrete stairs were replaced with iron stairs and toilets were broken.
We used public toilets for at least next 10 years.

So the house was not good enough to take pictures inside, just outside the house was where we started.

The first picture is my mother and Prerna on my Ladybird cycle. I had recently started cycling to school and the cycle was new and picture worthy.
The second picture is Prerna with Yashashri – our elder cousin.

Yashashri is Kailash uncle’s daughter. He has 2 children – Yashashri and Dhananjay.
All of us grew up in the same house.
This picture was taken in a photo studio in August 2002 (Raksha Bandhan)

Location #2 – Ekvira Devi Temple

There is a very famous temple at walking distance from our home – Ekvira Devi Temple.
Thousands of devotees visit it during the Navratri festival. It is on the coast of Panzara river (which is usually dry) and there is a big fair (mela) along the coast during Navratri – giant wheel and everything. Prerna loved going to that fare.

The following pictures were taken near this temple –

Prerna is crying in the first picture because for some strange reason, she was very afraid of umbrellas as a kid. Opening an umbrella would really scare her.
The second picture is from the ground opposite to the temple. The resolution does no justice to how cute she looked at the time.

Location #3 – Shiv Tirth Park

Dhananjay, Prerna and me at the park.

Shiv Tirth Park was the only decent park in Dhule at the time. It was a little far from our house, so we didn’t go there very often.
We would visit the park before sunset sometimes, Prerna loved it. She would run around the entire park. It had a lot of stairs and she would go up and down and I would follow her everywhere.
I was the kind of adult that does not let kids play much, I would stop her a lot.
I was always very worried, more than necessary I think.

Location #4 – Dhule Railway Station

There is only one passenger train that runs from Dhule to Chalisgaon 4 times everyday.
Hence the station is not crowded and is in a pretty decent shape.
I was in high school (std. 5th) in 2002 and Harshali was in primary school (std. 4th). These 2 schools are located in different areas in Dhule.
I had started cycling to high school and my father would pickup Harshali from primary school on his bicycle. Prerna would tag along, she loved going out.
She would sit on the iron rod in front of the seat and hold the handle, Harshali would sit on the carrier seat behind. 🚲

These are pictures from their detour to the railway station, on one such trips from school to home.

Poser, I tell you! She did the cross legged standing pose (second picture) before it was cool!

Here is the truth about Prerna – Even as a child, she was the sweetest, kindest and most empathetic person I have ever known.
She never created a scene, never threw any tantrums, no drama at all.
She would find an interesting way to keep herself engaged anywhere.
She would not bother anyone, rather support in whatever way she understood best.
And trust me, she had no inspiration around her to be so.

You’ll notice a brown or pink scarf or a hat covering her ears in most of these pictures. She would catch cold very easily, so our family always made sure her head and ears are covered, if it was even slightly chilly. She understood it was important and never pulled it out, never took it off.
What a kid!

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