April 3, 2013

I had my first group photo (class photo) session, way back in 1989, at the age of four at kindergarten in Little Rock Indian School, Brahmavar. Now, 24 years later, my three years old son had his first group photo session at his preschool a few days ago.

On the Big Day I sent him to school dressed in his best (and my favourite) red and white checked shirt and white shorts. But in the hustle and bustle of everyday routine, I totally forgot to ask Panna how the event went and neither Panna nor his teachers say anything about it.

But yesterday (a week after the photo session) I was in for a surprise. When I went to his school, his teacher handed me two copies of the group photo. There was Panna, sitting extreme right in the front row, legs together, palms on his knees, and flashing a cheerful smile. Honestly speaking, given his daily episodes of constant crying at school, I didn’t expect Panna to put up such a happy face at the photos session! Nevertheless, I was happy to see a happily smiling Panna.

But, this group photo of Panna made me nostalgic, bringing back warm memories of the annual group photo or class photo session (as we called it) that would happen in school at around the same time of the year. This was once-in-a-year event and I loved it. In fact I looked forward to it from the time it was announced and its class wise schedule put up.

There were reasons why I loved this annual event. Firstly, we didn’t have a home camera till I was about 11 or 12 and so taking photos and putting them into albums were not a common activity at home. So, having a photo taken, even if it means a group photo at school, was something to cheer about. Plus, the photo would be published in the annual year book and looking for my photo there was one of the many things to do with a school year book.

Secondly, a class photo session means we were supposed to be in our best uniform – properly ironed, matching shades of our coffee brown skirt and jacket, beige shirt, polished brown shoes and beige socks worn up to the knees (I am talking about the girls’ dress code here) – and I loved wearing a ‘complete uniform’ on special occasions like these. It made me feel very sophisticated!

And thirdly, a class photo session means we were surely going to be missing a part of the one of the eight periods and this was fun!!

At Little Rock Indian School, the photo session was the sheer hard work of one man – our art teacher cum school photographer, Mr. Jayaprakash Sir (JP Sir in short). Little Rock had classes from kindergarten to class 12 and with more than five sections in each class. Yet, Jayaprakash sir single handedly took photos of all these classes with his SLR camera. I still remember the exact rituals of the class photo session. It went something like this –

First our class teacher led us to the photo arena (usually the area below the school’s administration office, opposite the kindergarten building). 3-4 benches would be placed in rows parallel to the flowerbed skirting the office building. The front two benches were separated by two chairs (one for the class teacher and one for the head-teacher). While the shorter students were made to sit on the front row benches, the taller ones usually stood behind those seating forming a second row and the rest stood on the benches in the third row.

Once everyone had taken their places, Jayaprakash sir instructed those sitting to keep their legs together and place our palms on the knee (just like Panna did). I guess this is one of the golden rules of a class photo session that applies to all schools and all classes! Those standing had to stand erect or slightly turn left or right.

Once all of us were ready, sir gave us thumbs-up; said smile and clicked! First photo taken, sir would say one more; giving us a few seconds to correct our uneasy (if any) postures and then click another photo. If the photos didn’t come out as well as he would have wanted, then JP Sir asked us to retain our positions until he got the perfect shot. JP sir was very good at his work and it didn’t take him long to get the correct shot, though those of us who wanted to evade going back to class wished the photo session would prolong. If there was ever a delay, it was only when sir changed lenses or there was some issue with the light.

Once the class photo had been taken and we had enjoyed our few moments of basking in the glory of JP Sir’s camera, we waited for the photos to be printed, copies to made and handed to us. All of this would take a few days. But when the photos finally came, we were thrilled. I always kept the photo in my school diary (one of the safest places in my school bag) and took it home. After everyone at home saw and complimented the photo, it was safely tucked into the family album. Then began the long wait for the year book to come along which was only in the beginning of the next academic year in June.

Such is the story of my annual class photo sessions.

And Panna’s class photo? Well, we wanted a soft copy of it and the school didn’t have it. So Pavan had the photo scanned and we uploaded it on our Facebook pages, MMSed it to my in-laws and parents and here it is inserted onto this write up too! Of course, the original hard copy photo has been neatly put into the family album.

So, do you remember your class photo sessions? What memories does it conjure up for you? Feel free to share your story in the comments section here.