Suzanne Bernert

The little girl was barefoot...  As I was passing by with 2 layers of socks in my shoes she was happily dancing around her Mom...oblivious to the cold floor under her feet.... on asking her mother if the little one doesn't feel cold, she shrugged and said no...with a small smile on her lips she tried to cajole her daughter...come here beta.. put on some socks.... see, they are so pretty...  No no no... bhago bhago bhago...the girl was half dancing, half running away...giggling to herself, enchanted by the cold under her feet... Happy within herself... what bliss to not feel anything but your own happiness... 

By the end of it,  all will be good... she kept on repeating the sentence again and again in her head like a Mantra.  Good, all will be good.The long hours, the endless discussions, the never ending stream of work. All will be good. It had to be .... Or all would be have been in vain...  No, that wasn't a thought she let enter her mind.The presentation would be perfect and her start up idea would take her to heights she could not even imagine right now.  Determined she had set out on this journey. Believing in herself and her idea. Pushing her doubts and even her friends to the side. One single goal eating up all her energy.  *** Now years later she would look back at that moment her life changed.  Hardly recognising who she used to be. Feeling like more than one lifetime had passed. Looking back at the fresh faced, eager and energetic young woman who wanted it all. But who also lost a lot. No family or friends to celebrate success with....  No one to come home to at night...  Woul

While walking down the road he encountered a crowd of people..... All were standing around an object on the ground he couldn't make out. Agitated voices were floating through the air and a sense of confusion and urgency was there...  Wondering what happened,  he slowly inched forward.Not sure what the situation was. Maybe someone got hurt? An accident? A lost child? He still couldn't see what was on the ground....Just the moving crowd, arms,legs,waving hands. Colorful blobs against the amber colored sky where the sun was about to set. It had been a wonderful day and he was dreading to end it on an unpleasant note. But curiosity won him over and he finally had reached the cluster of people who surrounded a tiny bird on the ground. Everyone was discussing what to do with it. Everyone  knew better than the next person.A child had found the fledgling first and on calling his mother a crowd had started to gather. What to do? How to do it? Where did it fall from? Was it safe to touch

He was too fast... before she  could fix a pose and emote, he had already clicked pictures. Pictures that would end up in the virtual trash can later. Again she tried to explain to him that she needed time to get into a groove but to no avail...he believed in his style and was convinced it was the best. It was irritating but her irritation couldn't show up in the photos...Smiling she tried to settle.. focusing more on the music in the background and her breathing....  Longingly she remembered last week's photoshoot. A beautiful studio full of art and fun props. The photographer was thoughtful and calm. Precise and a master in capturing those special moments.More of a painter than a photographer. He wouldn't touch the button on the camera unless all was in tune. From the setup to the music...From the slight tilt of her chin and a curl of hair just so on her forehead. That session had been magic. Now this here felt like a race. Who was faster. Her or him ...glancing at the cl