This evening after managing to put my six month old to sleep after a couple of hours of trying I finally had some time to jump on my computer and search for some Full frame lenses that I am eager to get in addition to the prime that I have, my first and only one so far. Things were humming smoothly, my wife with her favorite show on Netflix, me finally being able to read reviews on Amazon – trying to decide whether to get a Sony native 28-70 f/3.5-5.6 or a more expensive one by Sony Vario-Tessar 24-70 f/4, sporadic rain outside, no noisy children playing. Then I coughed, loudly. I might have caught some cold because I am still taking fully cold shower still, and the weather has turned chilly the past few days. My cough startled my child so bad, he jerked his little body and woke up crying hysterically. In this kind of situation he brings out his loudest cries, tears and all. I have heard some say it exercises his lungs, well i don’t know. I will feel his voice going hoarse from crying though. My wife tried in vain to calm him down and rushed to prepare some milk to console him. He gets startled if the noise is sudden, it could be cars outside, a plane, doors slamming and cough. If it is a slow build up, he seems to okay. After a bit of milk and shoo shooing, my little one finally had enough of the tantrum and went back to sleep soundly in my chest. I put him on his mat and he was okay. While patting his back and shoo shooing, my mind drifted to the children in the war zones and refugee camps in the Middle East – Syria,Yemen,Gaza, where bombs are falling down from the skies. How shocked and terrified those little faces would be, how frantic their cries would be, how would the parents run for cover clutching those little souls. We talk about peace and humanity, but drop bombs on children and wonder why there are so many ‘terrorists’ around. Given all the media fed prejudices and phobias, I wonder if we have become so insensitive we won’t hear even if those terrified children were crying right into our ears.
Ravi Tandukar 