Acceptance .....

The other day as we walked past a narrow over-populated lane in Chennai

a friend asked  "what is it you see in their faces ?"

I replied "acceptance..."

It was apparently just the word that he had been looking for....   

for the shop-keepers, the flower-vendors, the street-kids who dotted that narrow lane did not look unhappy. neither did they seem to be complacent (as is often portrayed by the tourists-photographers or the film-makers).... for clearly their living conditions weren't the best... but over the generations they seemed to have learnt that denial or self-pity will not change the picture for them. neither will it help to be a rebel... for in our country (and possibly in most countries) rebels are always harshly suppressed... so they had adjusted to their surroundings, learnt to survive through frugality, learnt to accept life as has been catered to them and wear a moderate smile whenever asked to do so by a photographer  for his frame or a film-maker for his fame......

[i wish i had a camera that day... but i didn't. so i googled and put up the image which was closest to what we had seen in that narrow lane in Chennai that day]