Camera Shy Me In Know Me Selfie Challenge

In response to the Selfie Challenge on In Living Color

Thank you JoAnn Ryan for coming up with this wonderful idea; it’s a great way to know each other better and thank you for tagging me.

In My Hometown

I’m the fifth girl to my parents, they badly wanted a boy 😊 but sadly that didn’t happen, so they raised me like a boy.

This 👇🏻was me in the late 1970s.

Even now I give that same stare look if you ask me to pose for a photo.

🧚The place I grew up was like a “fairyland” in Coonoor, The Nilgiris, India. A solo house in the midst of tea gardens on top of a mountain with streams on either side surrounded by mountains. Whenever I share my childhood experiences with my friends, they tell me it’s like a fairy tale.🧚

In School

I was the STAR; school topper (A+++++ can add more), sports champion, running, long jump, shot put, javelin throw, etc. (even boys wouldn’t dare to compete with me), cultural activities, anything you can see my name on top of the list. A very energetic girl with great ambitions 👧

I would have to get on stage five or six times to collect all my trophies 🏆

Wait! Okay, okay! I can hear you!

I’m not bragging. It’s true. You wanted to know about me, right?

I most often revisit those pages of my life to bounce back easily, realizing who I really am.

👇🏻A scene from the play “King Lear,” written by William Shakespeare. I’m the king, seated.

I was a very quiet and very very shy girl and the teachers were in real stress thinking I would somehow spoil the show, but they were really surprised and applauded for my bold performance, especially the last emotional part where I had to grieve over the loss of my favorite daughter! 👇🏻😉

A performance of “Karakattam,” an ancient folk dance of Tamil Nadu, India. 👇🏻

The pot on the head was not tied. We practiced for more than a month to balance it and to make the audience believe, the final step was to take off the pot and place it on the ground. Everyone went “AWE!” and on-demand, for an encore, we had to do the same dance for the same song, the following two consecutive years, Annual Day celebrations.

👆It was taken for advertisement in newspapers, hence black and white.

The girl on the right, though she was deaf-mute, so talented, she never missed a beat. She was very kind and caring and I was always there for her as a true friend and a signer. Unfortunately, she is no more. I miss her a lot. 😔

Mother Teresa has always been my inspiration and I wanted to become a nun, but I was not bold enough to go against my loving family.

That should be enough to give you an idea of who I was.

I think it’s better we skip the pages in between and come to the present.

Recent Photos

I give very strange expressions when I pose in front of a camera. I’m not a selfie gal either and a bit, okay! I agree, a lot more camera shy. Only my father knew the technique to take better pictures of mine.

Some serious expressions like this one 👇🏻

but it’s getting better hah! Trust me.

Or go loud and haha like this one when the cameraman is my husband👇🏻

And, so, me alone pictures are very rare. Most of them are either this 👇🏻

or this 👇🏻

Yet, without losing hope, I went digging and got these few clicks I tried with Nature on a visit to the beach and when we went on a little expedition during our last family vacation to my husband’s place in Kerala.

I think I’m getting good at taking selfies, am I?

Some me and Nature time in the enchanting forest we explored that day! 👇🏻

Some happy family time; gotta spend some quality time with my sister-in-law and family, living in The U.S., when they visited India after seven years. 👇🏻

Some romance 🥰👇🏻

It was again a blissful experience. But, I had a terrible time with that dress I’m wearing. Just imagine going trekking in that dress 👗 but didn’t want to miss the chance and it was worth taking the risk.

It was a small family function in one of our relatives' house, another sister-in-law, in a village and there was an elderly grandma and a group of other elderly people, so didn’t want to make them uncomfortable or scare them away wearing a jean or that sort.🥰 I respect Indian culture. On our way back, my other sister-in-law surprised us with that sneaky exploration into the jungle, and the waterfalls, WOW! The Roaring Beauty!

So, there you have my recent photos from July 2022 and I think I’ve shared a bit too much about myself.

Waiting to see yours!

🕊️💚🕊️💚🕊️💚🕊️💚🕊️💚🕊️💚🕊️💚🕊️

Spread Love! Spread happiness!

Thank you Allisonn Church for your “Introduce Your Selfie” 👇🏻 story. After writing a few dark poems and articles and digging up a little bit of my bitter past I was a little down. Reading your story motivated me to write mine and I bounced right back.

Dancing Elephants Press Prompt 16 of 52 by Sharing Randomly 👇🏻

Read more from me 👇🏻

🙏 Thank you! 🙏