My First Camera

This is the story of how I smashed my first camera into pieces. The caretaker at India House, B. R. Gupta, bought me a small camera. It was worth eight or ten dollars. I thought I would use it to take pictures at S. K. Roy's  farewell party. That evening, I took quite a few pictures and I was very happy.

The following day I got the film back, but nothing had come out. I was so disgusted . I said, "A camera is not meant for me. In India I knew it. These things are hostile forces!"

I came out of the building. I remember it was snowing. Then so powerfully I smashed the camera on the street. Afterwards I said, "I have to be a good person." So I sat down and collected all the pieces. I broke the camera into pieces, so I had to pick them up.

That was my first and last experience in those days with a camera. Some years later, Sudha, the President of our Puerto Rican Centre, gave me a camera and that camera fortunately worked. 

[Source: "My First Camera" in Sri Chinmoy, My Consulate Years, Agni Press / Aum Publications, Jamaica, NY, 1996, p. 46.]