Priceless photographs

I had with me a silly Indian camera. The first person who escorted me to give the prizes took my camera and gave it to one of his friends.

Later, my friend from Thailand came up to me and said, “Let us have our picture taken together.” A photographer who was there took our picture.

My friend said, “Can we have our pictures developed?”

I said, “I am ready to pay, but I don’t want to go to the photographer.”

So he went to get the photographer and brought him over to me. I asked, “How much do you want to print the pictures for us?”

The photographer said, “Ten rupees.”

I said, “I will be leaving tomorrow morning. If I give you 200 rupees, will you bring my copies to the hotel by 9:30? Then I will leave some for my friend.”

The photographer agreed. But the next morning, 9:30 came and went, and finally it was twelve o’clock and I had to leave. So I had to write a note for my friend, who was staying at another hotel, telling him that the photographer never came.

I said, “What am I going to do? He didn’t care for 200 rupees.”

— 31 March 1983

From:Sri Chinmoy,The world-experience-tree-climber, part 2, Agni Press, 1993
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/we_2