In memory of photographs accidentally deleted

One of the joys of digital photography is reviewing your photos on a large screen almost immediately after you have shot them. On a recent visit to Bhutan, and after a long day's travel and shoot, I was trying to do just that. I inserted the SD Card in the computer and was waiting for the transfer of close to 300 photos, impatiently. While the transfer was going on I began rummaging through the SD card and found no less than seven folders that my camera had created. 

"Quite redundant" I thought. 

In a momentary lapse of reason I selected six of them and deleted. And lo! the transfer was interrupted! Only then I realised that I had deleted the photos as well! And no, just when you need it, Windows does not trash it in the Recycle Bin but directly sends it to the netherworld. I frustratingly opened the folder on the desktop to assess the damage. I had lost about 50 photos. 

"Not bad". 

"But which ones?"

From the sequence of photos already there, I began to reconstruct the sequence of events. Takin Zoo was the most affected. Close ups of the remarkably tame national animal of Bhutan were lost. I reckoned none of them were particularly good although a few were shot by the camera precariously hidden from the heavy rain. A slew of idioms passed through my mind: "sour grapes", "spilled milk", "Love's labour lost" etc. I felt frustrated not because the photos were particularly good but because some of them were shot under trying circumstances. There were a few photos of here and there, nothing remarkable. But also there were photos of the splendid Drukgyel Dzong. This elaborate fortress, though destroyed in a fire, is matter of national pride in Bhutan. The 500 year old imposing structure was the site of many a battles between the Bhutanese and their northern neighbours, Tibetans. The saving grace, however, was that I was staying quite close to the Drukgyel Dzong and I had enough time to hop off the next day to salvage some of the views. 

Lesson learnt? "Life doesn't often gives you a second chance but it certainly gave me one!"