It was April 2007, when I was still in school and part of the Astronomy Group1. I was fascinated by science, specifically astronomy or anything to do with the universe, even though I wasn’t smart enough to understand any of the concepts. My main motivation to join the group was the year-end night sky watch and star gazing. I kept waiting and waiting for the year to end so that I can just go to this exploration of galaxies (planets and stars) far far away2. However, when the day arrived I refused to go because I was finishing up my board exams and they were draining as I never understood anything since it was taught in English and I used to fail most of the time. So, I wanted some peace and I said no. But, thankfully, my teacher called my parents to convince me to go there anyway because of how life-changing this experience could be for me. And, boy, it was!
I read about a concept created by Anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski, in 1922. This concept was latent and manifest functions3. Now, the manifest function I got from this trip was my goal since the beginning. But, the latent function I got will be something I will remember until my last breath.
When I went to the site 2 hours away from Delhi, there was a huge telescope and the people there told us that we will get only five seconds each to watch Saturn and Jupiter. And, nobody will flash their torches as it could blind us if it is flashed into the telescope while watching through it. I was nervously waiting for my turn thinking don’t push the telescope off and stay calm. When I looked through the telescope it instantly changed and saved my life. I can see Saturn and its rings rotating while Jupiter behind it shines surrounded by nothing but darkness and small shining stars. The above image you see was exactly what I saw but the image does not and will not do the magnificence of that moment justice. I gasped in disbelief at this awe-inspiring imagery. Those five seconds felt like milliseconds.
I came back home and started looking at the photos in google images. Every photo I saw couldn’t replicate that moment I felt. That moment stopped my suicidal thoughts. I wanted to live for the first time and see other amazing cosmic wonders. And, while doing this search I found a link saying “10 best astrophotographers.” Something clicked, and I realized I wanted to photograph the universe. I wanted that humbling experience again and again. This was the very first push for me to be a photographer. Like astronomy, I had no clue what photography is and that it can be more than just one route than just wedding photography. This was my latent function. My first experience with photography had nothing to do with photography. Maybe this is the lesson we can all take that you never know if the actions we take will come back to reward us in an unknowingly fascinating way. So, I can say Saturn made me a photographer.
In the end, I became an alien with a full costume, face paint, and aluminum foil hats and antennas. Yeah, not my proudest moment. We will never talk about this again.
If you get this reference we might become best friends in the near future.
Manifest functions are the intended functions of rules, processes, and actions. Whereas, latent functions are those aspects that came out of the rules, processes, and actions which were not intention-driven.