Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.

The year was 2004. I was new to London. 

I had just been there for work. My office was located on Marsh Wall Road and Canary Wharf, the famous financial district, was just 10 minutes’ walk away.

At the close of office hours, I used to take a stroll to see the place around Docklands. 

The Canary Wharf is home to many tall buildings, including the UK’s second tallest, One Canada Square.

Canary Wharf was a scenic beauty with a footbridge hung by wires and barely touching the waters, a huge shopping mall, seagulls flying so close to the waters in the Thames, the toy-train DLR (Dockland Light Railway) transporting commuters and visitors (in a solemn silence), the green parks & benches, punishing wind passing through skyscrapers, cycling lane and clean roads all around. It was simply a treat to watch.

I had a DSLR camera. The weekends in that part of the world are normally quieter. As one who had just landed in London, I wished to click some pictures and wanted to send them home to India.

I was snapping away all that came within my eyesight.

I had just stopped when I saw a group of kids getting ready for a face-painting competition. 

I watched them gather in groups and some sitting on tall stools. The make-up artists were busy drawing cartoon characters on their faces. I guessed an event was being organized. I didn’t want to miss one.

I started clicking. Shots of the venue, the audience, kids running, laughing and joking. I took the camera very close to the kids’ faces and clicked. The cartoon faces just began to fill my camera.

No sooner had I finished doing a great photographer’s job for the week than I was stopped by the long arm of an adult. Someone tapped on my shoulder.

“Sir, can I have a minute?” 

“Yes, sure” I said. I was a bit worried. 

The man said he was the father of one of the kids participating in the competition. And he wanted to know who I was and what business I had there.

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I started sweating. Did I do anything wrong? 

I explained who I was, the reason I had been in the Docklands and told him photography was my passion.

The man who was a complete stranger warned me that I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of kids unless I carried an ID or authorized by the organizers of the event. 

Secondly, he said it was a crime to take pictures of kids without permission from parents or the kids’ guardian. I was gobsmacked! 

He told me to show him those snaps. I quickly obliged, pressed the cam on and showed him the whole sequence of my evening at Canary Wharf.

He asked me to delete each one of the kids’ photos. The other parents soon gathered. They made sure I deleted all the kids’ pictures.

I apologized and left home. It dawned on me how ignorant I was. 

That was surely a positive lesson to learn in life.