My baby gets an upgrade !

December is undoubtedly the bessssst month of the year, every year.

Guess what I did this year?

I decided to give my almost-year-old Nikon, an upgrade with --

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 55 - 300 mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens

Again, it was not an easy decision to make.

I have been clinging on to 70-300 mm VR IF-ED lens for over 6 months now. Despite the huge hole it would make in my pocket, I loved every single thing about that lens. The size, the weight, the quality, just e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. I was perpetuallly dreaming about having one. Honestly, the only reason holding me back - it was waayyy bigger than the available credit on my card.

All year, I have been so intensely planning to save some credit to buy this one in December. Now that December is here, I still couldn't pick myself to order this one, straight from my cart. With the wedding and all coming up next year, I didnt feel it was a judicial spend. I started having second thoughts - if I actually needed an upgrade.

It was then I happened to stumble upon 55-300 mm, and was pretty pleased with the features and the price. It was then followed by extensive surfing AKA research, for a couple of days, and lo !

Here it is.. being packed and shipped to me.

Afterall, I am the gonna-be-bride, its December and I knew I deserved some pampering for all that's laying ahead of me.

Madras, it is !!

Everybody has an appetite for home town, how true is that??!

I was beginning to enjoy the perks of independent life, I was just starting to savour every moment of the weekends, I was just then beginning to get nicer company to make leisure time for and lo! I also had to move back to pavilion, once and for all.

The early morning my train reached its destination - Chennai, I walked out half sleepy with just my backpack, for I had left everything behind owing to the hasty move.

It took me almost a week's time to actually accept the fact that I am a part of the inter-dependant-family-circle again. It for sure, was weird! Being independent has become yet another far-fetched-may-never-happen kinda dream.

But again, I am in Chennai, namma Madras ( yaaaaayyy!!! ) who cares about independence and all?

I do not have to 

• plan ahead about the day's dinner
• look forth into grocery shopping
• wash/ dry/ iron clothes on a regular basis
• think about cleaning the house the very next morning
• remember all the expenses for the monthly calculation
• save all the bills for later purpose
• put up with okay-okay food even at restaurants
• worry about safe locking the house while leaving for work or worry the entire day about it
• ponder mid-day if I had turned the gas off in the kitchen

I will or can never be held responsible for anything, ever !

Instead, I can

• visit friends just anytime
• plan birthdays and anniversaries with no worry about ticket availability
• "Marina"
• ride around the town happily on nice roads
• get lost and found again
• have nice food at restaurants
• get some sister time
• fight with mom
• work, happily

 Though my heart does jump at the opportunity of "Independence" back in Bangalore, the perks of being back in a place, you can proudly call a home is just abundant to let go.

PS: Sincere thanks to those people, back in Bangalore, who made me all these good memories in the last couple of months. I would love to come back to you guys, anytime.

Auto Cul(Kill)ture!!

I really wonder how people here survive! Of the 100 and odd things that Bangalore could learn from Chennai, Auto Culture tops the list. I do agree to the fact that they adhere to meter charges, that too happens only in certain parts of the central city. Otherwise, just forget the meter. But there is more to an auto-wala than just meters and charges.

Here is a list of weird Auto Cul(Kill)ture strictly adapted to, by the Bengaluru auto-walas:

1. It is way too difficult to find an auto at non-morning hours. And by that I mean, anytime that does not fall between 10am and 9pm. Are you kidding? I reach Chennai Central at 0415 hours, in the morning of course and the place is buzzing with auto-walas riding around in their locos. Auto-wala should be an early riser! After all, an early bird catches the worm. And getting an auto to your destination after 9pm is almost Mission Impossible. They simply vanish into thin air, as it starts getting dark.

2. It is a miracle if an auto-wala actually knows the address you are looking for - otherwise he simply tells you the "correctly" wrong directions around the town. At the same time, if you call him for a ride to the destination-unknown, he wouldn't budge. Simply coz, he has never been to that place before. I miss Chennai auto-walas who can take you to any nook and corner, just coz you pointed at it.

3. As far as I noticed the autos are all from the same manufacturer, as Chennai -  yet the ride is such a pain the ass, literally. lesser leg space, harder less-cushioned seats and utter perpendicular back rest - makes you wish the ride ends in not more than 10 minutes.

4. In non-metered regions, like my dear Whitefield, the negotiation starts from Rs.60/ per km for distances less than 5km, you can imagine the rest! Had I saved the cash I spent on auto rides, in my first month here, I could have bought an extra zoom lens for my Nikon by now.

5. Also, I should mention, they are such heartless-souls. They see you with such huge/ heavy luggage - be it from D-Mart (super market) or Majestic (Bangalore Central) - they wouldn't bother to lend a hand, forget moving the vehicle away from puddles or slush. They will cozily sit (with the engine ON) until you struggle your way through.

I wish Chennai Auto Culture goes viral, for the ultimate good of mankind!

5 Bengalurian learnings

It has been almost 3 months, since I moved to Bangalore, and I should admit it has groomed me, a lottt! I feel like I was put through a test of time, coz, in a matter of 90 days (max) I had been through various phases (emotional) viz.,

• The immensely cozy and overtly pampered phase
• The Duh-I-am-gonna-die-alone phase
• The I too have company phase
• The you can survive phase
• The cool apartment phase
• The auto-wallas-rob-you-blind phase
• The talk to my hand phase
• The I can survive anything phase, etc., etc.

Going through all these phases in a vicious cycle, alone, is effectively an emotional-roller-coaster ride. I am thankful that it didn't turn out to be a Final Destination one. I may not be the fittest to survive but am definitely getting fitter with every phase, every-single-time. Here's 5 different things Bangalore taught me, the real hard way :

5. Am I Home sick???? Naaah! It is Tamil-sick or rather, Chennai-sick!! 

          I had always dreamt about staying on my own, away from home and now that I am, I realise - I get home Chennai/ Tamil-sick very often. Days are just fine, until the fact that its been over a fortnight I visited Chennai, hits me hard. And then, I am pushed into the Compulsive-Disorder-Zone to make Bangalore-Chennai tickets, for the earliest weekend and that too, with a Friday/ Monday leave, if possible.

4. Invariably nice people NEVER exist

          If somebody you just met, is nice to you, either they need a favor or they're gonna hit you so hard that you will need a lot of time to revert. Only a handful of them can actually be nice, with no Terms and Conditions applied, and they are called Friends. Gud ol' pals!

3. Out of the Friend-making zone

          We do meet, chat, work, eat, hang out with lots of people, more than often on a daily basis. Yet there's an invincible boulder inbetween. We grasp the thin difference between Acquaintances and Friends. The latter are those we already have and will only fail trying to make now. We all start looking forward to that one long chat with that one/ a bunch of friends, every now and then.

2. Reverse Finance lessons

          Gone are the days of earn-spend-save-earn cycle. It is time to spend on credit and then earn to refill the credit, whilst, Save only means "Ctrl + S". Genius is the man who invented this concept of buy now, pay later. Survival is all about planning this credit for the last week of every month.

1. Success isn't just what you accomplish but what you inspire others to do.

           I might not love my job (Nobody loves their job, anyway!) , but I, for sure, like it and I am definitely putting in my best to make things work. I am pretty good at what I do. Miracles do happen. Yet, there's this tiny little voice inside my head, that keeps yelling with all its might - "WTH am I doing here?" May be this is just not my cup of tea. There are a hundred reasons as to why this is not my kinda place but I am hoping to find one reason that will make me stay, longer.

Counting my blessings ...

The new life in the new city with nothing much to do apart from work, spending most of the time aloof, gave me a lot of time to think about a lot of stuffs. Mainly about the different types of people who play a vital role in my life and that's when I realized - It's high time I started counting my blessings.

I always have that one person who

~ comes out of nowhere just so I don't feel lonely

~ is always there for last minute scurry-hurry shopping

~ never fails to ask on the day's happenings

~ is not bothered by the distance to visit me

~ calls with nothing at all to talk

~ is always there to hear my incessant rants

~ is the overnight chat companion

~ talks more to my mom than me

~ is the ever-so-concerned one

~ never ends a day without tipping me off

~ loves my cooking

~ is always there to appreciate even my teeny-weeny efforts

~ simply takes, not borrows, the nice cute stuff I get

~ never lets me eat a chocolate in peace

~ lends a shoulder even if the crap is mine

~ beats the shit out of me, just so I realize the wrong-gone-part

~ loves the same music and movies as me

~ matches my level of idiocy/ craziness

~ knows me so much, that I dread to leave them with anybody else

~ has truck load of my shortcomings, yet never gives up on me

~ hates the same people as me / for me

~ is just a phone call away

~ can guage my mood simply with my texts

~ just cannot leave me alone until I am alright

~ makes it a point to simply argue for every dumb reason

~ even after a long argument, is just as normal as always

~ never stops advising even though I wouldn't listen to any

~ has no *Conditions apply

~ lets me just be me

~ makes me wish  things never change, ever!

. . . and still counting.

I just feel overtly blessed coz I have more than one person who fits in each of these roles and most of them play multiple roles too..

*touchwood*

How lucky am I?

*sniff* *sniff* Happy tears!

PS: If you can relate yourself to atleast one of the above said with me, then YOU are my blessing.

I will (not) miss...

New year.. New place.. New people.. New job.. New everything..

Something that I have always wanted to happen and it is all happening now!

Here I am, literally, wondering what is that I will miss the most or will I ever?!

I will/ will not miss ...

• All night movie (or series?!) marathon
• Alarm that goes off at 9 am
• Snoozes that follow it
• Riding around the city
• Marina mornings and evenings too
• Friends who always appear from nowhere as if from next door
• Sense of belonging and pride
• Home food
• Looong lunch buffets
• Volunteering opportunities
• Endless meetings
• Reading books through the day and night
• Just doing nothing
• Playing Candy Crush (Duh!)
• Yapping around mom
• Sweaty hot summer
• Hot winter

and, the list doesn't end there...

Emm - Cee - Queues

Multiple Choice Questions have always been my worst nightmares and somehow, still continue to be. I can hardly get my descriptive answers wrong and hardly get my MCQs right. Duh! Had there been no concept of MCQs in my exams, my scores would have definitely been way better.

Drifting back to the present, the latest challenge being Canon Vs Nikon. There are 'n' other brands, but rounding up to these two was never a problem. Trust me, it is the toughest phase I had to go through in my life. I visited every possible photographer's blog on their gadgets. Sadly, almost none of them could help the beginners and first timers. It was that stage when, even Google was tired of my comparative studies.

There is this common notion that Canon suits best for Nature and Nikon for People, but what if I want both? That is the question I was trying to find an answer to, all efforts in vain by EOD, every-single-day.

No wonder my Chrome kept crashing!

After long sleepless nights, after those never ending browsing sessions, after so many pointless discussions, after the countless dilemmas and heart-aching head breaks, there dawns a clarity. A clear headedness, where everything simply falls into place.

NIKON - it is!

And here's Why...

Coz, my first ever, Digi-cam, a gift, was Nikon.

Coz, my Bridge cam, from appa, is Nikon.

Also,

Coz, I knew I'd want my first DSLR to be a Nikon too.

Nikon has never failed me and I'm sure it never will.