So confused…

6 years back, in Las Vegas, it was sheer moment, the lust, the look and the temptation… It was indeed irresistible which overpowered all the senses. The first touch was so gentle but equally powerful to bring shivering all over. The night was long and full of adventures. But the result was overwhelmingly joyful. The happiness of the achievement was incredible. The loyalty of this relationship is still intact no matter how the face or the body has changed. Even when there was a significant weight gain or sudden loss of body mass, the bondage has remained strong. Protected or sometimes unprotected, the bedtime ritual is never missed…

But now, this relationship is in a great danger… A temptation has levitated from the west coast which has challenged mere existence of this do-death-us-apart relationship… And it is as powerful or maybe even more than the first one… The few weeks of “safe” interactions have revealed the freedom, the flexibility and the flabbergasting this relationship will bring in… Be they morning whispers or evening exercise, lavish luncheons or delicious dinners, shopping in the malls or sailing in the sky, this new temptation promises interesting experiences which are just absent in the existing one.

Is this an infidelity or a bravery to accept the ever changing demands of the life? Is this a complete surrendering to the senses or to get along with them? Is this an adventure or a mere stupidity? Will it bring everlasting happiness or lifelong pain of a guilty feeling???

So confused…

OMG… It’s ONE year…

Yes, it is exactly a year since I posted last on this blog…
So let me quickly recollect some major events of past 365 days.
Saga de Ammerika – September 2011:
Despite being warned by friends and loved ones to not fly on 9/11, I flew to US on September 9 2011 and the journey was simply uneventful. On my Dubai stopover, visited my favorite places -


Both these places were buzzing with lots of people.
After I landed at JFK, I flew to Chicago next day and attended few meetings. I was at Chicago O’Hare airport to catch a flight to Philadelphia and it reminded me of my visit to this airport in 2007. Nothing much has visibly changed in this airport since then…




It was “at home” at Darshan’s place in Philadelphia.
Arya doing aarti! She has grown up so much from what she was a year before at that time…
Before I flew back to India, I had flown to Orlando for an exhibition and Miami for a meeting. During my stay in Florida, I took my “Home button suffering” iPhone to Apple store for a quick fix. Even though this phone was not purchased in USA and thus the warranty was not applicable in USA, the Genius at the store replaced my phone with a brand new unlocked iPhone4 without any questions. After a couple of days, this phone had some reception issue and another Genius at the same store replaced this one too! He also offered a free screen protector for this new phone!
No wonder people are loyal to Apple products.
On my way back to India, I had a few hours stop over at Dubai airport. It was evening time and all my favorite places were just empty…



Ronaque’s Wedding in November 2011:

RG’s sister Ronaque got married on November 29th last year. I had a chance to shoot some moments during this three days event.
Ronaque’s Mehndi:

And as usual, other ladies members get the mehndi as well…
Shy Smit!
Ronaque’s cousin Kanupriya…
Ronaque with her cousins – L to R: Nimisha, Nitu, Ronaque, Smit and Shveta.
Ronaque during her pre-engagement rituals in mandir…
The cousins – Nimisha, Shveta, Ronaue and Nitu.
Ronaque with her brother RG! They look so same!
Honey and his honey! Ambrish and Krupa… not that they did not want to pose but harsh sunlight made them shrink their eyes…
The to-be-couple being blessed during the engagement ceremony.
Ronaque and Nirav – a perfect couple during their wedding ceremony.
Sissie got a baby boy:
Gregory was born on April 28 2012!
And finally, recent event to conclude this post:
A generous gift from J-Lo and HG! No words to express my gratitude! They are producing stunning images.

Withdrawal Symptoms…

When I had read about it first time, I never thought that I would suffer from it ever.

Internet definition of withdrawal symptoms is like:
”Withdrawal symptoms: Abnormal physical or psychological features that follow the abrupt discontinuation of a drug that has the capability of producing physical dependence. Common withdrawal symptoms include sweating, tremor, vomiting, anxiety, insomnia, and muscle pain.”

And these days, I am experiencing this withdrawal symptoms heavily…

Sweating:
Since last two days, I indeed feel lots of sweating. For past two nights, even with outside temperature of 28° Celsius, I had to turn the aircon on throughout the night.

Tremor:
Yup, people around me have noticed that my fingers keep on shaking these days. I can’t hold them stable no matter how hard I try to. Of course, it could be because of Turbutaline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terbutaline) Dr ViPi had prescribed me for my severe coughing last week.

Vomiting:
Hmmm… not really but since my food intake these days is very low, there is nothing to vomit from the stomach…

Anxiety:
Yup, suffering very heavily. Anxiety of what? Don’t ask.

Insomnia:
Its 15 mins past 1am early morning and I am awake. Does it qualify for this symptom?

Muscle pain:
Heavy cramps since few days but 500mg of Paracetamol of SeriCOLD (my new sinus decongestant) twice a day brings some relief though.

So, yea, I am proudly declaring that I am an ordinary and normal human being which suffers from the withdrawal symptoms when one should. And I am happy about it. The withdrawal happened almost instantly and abruptly and it happened when I had feared it least. I am happy about it.

Frustrated…

I am very very frustrated...

• Not because my new sinus medicine is not as effective as the previous one…
• Not because wipers of my car are making noise…
• Not because increased waist size has rendered all my trousers useless…
• Not because Fusion Proglide Power razor is creating lots of irritation after every shave…
• Not because it has been raining here since few days…
• Not because my desk is very very messy…
• Not because I ran out of Starbucks ViVa Columbia instant coffee packs…
• Not because the maid no more will clean the first floor…
• Not because the new bridge across the river passes through a ghetto area…
• Not because you (I) have been doing what you are (I am) not supposed to do…
• Not because you (I) have not been doing what you are (I am) supposed to do…
• Not because my wireless service provider is not improving its coverage in my area…
• Not because GroupMe does not offer it’s service on my cellular network…
• Not because there is no DEL button on this MacBook Pro…
• Not because the “delete” button of this MacBook Pro actually is a "Backspace” button…
• Not because new format of this blog is not as cute as the previous one…
• Not because I messed up with my frequent flyer mileages…
• Not because I still fail to remember my new extension number…
• Not because thrice in a week, I forget to carry a towel in the shower…
• Not because I haven’t been to Barista for a long…
• Not because I just found out that my Canon 7D’s battery grip was also damaged…
• Not because my E6500 laptop is awaiting my login…
• Not because someone hates me…
• Not because I am compelled to use Windows 7 (on Macbook Pro)…
• Not because all my drawers are worst than a junk yard (since a few years)…
• Not because of the gap between a tooth crown and the adjacent tooth in my mouth…

But…

• Just because the Home button of my iPhone 4 is behaving erratic…

Since almost few weeks, this button has gone unpredictable… A lot of iPhone 4 users are complaining about this problem and Apple forums are full of this complaints… J-Lo said he is also suffering with this issue and so are many of his friends. Even though my phone is in warranty, Apple India will not be able to do anything as iPhones don’t come with international warranty. I have to send it back to its country of purchase to get it checked and repaired by Apple. Too bad too bad…

Wah Taj… The Taj

It was another outing on Tuesday July 19th… While we planned to start the travel from New Delhi to Agra at 5am, the driver arrived late and we left an hour delayed. When we reached Taj Mahal, it was almost 11:30am and it was again a wrong time for any interesting photography. By the time we bought entry tickets and collected the audio guides, it was almost noon. It was a cloudy day and moving clouds kept on changing the lighting conditions. As professional photography requires a prior permission, I did not carry my tripod or 70-200mm f2.8L-IS lens. I had to rely on my EFS-17-55 in this trip.

This is the main entrance of Taj. It actually does a great job in hiding the great monument behind it. The walls on both side of this gate further helps in hiding any possible revelation of the Taj.

And once you walk in this gate, you get the visual surprise!

And as you come out of the gate, it reveals it beauty for which it has been famous in the world.

And it was perfect composition Jim provided to document his visit to Taj.

As we started walking towards the mausoleum, we noticed a quite building Naubat Khana.The symmetry of the geometry is very noticeable.

A detouring from the front walking path revealed few interesting compositions of Taj…

And when we reached the second podium, real beauty of Taj was further revealed…

And Jim was kind one more time to pose for me…

Its size and symmetry has made Taj a unique complex…

And everyone would want to get captured in front of it…

After depositing our shoes in shoe rack, we climbed the monument plinth… Even though it was cloudy day, the floor was hot to walk on… It is advisable to keep the shocks on or use the shoe covers…

Instead of walking in the mausoleum, the audio guide suggested us to first visit the Mehman Khana – The Guest House.

While it had a bad smell inside, the views of Taj from there were breathtaking…

Gorgeous entrance to the mausoleum…

Photography inside the mausoleum is prohibited and even though the security guards were not stopping people to take pictures, I did not take any pictures. As there was nothing interesting to see inside and it was stuffy, smelly and drenching, we came out of it from the rear door as soon as we could. The breeze outside was felt as if we entered an air-conditioned area.

River Yamuna was full of (dirty) water but the view was spectacular.

And one of the four minarets of Taj… It is said that the beauty and the visual balance of Taj is due to these minarets.

A view of Mehman Khana from Taj…

We then headed to the exit and on our way back to New Delhi.

Few years back, I had visited Taj with Darshan and Yogesh…