Charcoal

Heaven

So you are a new kid on the block. You are hungry. And you are broke. The usual scenario amongst us young adults in Pune. Listed are some hot spot eating joints you shouldn’t miss for the world.

In the beginning comes ‘Maggie Point’. This small joint is tucked away in the corner of a shop entrance with wooden chairs and wooden tables almost dwarf sized. The menu they serve is the highlight of the miniature setting. They serve Maggie which ranges from all the different flavors of being Tomato Cheese Maggie, Chicken Maggie, Pizza Maggie, to Spicy Vegetable Maggie. A flavor for all. Served within 5minutes of you placing the order, you can enjoy this hot meal on a rainy day at an affordable price.

Alongside they serve pasta with dripping cheese layers, rolls and burgers to choose your taste buds. This is a one stop place for quick eating. Having the time you can also check out the adjoining shop that has all the Bob Marley branded stuff you might just find something you like. The location of this place is on law college road, barista – right across the street.

The next one is Cad-B. A small shop on the JM road next to Greetings. This store sells milkshakes and fruit juices. But that’s not all! They have something so amazing that you could almost die consuming this. It’s called Cad-B and Cad-M for Cadbury chocolate and milk. It has chocolate shavings with chocolate melted in cold ice, and chunks of chocolate floating everywhere. A spoonful of this could send you crashing in to a sugar high. Imagine having a glass of it. To know it you need to try it. Go Cad-B!

And then there’s, Level 9. Sounds fancy? No it isn’t! This is located within the ICICI towers on SB road. You have to travel 8 levels higher. It is located on the terrace of the building and the view is just breathtaking. Seating arrangement with aluminum chairs and minimum luxury, you can enjoy food like chat’s, sev -puri’s, pasta’s, ice creams, and sandwiches. Fills your tummy and brining you to a fresh breath of fulfillment. You can also go with your better half, but remember go before the sunset unless you are ready for the mosquito attack!

Time of my life - India

There is something about India that’s seems too fascinating and beautiful at the very same time. Being born and brought up in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the atmosphere set around me was very different and drastic from what I had expected it to be. Bahrain a small island, surrounded by sea. Mostly built on water, this reclaimed land doesn’t really have much of the needed population to stay upon it.

This makes the island a rather slow paced one. Time ticks here as much as the earth moves by the clouds spinning at a very slow rate, at which you won’t even realize. In a minute, there are about 600 seconds.

So yes, maybe you can say that it moves 10x times slower than a normal minute in any other part of the world.

And suddenly the very next moment I knew I was in India. Settling down, first time I wasn’t even accompanied by my folks for some visa issues. Here I was, all alone in a city I never knew, or a country where I had never been or travelled alone to!

Cribbing was the initial reaction. Every new change itched me to scream out and cry in anger and horror. But then this was going to be my lifestyle for the next two years, so I had to embrace it, or I had to whine over it.

Seconds passed, minutes passed, hours passed, days passed, weeks passed, months passed and years passed. It was soon like I was a part of this land, and could relate myself with it in every sense. The festivities, the colors, the fire crackers, the hustle all around and the excitement packed life that I was leading. The people who are so, clever yet so heartwarming at the same time, the lanes and the streets with children blaring and playing, life bubbling at every stop, every blink and every second progress, which you cannot measure.

Keeping up with this hectic phase, helped me even lose some weight, an added initiative. It created an independent, a girl who could walk without any fear, on her own and carry her very own life, in her own palms and nurture it the way she wanted to. A strong heart matured and tears which fell from her eyes were now the tears of ecstasy and accomplishment and not hurt or sorrow.

Every step seemed like a new adventure, a new challenge and a new achievement. I had a story to tell myself or others at the end of the day. My life wasn’t the same old routine one anymore. With each passing day, the country and the city became mine. I made relations which I can say will last for a lifetime and forever. The smell in the air, as soon as I land on the “Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus – Mumbai” excites my senses and tells me that I am here once again! For god, bad or worse!

India has become a way of life for me. I can’t let go anymore. In fact, the place of my birth now seems to lackluster. I wouldn’t and couldn’t even no matter how hard I try will ever let go of INDIA.

First Step

"My first step at creating an advertisment for sale on the monsoon season"

Camera Does Matter!

Very often I’m asked by friends what camera should they buy. My replay used to direct them to a camera store and try the models they ponder and choose the model they feel happier using. Thinking about it made me realize my replay was just a small piece of a bigger puzzle people should think of when choosing a camera.

Looking to pay money for a new camera firstly, you need to understand that the photos you will capture with your shiny new multi-mega-pixel detects-faces-and-shoots-when-they-smile camera will probably be not as outstanding as in comparison to the manual SLR. Stick with me for a couple of more paragraphs and you will have your “ahh-haa” moment.

Not boring you with all the camera technicalities and expert talk here are a few basic factors you need to keep in mind when making the decision of which camera most deserves your money.

What are your needs? Before going into the store and talking to the sales person, here are a few things you need to think about well in advance - The type of photography, the size and portability of your camera, your budget, what features are you looking for, will you be on auto mode or do you want to learn the art of photography?

Now, for the question you were probably waiting for, SLR or Point and Shoot?

If a camera is your freedom to create and express yourself, a mechanical SLR is the freedom. Having the ability to control every aspect of a photo capture process, getting instant feedback from the controls, feeling the film advances are all the joy of creation. Also, one clear advantage of digital SLR cameras is that they're able to capture photos even when there's not a lot of ambient light. The human brain will always be better at judging a scene then a camera set to automatic. With a digital SLR, you have complete control over every photo you take, and don't have to rely on the camera to make choices for you.

Point and Shoot or Digital Cameras gives the stress free picture shooting mode and being never to buy film ever again. No risk of negatives and complete liberty to edit pictures on the PC. Also, Instant view of the pictures, mass storage and many advanced features are incorporated in a small package. If you don’t have the time and patience to learn the how to adjust, tweak or fiddle with your shot then these glossy babies are just right for you.

Irony

Looking at these colorful pieces just lying there, the various complexities and beliefs of the minds come through. The mind is so composite, so intricate and so web woven. Thousand of thoughts, thousands of colors, thousands of emotions… what we think, what we do and how we interpret our life.

This picture was taken at a school meant for the mentally disabled, called RIA. The children were given this ‘so simple’ task to just place these spot blocks in equal color and sequence. But this wasn’t easy for them. It was so heavy and pressurized for them; they ended up throwing these pieces, all flying around in the air, and me running after them to gather them all.

That’s the irony of life. When you want everything and anything, and you get nothing but a hand-full of colorful dots. Even when they are so colorful and vibrant you cannot really make anything out of it.

Appreciate life.

Women in Saudi Arabia

Shopping in Saudi Arabia offers a glimpse of the strict cultural codes that govern the entire society. Here, a Saudi woman passes mannequins in the Kingdom Center in Riyadh that are legal because they have no heads. Because Saudi men and women are only permitted to work together in hospitals, all the sales people in Kingdom Center's mixed floors are male foreign workers, such as this man helping two Saudi women who are shopping for a watch.

In many ways when you look at these malls they might look like these common upscale malls in U.S. You can get boots by Bally, diamonds from Tiffany, handbags by Coach and Polo shirts from Ralph Lauren. But look around more closely and things in the Kingdom Center start to seem a bit strange. At the Rotana Music Factory, Celine Dion no longer wears just a sleeveless dress on the cover of her latest compact disc. Now she's wrapped in a black shawl that a censor drew in.

At McDonald's, women order from one side of a divided counter and disappear with their Value Meals into the walled-off "family section." Men order on the other side of the counter and sit in plain view of everyone. At Miss Selfridge, a trendy British retailer catering to young women, there isn't a single fitting room. For that matter, there are no female salespeople, either - only men.

But forget about going to the third level if you're a man. The elevator is marked "Ladies Only."