Photography, my newly discovered passion!

Although I have always enjoyed taking pictures and am popular with my husband for always carrying my camera when we go outdoors, photography has only recently become my passion!

I just happened to take a 10 day intensive course in photography, in June at the School of Fototechnik,Patel Nagar. It was a consecutive 10 day course, meaning having to sacrifice 2 weekends (which, initially didn't seem like a great idea and was making me lean towards not signing up for the course). After some back-and-forth on the idea, I decided to sign up, more so because, the intensive program is held only once a year, at the School of Fototechnik and the other option that remained with me was a regular 6 months program, which to me seemed a difficult and a longer commitment to make and fulfill. Thinking in those terms, sacrificing weekends eventually, didn't seem that bad!

At that time, I possessed, "Sony cybershot", a point and shoot camera, which, is what I took to my class the first day. Anyhow, the photography schools and professional photographers don't have a high opinion about digital point and shoot cameras with respect to their ability to take good pictures, so I borrowed a DSLR (the recommended camera) from a close friend, for my shoots during the course.

The course was a good introduction to technicalities like depth of field, exposure, aperture, shutter speed etc. along with a nice introduction to handling a DSLR. I enjoyed all my classes especially the ones in which we were shooting! :)

So, now my latest possession is a "Nikon D80" with an 18-200 lens and I took it for it's first shoot today, to Humayun's Tomb!

Though I was born and brought up in Delhi, I had never visited Humayun's tomb before, which I must say is a beautiful site for photography. I guess with my newly found passion, I will be discovering the city all over again!

Review:Oh! Calcutta 4.5/5

Oh! Calcutta, is the ultimate destination for bengali food lovers as well as seafood lovers! The menu is quite elaborate and has lot of seafood options. After having dined here 4 times in 6 months and loving the food every time, I had to write a review!

The food is simple and tastefully cooked. Although I have enjoyed almost all my selections here so far, my favorites are Pomfret kalimirch in the appetizers and Bekti fish in mustard marination along with Aloo dum and luchi in the main course. 

The serving size is large, I would recommend sharing the dishes. 

The server brings a tray with the dessert selection at the end of the main course, which is unique and definitely very tempting. Simply love the mishti doi and the maal pua!

The ambience is simple and yet very welcoming, with the walls adorned with calcutta sketches!

Food: 5

Cleanliness: 5

Service: 4

Pricing: 4

Moderate

Location/Information:

Park Roya Hotel, Nehru Place

011-41223344

Hours:

11:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M.

Review:Naivedyam (Hauz Khas Village) 3.9/5

 

Food - 3.5
Naivedyam, a south indian restaurant at the Hauz Khas Village was my last weekend's pick. The restaurant serves "Rasam" as a complemetary drink after the guests are seated and it's definitely to die for, just perfectly spiced and flavorful.

Tarun ordered the south indian Upma along with Curd Rice and I orderd the special "Maharaja Sajjige Masala Dosa". The Upma was part sweet and part salty, very different
from what we've had before. The special Dosa was made of the rava batter with the filling of mixed vegetables and it tasted great. I was surprised to taste Sambhar, which was just not upto the mark.
The sweet pan served at the end of the meal is very mouth freshening.

Cleanliness: 4.0
The tables were thoroughly cleaned before being reset for the next guest. The glassware and the tablware were spotless.

Service: 4.0
Attentive.

Pricing: 4.0
Moderate.

Location/Information:
1 Hauz Khas Village
New Delhi
26960426, 26236364

Hours:
11:00 A.M. - 11:00 P.M.

Trip to Amritsar

I was in Amritsar last week with my family, to attend a cousin's wedding. The wedding was on April 11th, and we were supposed to head to Jullundhar the next day to meet some relatives but decided to checkout the city a little bit before starting our journey for Jullundhar.

On April 12th. the day after the wedding, we decided to skip the b'fast at the guest house and eat at "Bharawan Da Dhaba" a much recommended restaurant in Amritsar famous for its Amritsari Naan.

We reached there past noon and ordered the speciality thalis with their famous naans along with sweet lassi (without malai, of-course :)). After having all the yummy food, we decided to head to the Golden temple, a truly magnificent house of god built in the middle of a lake.

The sublime peacefulness of the place was contrasting with the heavy traffic outside. I was amazed to see the number of people in line, standing in sun, to say their prayers. 

Baisakhi (the harvest festival of Punjab), was the following day and it was adding to the crowd at the temple. People came a day before and sat in the corridors to say their prayers the next day. It was amazing to see the willingness and the faith amongst people.

We took a round, around the lake where the temple is built, said our prayers and returned. So glad we checked it out, definitely one of my favorite sacred places now!

Review:Masala Art

I dined at Masala Art, an upscale Indian restaurant at Taj Palace, last week with a friend who was visiting from SF. I wanted to take him out to a restaurant where he could enjoy good indian food, always something I wanted to do when I visited from US.

We started off with Kingfisher beer and left the menu selection on the server. Sidd, my friend wanted to stay away from chicken (fearing bird flu!), so we decided to have lamb instead. The server recommended the chef's special lamb and Shahi Paneer. We ordered Okra on the side ourselves.  The lamb was really good!

If you order plain roti/chapati, they make the tava roti for you at your table, which is very unique and welcoming especially if you are visiting from abroad where you are used to eating frozen chapatis :)

The food overall was quite good whereas the service was average.

Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns

A book recommended to me by amazon based on my past reads. A very intriguing story set in Afganistan about the lives of two women Mariam and Laila since their childhoods.

It's about how Mariam and Laila stayed in the same neighborhood but never interacted and were one day married to the same guy, Rasheed, a shoe maker. There is hatred between Mariam and Laila initially, but as the story moves along, the hatred grows into love. They take the beatings of Rasheed together and save each other whenever they can.

The book travels through the life in Afganistan before and during Taliban. The brutality faced by the people living there especially, the women, even in the 2000s was a shock to me. There was so much I didn't know about how it was during Taliban, that I learned from this book.

The are sections in the book that are horrifying and will give you a shiver, like the one on child birth and the impositions of Taliban on the residents.

A very grippping story that captures the interest from the beginning, it's hard to put it down in the middle.

Before i finished this book, I went to the book store to pick The Kite Runner, Khaled's first novel coz i had to read his other work and am reading it currently!

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a great read and comes highly recommended!

Kerala - a paradise!

I recently did a trip to Kerala with my husband for our fourth wedding anniversary. An amazingly beautiful place! I couldn't believe i was there, a place i had always wanted to visit. We spent our first day at the backwaters in a houseboat, which was an amazing experience, just water and lush green trees as far as you can see! Pictures don't do justice to its beauty, but i'll still add one for you to check out.
The next day, made a stop at the Varkala beach on our way to Kovalam. Reached Kovalam late afternoon where we checked into Leela, a beautiful resort. I could spend all the time there, doing nothing, just being at the pool, taking a dip and reading my book, but we decided to checkout the "Vivekanada rock" at Kanyakumari, the next day. I would say, skip it and just chill at The Leela! :)