O for Oxymoronic Lives | AtoZ Challenge

There was this song in some random Bollywood movie I heard a long time ago. I could probably Google the movie by the name of the song and might as well mention the name here. But I think it would just be a waste of time, just like those 10 seconds you must have wasted reading about how I could Google up a movie's name although I didn't want to. Anyway, back to the song. It was called 'We are same same but different'. That was the hook line. We are same same but different. We are same same but different. How can two people by same same but different? That song was lost on me and so was logic. So I left it at that.

Years later, I learnt this fancy schmancy term called oxymoron. Basically, an oxymoron is a phrase or a sentence that has two completely opposite elements in the same phrase/sentence. Same difference is the simplest example of an oxymoron. Why I am rambling about a grammatical term you might ask. I have a theory. We are all leading oxymoronic lives. Let me explain.

We are born as babies. We grow into toddlers, then children, eventually into adults who have to well, be adult about every damn thing in life. Everything that you did as a child : eating mud, running behind squirrels, sneezing and not bothering to clean your nose after, eating off of the floor, pelting stones at the mangoes in the neighbour's garden, chasing away stray dogs, shouting at the top of your voice from the terrace. Everything. All of it suddenly becomes taboo for your own children when you are adulting. When you become a parent, you suddenly acquire a (false?) sense of responsibility which lets you to believe that you need to stop your babies and kids from doing certain things. But think back. When you were stopped back when you were kids, did you stop? And even if you did stop, did you like that person who brought about that change in your life? No right! Assess yourself then. Why lead a lifetime that are two ends of a polar opposite. Why not find your own way!

If you want to be oxymoronic, be weirdly normal. Not  passive aggressive or typically weird.

See you tomorrow with the next letter in the daily blogging challenge. Until then.

Cheers,
D.

M for Modern Family | AtoZ Challenge

I am stepping on the daily blogging bandwagon a tad too late, but I am on it nevertheless. Also, the letter for today is M which stands for a sitcom I absolutely love. Modern Family. I am sure this show has a lot of fans. And if you have not heard about the show, it is time you did add it to your watch list. It is only my second favourite show, only after FRIENDS. There are SO many reasons I love the show but it is these five characters that keep me hooked.

1. Phil Dunphy

Basically Phil Dunphy is me. I am the king (queen?) of goofy jokes and strange antics around the house. His childlike innocence makes him a lovable character while creating a perfect balance with his wife. And ofcourse, Ty Burrell plays him to perfection.

2. Gloria Prichett

I will be honest, if it weren't for Sofia Vergara, I would never have adored the character of Gloria. Her accent is endearing and her acting so on point. She makes Gloria likeable and funny. 

3. Lily Tucker-Prichett

I have been rooting for Lily to become a sass queen since season one and boy, my wishes have been answered. As the seasons have progressed, Lily has redefined smartness with her quips and not for one second do we feel like she is being disrespectful.

4. Haley Dunphy

I was Haley once in my life. Not the popular queen of the school. But at that place in life, where figuring out where to go next in life is an adventure in itself. Her character has grown so well. Also, she is so stupid sometimes, it's funny. 

5. Cameron Tucker

There is this man in the show, is textbook homosexual but plays soccer and excels at it. He loves pink and Meryl Streep but drives a truck with precision. How can you not love a character with so much to offer!

Modern Family is a resonance of everything that a present family system in most metro cities go through. There is always one moment in the entire episode that will relate to you and leave you feeling bubbly and extremely happy. And if a television show leaves you with nothing but happiness when it is over, I call it a satellite win. When Baby Hashtag grows up, I may have television restrictions but I am making her watch reruns of this show. I am sure she will enjoy it, well I hope she does. 

These are my favourite characters from the show. I do love the others, but these have my heart. If you are a fan of the show, which one is your favourite? Let me know.

See you tomorrow, back with the challenge! 

Cheers,

D

Dear Papa

Dear Papa

We have been through this conversation over a 100 times. In my head, of course. A lot of things have happened since the time we last spoke. It was a rough Sunday morning some three years ago when we saw each other last and since then, life has definitely changed. I am now married. Married to the man you approved of. We also have a daughter. You are a Nana now! As much as I would like to believe that the little baby (we call her Baby Hashtag on the internet) looks like you and me, she resembles your son-in-law more. There is a little bit of Mumma's face in her face. So you and me get a rough deal here. But we are a happy bunch now. It was a difficult year when you moved on, but recuperation is happening.

I have moved cities now. Everyone else is in Hyderabad, nandusa chachi golu and mum. Speaking of Golu, she has become the naughtiest version of herself. Nandusa has put on more weight and Soni chachi is still her happy self. They miss you guys a lot. You, Dadosa and Baiji. Dadosa's family is tighter now. Sunita Bua, Lalitsa, Devusa, Jyothidi, Cherry and their families are now bound with affection and understanding. It is something you always wanted and it is exactly that way. 

I have not lost any weight. In my defense, I did shed a few kilos before the shaadi but got it all back thanks to the baby. So, that is one thing that has not changed. Also, what has not changed is my love for you. Everyone misses you, sure. But no one misses you like I do. It is not grief that I feel, it just feels incomplete. I am however very glad that I could spend with you, all that time making fun of others the way we did. It was hilarious. That is what I will remember you by. All the happy pictures and the way we called out to people on our scooter rides. Thank you for making me iron your shirt every morning before school. That is one craft I know and love too much. Laundry. *kidding*

I do not know if I believe in a higher realm. I am a confused person like that. But you are the force I want to believe in. And so, all my prayers usually go out to you. 

We miss you dude. Love you dude. Bye dude. Until next time.

#ShaadiSeries : The Honeymoon Ritual

The Honeymoon Ritual is the last and probably the most unnecessary ritual of the wedding extravaganza!

I have seen a LOT of couples actually delaying their wedding dates so that coincide with a more favourable time to travel. Dates have been pushed back and forth trying to accommodate a 'so-called' honeymoon budget. The idea of a honeymoon or to simply put 'a post-wedding holiday' was to give the married couple some space and time to understand and get accustomed to each other in their respective living spaces before actually starting a life together. With time, the notion has evolved and spouses are usually more relaxed with each other by the time they are married.

The Honeymoon Ritual, however, refuses to evolve! Now the idea of a honeymoon is so done to death, that it revolves around the frantic search for an exotic location that very little people in your Facebook friend's list have been to. And it has to be some place exotic because when you tag yourself there with your new spouse, you have to garner at least a 100 reactions on social media. Otherwise, you are not doing honeymoon right. To each, their own. I agree. But when people (read married people) judge you and your marriage based on your honeymoon destination, that gets to me.

You may have worked this out by now but yes, I never did a honeymoon. My husband and I chose to stay put and rejoin work as soon as the wedding festivities were over. Let me straighten one thing out though. I am all for the holiday! I mean, who does not like a vacation. But the idea of a fully loaded honeymoon was just too much for us to handle and we did away with it. Instead, we jumped head on into life, making fortnightly weekend getaways a more frequent habit. 

If only, people (read married people) left us alone! 

Months into the marriage, they still rant on about how I missed an opportunity to have fun for once in my life, especially with the baby on its way. So wait, you are questioning my ability to cope with a honeymoon-less life and are also telling me very slyly that my life 'with the baby and a husband' will be bonkers? My God! Opportunity lost? Not. And here is why! 

First, personally spending thousands, lakhs even, on a glorified holiday is just not acceptable to me. Call me stingy, but when every honeymoon-related package comes to you at 250% more than it's original cost, I would rather be home watching random Kung-fu movies with a husband who loves the television as much as I do.

Second, there is no dearth of chemistry and magic in our marriage. I have burnt more meals in the kitchen than anyone has and we have been getting more takeaways from restaurants and eating them in solitary confinement watching Modern Family re-runs, just the two of us. That, right there, is our honeymoon.

and Third, it is totally a personal choice!

I am not taking a dig at honeymooners in general, party all you want, I could not be happier for you. But it is the sympathisers that need to back off a little. Next time before you go all googly-sympathetic faced for someone who haven't had their honeymoon, restrain yourself. They have their reasons. Heck, they may even be smarter than you think.

And NO, a missed honeymoon is not a lost opportunity. It is just another wedding ritual some of us decided to skip.

Spunk and Colour - Meenakshi Pamnani

It started out in the early months of 2016 when I conceptualised and decided to document and chart the journey of fashion prominent women bloggers in Hyderabad. I knew some of these bloggers personally and I reached out to a couple more and received the warmest reception from them. The plan did hit a bump (pun intended) when I found out I was pregnant but I did meet the bloggers over coffee and they were ever so sweet about sharing their stories with me. This blog is the second in the series.

Meet Meenakshi Pamnani!
My connection to this fashion blogger is more personal than professional. She started her blogging journey back in December 2014 and that is also the time when I started shooting for her blogs. My association with 'The Shimmer Girl' has been the longest with our mutual obsession over glitter, sequin and chocolates. The Shimmer Girl aka Meenakshi Pamnani is all of 21 years old but she is on her way to making a mark in the Hyderabad fashion blogging scene. 

What started out as a hobby turned into a passion for this blogger. Meenakshi was already a celebrity of sorts when she set out to become a fashion blogger. A national level athlete with a prominent social media presence, she was already a celebrity of sorts when she discovered her love for all things fashion and beauty. Her style is all about colour and shimmer, something she feels very passionate about. 

From being a part time blogger to turning a full time fashion writer and adviser, she now directs style and fashion related content for a number of lifestyle websites. 

Now happily married to cricketer Ravi Teja, Meenakshi has a lot of new posts and collaborations in the pipeline for her viewers along with a stream of exciting videos on her channel.

Here are some of my favourite shots of Meenakshi from our past collaborations:

You can follow her blog here and her YouTube channel here

Throwback to the first post in the photo series where I photograph and chat with some significant women personalities and bloggers in the city - Quiet and Fierce: Chandana Munipalle

#ShaadiSeries : 11 Things I would have done differently in my wedding

Right now, I am 9 months into my wedding but most days I feel like it only happened yesterday. But then there are times it feels like it was years ago, what with all that is happening in life at such a fast pace. Looking back at my wedding, I do have regrets about how I planned things and how things finally went down around me.

I remembered vividly, a week into the wedding, that I completely forgot to make personal phone-calls to people I intended to invite. And then there were times during the week-long wedding celebrations when things were completely unplanned and a lot of the pre-wedding functions just happened to pass by with nothing more than a whisper. No hullabaloo, no pomp. So now, after months of making mental notes about it, I finally decided to share my take on a few things that I would have done differently in my wedding. If you are a bride-to-be or are helping out a bride in planning her wedding, in one or more ways, most of these things will apply to your scenario as well. So read on!

1. Wedding Lehenga woes

Like most potential brides, I wanted a wedding lehenga that was nothing less than a show-stopper. As soon as my wedding date was fixed, I jumped on to Pinterest and started pinning (like crazy) images of wedding outfits that were breathtaking! When you start discovering lehenga designs online, take into account the type of lehenga you want and the budget you want it in. You might want a raw silk designer lehenga or a lightweight georgette flowy lehenga from a local boutique, they all differ in prices and designs. I went lehenga shopping with a blank canvas in the mind and absolutely no idea about what I wanted. And therefore I ended up loving and buying a beautiful but heavily embroidered designer lehenga that was too huge for my overweight frame which stood stiff when worn. Considering my body type, I should have chosen a lightweight flowy lehenga but by the time I realised that, I had already made a pretty big investment in the earlier lehenga.

2. Better Photography options

Alas! This is one thing I will regret forever!!! Being a candid photographer myself, I know the importance of choosing the right photographer for the job otherwise key moments from your event get missed out and are never caught on frame. I made the biggest mistake of hiring an event organiser to handle the photography and cinematography departments. Not only did I never get to meet the photographer in person to discuss the photographs I wanted taken at the wedding, but also I did not get the key getting ready shots which I was absolutely looking forward to. Agreed that the photographers today charge a lot more than traditional photographers did back in the day, but do spare some time to find the right photographer that fit your budget. And always meet with them in person to understand their vision and work before you commit to them.

3. Planning and Delegation

This is the biggest problem people like me have. I take up all the work on my own and hate delegating work in the fear that others might end up ruining it. Turns out, I ruined a lot of things on my own because everything was too much for me to handle. Reach out to friends who live locally and ask them for help with wedding preparations. I was mostly on my own for most part of the 6 months wedding planning time and hence ended up taking all the responsibility till the last minute. Keep yourself totally work-free especially in the two weeks before the D-Day. I was running errands till a day before the wedding celebrations began and that messed up my already raging nerves.

4. Mehendi function

Believe it or not, I do not have one photograph of my Mehendi function where I look anywhere close to a bride-to-be. My hair is tied in a sock-bun, I am wearing my workout clothes and my face is lacklustre and gaunt. To top it all, I was an emotional wreck trying to allocate mehendi-waalis to the wedding guests and running hither tither before I finally sat myself down to get on with the mehendi myself. Though my camera made rounds, not one person managed to take a good photograph during the function and so those adorable pictures I had pinned of beautiful after-mehendi shots months ago never actually happened. I only blame myself.

5. Personal Invitations

I mentioned this earlier as well. I emailed and texted people inviting for the wedding, I communicated with them that I would email them the coordinates to the venue and surprise surprise, I never emailed most of them those coordinates. I also totally forgot to personally call a bunch of people in all the pre-wedding madness. Yes, I had a list prepared and everything but it totally slipped my mind to call back those numbers that were unavailable the first time. A total bummer on my part. The best thing for handing out those personal invites would have been to step on them 4 weeks before the D-day so that all fronts were covered!

6. LISTS LISTS LISTS!

I had lists. This is one thing I am very proud of actually. I made all the darned lists. But in effect those lists did not really get worked on completely as they were all just restricted to me, my mum and my aunt. I cannot emphasise enough on the importance of having help in organising the wedding. Share lists, prioritise work and let your ego disappear when you have to ask for help during your wedding preparation. Trust me, work distributed is sorted much faster. WhatsApp groups and email blasts are your best friends in this time.

7. Bridal Shower

Do not wait on your friends to organise a bridal shower or throw a surprise bachelorette party. Most times, if you do not let your friends and family know that you are expecting a celebration, chances are you will not get one. I made this misjudgement about an impending shower and having realised I wasn't going to get one, I put together a last minute dinner date with a few friends and that was it. If like me, you have the biggest expectations and love being pampered, make sure to let a couple of your closest friends know exactly that.

8. Family time

Do not be so caught up in the arrangements and preparation that you are unable to give your mum and dad some love and attention right before you scoot off into your new life. I regret not having a family fun night with my mum and my family before the wedding. I do make up for it every time I spend weekends with them after the wedding, but I did lose out on the key pre-wedding bonding time with the family.

9. Stick to the budget

If you are making a budget, you are making it for a reason. Stick to it and when you feel like going past that, pinch yourself hard and take a step back. I did not go crazy bonkers above the budget I set for myself but I did spend more than I needed to and unnecessary expenses will always come back to bite you.

10. Allocate realistic makeup time

By realistic, I do not mean hours together but an hour should be more than enough for you to get ready especially if you are in between functions. For me, it was the brief time between the Pooja and the Reception that I was given. I had 20 minutes to change into the lehenga, change jewellery and makeup. And so, in all the rushed madness, I forgot to adorn the two things I specially bought to complement my wedding outfit - a customised second dupatta and a nose ring which I bought after a painstaking search that spanned three months. Sucks, right!

11. Be the Queen and give your King all the attention

Not only did I lose out on the chance of playing queen for a month, but also I practically lived like a commoner trying to manage expectations during that time. I got so caught up trying to make everything perfect that I totally ignored my husband during a lot of them pre-wedding and wedding proceedings. Kudos to him for marrying me in spite of me being an insufferable control freak.

Listen up Brides! Let yourself go and be the queen for the entire time you are the designated bride-to-be because this time in your life will never come back! 

Until next time,
Cheers!
D

#ShaadiSeries : Mehendi-ed

I had a difficult time zeroing in on a lot of vendors that I had needed help from during my wedding and finding the right Mehendi artist was one of them. I have a full figure body and naturally my hands are quite big which according to a lot of mehendi artists are a gold mine for them as they provide a bigger canvas to draw various complex and ornate designs. So when a friend suggested a mehendi artist to me, I got in touch with her and we sat down to brainstorm a few Mehendi designs that she could use for me. Let me divulge the readers in a little background here.



In Indian traditions, applying mehendi or henna is embraced as the most ornamental way of getting yourself ready for an occasion. No matter how big or small the festivity, there is an inlaid compulsion for the women in the household to get their hands and feet tattooed with henna. Like all other arts, Mehendi too has evolved a great deal over the years. In earlier days, women plucked out the leaves off of the mehendi plant and ground them into a paste and applied it onto their palms and feet in simple round designs. As the tradition furthered, mehendi came to be ground even finer, put into plastic or polythene cones and was applied on the hand in the form of elaborate designs. Over the years, mehendi cones have been selling commercially in stores all over the country and even abroad where the trend of temporary henna tattoos has really caught on. Mehendi designs too have evolved over this time, from basic traditional to modern contemporary designs like Arabic design.

So there we sat pondering over Mehendi Designs and I came across this mobile application called Ethnico. It was amazing as it had a plethora of ideas I could use for my own wedding mehendi application. We also found a lot of design inspirations for the rest of my family who had mehendi applied both in Arabic Style and Traditional. I selected a few designs that were my favorite from the list and I think anyone who is looking at getting bridal mehendi applied must consider these designs:

1. This ornate Leg Mehendi

​2. This beautiful Bridal Mehendi with incorporations like the Bride, Groom, Shehnai and the Palanquin in the Mehendi. I eventually ended up getting mehendi applied very similar to this one.

3. Basic Arabic Mehendi Designs like this one

There I had it, my problem well taken care of by this really resourceful website that I came across. I recommend the Ethnico app to anyone who is looking for traditional Indian design inspirations. Head over to their website http://www.ethnicoapp.com/ or download their app. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Quiet and Fierce - Chandana Munipalle

It was in the aftermath of a major photography drought I went through that I conjured this project in my head where I photograph the prominent bloggers in Hyderabad city. Though the number is quite small, this little but significant community of bloggers is the one to look out for. In my series of meeting and photographing these amazingly talented and beautiful women, I will be talking about them and what drives them to do what they are doing now. And the first of these women is 'The Girl at First Avenue' Chandana Munipalle

At first glance, Chandana will bowl you over, with her quiet demeanour. As you get to know her, spend more time with her what will hit you more clearly about her personality is her perseverance. Chandana decided to become a fashion blogger at a time when fashion blogging was still in its nascent stages. People hardly understood the What, When and How of the industry, let alone understand the nuances of fashion blogging. Over the years, she has made the mark for herself as a blogger who is fierce and selective about her choices and true to her passion. My obsession with using the word 'fierce' to describe her comes from her sheer grit and honesty to what she does. If there is a prospective campaign she feels creatively unchallenged by, she will not take it. Such is her passion. We spent a good few hours mulling over the sad state of fashion blogging now, especially in Hyderabad. With numbers not entirely being true determinants of influence, both Chandana and I felt that there needs to a be a major transition in the fashion blogging scene so as to engage more audience and create more creative content.

If you have never read her blog, you must read now. You will find it hard to miss her style and how she weaves a story in a post. My personal favourite is this post on Charminar 'Citystories'

If you are looking for inspiration and some brilliant creative content, follow Chandana and her blog

#ShaadiSeries : When it's not your party!

I have missed this. Typing incessantly without a worry in the world about having to sound coherent or sensible. 

Back to business! I have a stable WiFi connection now, which allows me to work, connect and blog. So, Hurrah! For the uninformed, I have been married for over three months now and I am in the middle of what most people call 'adjustment'. With that being taken care of rather healthily, I spend a lot of the free time I have thinking about my wedding hullabaloo. I'll be honest here. I have always wanted a huge wedding, complete with the functions and the fun and the laughter. The works. And now that I look back on the week when it actually happened I realise bit by bit that it was nothing short of a dream. At times, I sailed through the days as if I was looking down upon what was happening as an onlooker.

But most of it was not my party, and if you have been through the wedding process you know what I mean. While a wedding and all the functions are supposed to be about the ones who are getting married, the ones who are about to tie the knot hardly get to have as much fun as the others. They do not even get to have a say in the proceedings lest you want that glaring look from that random auntyji silently imploring you to zip it! You are either too laid-back to even care or too hyper that you try and control everything that happens. There will be people, relatives mostly, who will be up and about trying to find a flaw in the proceedings or as the famous phrase goes - ungli karna. I, for one, did manage to transform into my obsessive self and pretty much try and get a control over everything that was happening. As it is I was doomed to have a nerve wrecking time being the bride, on top of that, I wreaked upon myself the burden of making sure everything happens smoothly. The realisation dawned quite late so to say, but I am here making a public service announcement to all the new brides-to-be.

You will have butterflies and you will want it all to be a fairytale but do not be the one who has to make sure that happens. Delegate chores, relax and sit back. Your job is to get dressed on time and show up, let your friends and cousins and your family fret about the details. Trust me when I say this, but candid pictures of you frowning over a table arrangement gone wrong is the last wedding memory you need. Voice your concerns to your loved ones beforehand (like a fortnight before the D-day) and let it go because when you are getting married, your mantra to live by should be just that. It may not be your party, but it sure is the most important day of your life. Have at it that way. 

#Photostory : A day in the life of Mumma

Celebrating my mother with a series of photographs I clicked of her over the day. She is the woman I look up to because she embodies joy and courage in the face of testing times. Her transformation from being a housewife to a woman who works and handles a business is commendable. Now the eldest member of the family, she guides us like the true matriarch that she is, inspiring us along the way. 

I welcome any feedback you, the viewer, may have.
Happy viewing

An early start to the day

Her constant companion - Suhana

Getting ready for work

At work : A Cafe she runs along with the family

Meeting with relatives and well-wishers

Caught candid

Deep in conversation

Homework follows

#Photostory : Sunday Afternoon

Photo story (meaning) : A story illustrated with sequential photographs in the manner of a comic strip.

Photostories intend to tell a story or explain a brief scene in the form a photographic series. This particular series is called Sunday afternoon. Some context here: The protagonist of the series, Suhana, is a natural brat and to sit still is hardly in her nature. This set of photographs happened on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I would appreciate any feedback you, the viewer, may have. 

Happy viewing

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Sunday is a lazy day. Suhana, the naughty one, was up at 6 in the morning. One by one, she woke up the entire household by jumping up and down on the bed. By noon, she was done with her lunch and was sitting quietly on the floor thinking about what to break next. In a last ditch attempt to distract her, her mother offered to get her some chocolate milkshake if she stay put.

It worked.

Content and now with a full tummy, little Suhana climbs the sofa

Having woken up so early in the morning, Suhana starts to feel sleepy. 

Just lying down...

*YAWWWWWN*

Sleeping at last! 

#ExplorerSeries : To the Zoo

When was the last time you felt like a little kid and went to the zoo? For no apparent reason. Just. My family has a long standing love affair with the Zoo. My uncle, whom I call Nandusa, is a lover of zoo trips. On hardly a minute's notice, he will assemble the people in the house, hop into the car, pick up chips and chocolates on the way and head to the zoo. 

Hyderabad's Nehru Zoological park spreads over an area of over 350 acres and houses scores of different species of animals. My earliest memory of the zoo is of my dad driving a beat Maruti Omni and me and my cousin crammed in the back of the car with the door of the trunk propped open. We packed picnics and lunched out in the zoo park, right next to the lake or the model dinosaurs in the prehistoric park. After, we played with the frisbee and even enjoyed a couple of games of badminton hardly ever getting to beat my mum who was a local champ at the time. Even today, those Sundays spent at the zoo make for a happier time than a feverish trip to the overcrowded mall in the present. Simpler times were indeed the happier times.

And that is why, Nandusa loves to go to the zoo and loves to take us along. To be aware of a simpler happier time, when having fun was a shared lunch with the fake T-Rex. But we haven't been to the zoo in a while now. Our last trip was a couple of years ago and it was him, his brat of a daughter Suhana and myself with the camera. With half the family back home nursing our matriarch back to health, I decided to carry my camera along on the trip to document the trip as the father-daughter explored the zoo. This is also Suhana's first trip to the zoo after she grabbed the concept of animals and learnt to recognise them correctly. 

The following series of photographs are nowhere related to the zoo, it is a photostory of a father playing guide to his awed daughter. 

This is the first of the many posts that will subsequently follow in the #ExplorerSeries 
Would love to hear feedback.
Cheers!
D

My Garba Garb and Social Awkwardness

Navratri is just around the corner and my facebook timeline is full of pre-events and people planning in advance. Falguni Pathak was in town just last week and it pretty much kick started the whole Dandiya/Garba fever. Irrespective of the community one belongs to or where they are from, Dandiya craze catches on. 

I, on the other hand, am not a very Dandiya friendly person. It sure involves one of my passions - Dancing. But it also brings to fore my social awkward behaviour around strangers in a dance-type setting. This is the same reason, 'Going to a Nightclub' is not on my bucket list. I'll clarify a few things here. I am a very social person generally. I will not be joking if I said I am a very happy smiling person around acquaintances and strangers even. And crowds make me jubilant. As long as it is an audience. I am somewhat of a performer, you see. If it is me on the stage, dancing, facing an huge audience then you will find no person happier than me. But dancing with scores of people you do not know gives me the creeps. So my Navratri nights are pretty much spent at home, playing dress-up with my little cousin. Social awkwardness does not get in the way of me getting all decked up! 

Sharing a few picture of my FAVOURITE lehenga which my Papa bought for me as a gift in 2011. The Lehenga is from Jodhpur and what I love about it is that it is a crazy colourful rendition of me on fabric. And the Gheraa (flare) of the lehenga makes it a perfect wear for a dance performance related occasion. 

No matter what your fashion weeks say about pastels and nudes, bright colour is the way to go if you are going Navratri shopping this weekend.

Cheers! 

D

Our Imperfect Perfections

I turn 27 tomorrow and I have a confession to make. I am an imperfect human. 

I am not a great looker and my sense of style is perhaps misplaced. I am not an exemplary cook nor am I a prominent name in the profession of my choice. If I were to decide the course of my life, I would fail miserably at it for I know not where my heart really lies. One day I want to be a master homemaker and the other, I want to be the most successful person there can ever be. I define the word fickle and push it a new level each day. But it is okay. It is okay that I look at the timelines of all the 1000 friends I have on facebook and think about how perfect their lives are on paper. It is completely fine, that some days I choose someone else's life as a comparison scale for what I should live like. I am only human. And I am vain as most humans can get. Sometimes less, sometimes more. We have all been there. Our virtual realities overpower the sense of our real selves, and no matter how many clickbait websites tell you that 'facebook infused depression' is a disease, trust me it is not. It is in our nature to be jealous, to be happy and sad, all at once when a friend gets engaged or promoted. We have been gifted the ability to feel, and to feel a hundred emotions at once. Then why create a pathological parallel universe and bracket yourself as abnormal, when our reactions are as habitual as breathing and sleeping.

But we are not all a whirlwind of crazy. We are loving and silent and loyal. We are practical and dreamy and loud and very accommodating. Sometimes, all at once! I know I am. A single personality trait hardly ever defines me and I have gotten it checked, it's not a psychological condition. My heart and the head are always in a tussle and there is never a clear winner. There can never be a winner for what is right for the heart need not necessarily coincide with what the head wants. And that's just about fine. Because if everything could be figured out in no time at all without us putting a decent amount of effort into it, failure and wisdom would be redundant. Wouldn't they?

We are a mixed bag of imperfections and that is what separates us from the rest, that is what motivates us to be unique. In every way, we are unique. Paradoxically, we are one. 
In our imperfect perfections, we are all one.

Cheers,
D!

7 times you piss off your Photographer!

We photographers are a crazy brunch. And we are also super chill. But when it comes to the nuances of our craft and the people ruining our vibe, we flip the switch and become raging monsters. As clients or friends, these might be the things you did to piss off that photographer friend but were unaware that you did.
Next time around, be warned.

1) Adding filters to the photographs that have already been processed for them by their photographer.

2) Using that free app on your phone to 'Photoshop' a body part, thus aesthetically ruining the whole photograph.

3) Making small talk about RAW images and not knowing what RAW actually is.

We know you have read a lot of blogs about Photography on Pinterest and you consider yourself a pro when it comes to camera talk. But God knows I have not gotten a correct answer about the difference between JPEG and RAW from these 'enthusiasts'.

4) "Dude, you charge so much! It's just clicking pictures!"

This is true for most part. Yes, our primary goal is to click pictures. But that's just not it, is it. We have to get all the details right, make sure we haven't missed a crucial detail or moment or an angle in a shot. Then we spend hours to make sure the colour, composition and the feel of the final photograph is as we visualised it for you, the client. We use expensive equipment, state-of-the-art accessories, travel and other logistic expenses. Please, go ahead and do the math!

5) "Bro! Come to the party. Camera math bhoolna!"

*facepalm*

6) Cropping the Photographer's watermark out while sharing the picture on social media.

If the Photographer superimposes their watermark on the picture, then there's no way out. But I have seen a number of clients just conveniently cropping the watermark from the corners of the photograph while sharing it on their facebook and twitter. You think it's no big deal. We think not!

7) "Photoshop that!"

Them, countless photoshop requests.


That is all I have from my end, let me know if there is something in particular that has annoyed you beyond reason. I am sure this post needs a sequel.

Until next time, Cheers! 

D