Rain Rain Go Away !!!

As the saying goes rain rain go away come again another day , its been raining continuously for 2 days -24/7 here in Singapore. And the timing is perfect. Well its weekend and more importantly Chinese new year is round the corner.

We wanted to go to chinatown today to see the festivity decoration and of course I wanted to do some photography. But the rain is not stopping at all.even now its pouring cats and dogs.

Our KL plan also seems to be in danger.Well there is no looking back now. We might have a rainy trip this time.

And the winner is ......................

This weekend was special. We finally bought our first DSLR camera - Nikon D 3100 after weeks of research and thinking and pondering .

It was not an easy decision,researching on such things can lead to lots of confusion but we decided to go with Nikon.

We went to this place called Parisilk in Holland village which apparently gives the best price in Singapore. We probably got the best price at the cost of free gifts .I am a fan of free gifts although we all know that free gifts cost will be somewhere hidden in the product cost itself.

Anyway now we are now proud owner of a DSLR camera.After exploring the camera a bit now I understand what people mean when they say "Buy what you are comfortable with".If anyone has been using any Nikon lower end cameras before then they will be happy to see some familiar features bc DSLR can get very confusing for first time users like me!!

But then again there is always a auto mode.Its been fun weekend exploring the never ending features of this camera.All said I still wish they build something which can take great pictures just by clicking a button.I know all the professional photographers will disagree.

I hope we learn some of the features before we head of to KL.

I donated blood today !!

			I have never donated blood in my entire life. I was too scarred i guess. This poster was posted on my office wall one week before. I never gave gave much attention to it because I knew I will never donate blood.

But today when my colleague came after donating blood for the first time I was encouraged to do so myself. It was already 4:00 pm and blood donation was supposed to close at 4. i rushed to the place.I was the last person and 100th donor.They were about to pack up. They discussed for few min and later allowed to me donate blood.

I completed all the formalities and was then ushered to get my iron level tested.

This is the equipment that was used to check iron content.After these procedures were over i was all ready to donate my blood for the first time in my life !!!

I am pretty impressed with everything. I was made to hold a soft rubber ball and press it so that my veins were visible. After 5 min they poked a needle through my veins and that was it, I was donating blood .

It all ended in 10 min.And yes i got some complimentary gifts too along with a certificate of appreciation :)

Pongal celebration at St John's Island

We were invited to celebrate pongal in st john's island by naveen's colleagues and their relatives.Although we were the only non tamil couple we decided to go.


St john's island is 30 min away from Singapore by ferry, since the island is isolated and had not been commercialized yet there were no food courts available so food had to be taken.



There were 40 of us so I knew it would be fun even though I don't know anyone there.We reached the island by 12. The place was very quiet and I think we were the only group there.Accommodation was available in the form of dormitory which I felt was quite clean. There is nothing in the island apart from a place to stay,so it can get quite boring if someone has plans to stay there for more than 2 hrs.But its a nice place to get away from city life and it gives great view of city. since we were a group of 40 people I knew we wouldn't have to worry about getting bored.


After lunch there was pongal celebration.Pongal is celebrated thought Singapore mainly by tamil population here.

There are also processions held wherein cows take part.I have heard their is strict guidelines for the cows to come on street as I think Singaporeans are not used to seeing cows on roads !!!

Anyway coming back to topic ,after the celebration was over it started raining(Singapore climate is weird. it been raining almost daily . and no its not rainy season.There are no seasons here.Summer,rain,winter(in office) all can be experienced in a single day).

Evening was dedicated to antakshari and the funny part was since we dint know tamil we were allowed to sing in any language though naveen is not a big fan of these games I think he enjoyed this unique antakshari.

After dinner we all decided to go near beach.The night view of city from the island is amazing.Singapore felt so small from there. The beach,the night ,the moonlight and the night view of city all come together to give a romantic touch to this island.

The next morning after the breakfast we left our camps(well dormitories are called camps here) and went towards the beach.

New games were invented and new rules were made. It was fun as we took part in everything.

By the time we left the island it was 12 and when we reached Singapore it was raining(its frequency doesn't surprise me anymore)

2 days well spent on the island.

Photography Bug

I don't know how it happened but everything happened so fast. We are smitten by photography bug.

I cant figure out the source of my sudden interest in photography.Maybe its happened because of our decision to do lots of travelling before starting a family hence resulting into taking great pictures of the places we travelled,or maybe almost everyone here in Singapore has a nice camera accompanying them and they trying to show their photography skills,or maybe because the other day my colleague showed me some great pictures which burst my myth that great photographs can be taken by normal human beings and you need not go to a studio to get a family picture(bit old fashion!!).I really cant say what triggered my interest in photography but now that I am bitten naveen also decided to go with a flow.

We decided to invest in a nice camera ,now here comes the confusion-which one to buy ? we have been doing some research for quite some time.

Its specially difficult to decide for someone like me who till now was confused about the zoom button in a normal digital camera.There are many options available around but when you are confused on which one is best, these options confuse you even more.

We decide to narrow it down. Cannon vs Nikon -the battle begins !!!

First we decided cannon 1000D then it was Nikon D3100 later Nikon D5000 and now cannon 500 D. See a amateur in this field will know my pain that how difficult its to decide when you have no idea what you want.

Most of them say its a personnel choice-"Buy the one which you are comfortable" But being a beginner its difficult to decide what we are comfortable in. We have one week to decide and we are leaving no stones unturned in figuring out what is best for us.

We are going to hunt down that perfect camera which we are comfortable with !!!

Till then I hope my interest in photography is here to stay.

I have posted some photos that was taken in St. John's island.

Though beginner I am proud of my ability to take such pictures(close ups,focus lock stuff !! aha I have already learned few technical terms :) )

Fish Spa

I had heard about it in India but was too lazy to go in search of it .So when the other day we saw it in one of the malls here we decided to try it but dint have the courage. The second time we went to the mall just to experience "fish pedicure" and there it was!!! . 2 huge rectangular tubs with black tiny fishes swimming around.We finally decided to give it a go . We rinsed our feet and sat on the edges and kept our feet inside the huge tub.

The moment I kept my feet a group of fishes were attracted to it.I almost died of shock. I dint expect them to attack my feet like that.
After a moment seeing naveen I got some courage and started enjoying the whole process.It lasted for 10 min.

It was a different experience,the one which I would love to try again.

Now I know why the fishes pounced on my feet,maybe they were not fed properly !!!

My footwear collection :)

Disclaimer: guys please don't bother to read it and then crib that you wasted your time !!!

For all those who know me this topic is inevitable. All my friends know that I am crazy about shoes and bags but this small topic is only about my footwear collection.

This time when I came to India I went on a shopping spree and bought 7 pairs of them at a time.I am very proud to show them off today.only girls can understand the joy of buying a new footwear,I cant even put it in words.

I wish to take the collection to about 100 in next two years much to my husband's horror !!!!.


The last rack is my naveen's the count is not bad for a guy :)

Naveen's birthday

Its not easy planning a surprise in an unknown city esp when you decide to have some decorations,cook a nice meal and of course arrange for a birthday cake.I dint know from where I was going to arrange all these things and it was going to be a surprise so I couldn't even ask naveen about it.

I decided to venture out on my own. Considering that this is not a uninhabited island it was not difficult to find these things.But then I had a habit of converting everything into rupees so I found things here quite expensive.

2 dollars for a gift wrapper that 70 rs in India they give it for free.Anyway even with all this calculations I managed to buy a decent gift,a cake and few decorative items.

I sat down and cut out his name from the magazine.I know its cheap but it was too much for me to pay 10 dollars that's around 350 Rs just to put up alphabet names.he..he. Over the course of time I have learned its common for Indians(I guess any person from developing country) to convert everything into Rs.As the time passes the people who stop doing this calculation with be able to live peacefully. I have stopped doing this currency conversion now.

I now don't mind paying 1.5 dollars for a daily newspaper.wait that around 40 rs for a daily paper !!

Coming back to my surprise planning I decided to buy apple juice in the disguise of a champagne bottle.

Now that all shopping was over it was time to put in some effort.

I stated cooking from morning 9 and finished by 5 pm and successfully set up a extensive menu.Not bad for someone who never cooked before marriage.

And the look on naveen's face when he saw this surprise was priceless.
I think he got bit tensed thinking that he has to reciprocate this gesture on my birthday.

I have set the standards quite high ;)

Our first home in singapore

Just decided to post a few pics of our house here in Singapore.

Kitchen

Hall
Kitchen

Hall
Bedroom
Kitchen

The day we landed in singapore

It was my first day in Singapore.We landed here on sunday,it was a 4 hour flight and I was sleeping through most of the journey.

Since we traveled in budget airlines there was no food served.It may sound weird but no matter how bad the food served on flights might be I love them. Maybe its the cute package or the tiny spoons and bowls.

Anyway we landed in the airport around 10 AM, I don't remember exactly. The moment we landed I was pretty impressed with Singapore. Their were taxis available outside, all in a proper lane unlike India.

We reached home at around 1 or 2. Since there was nothing to have at home we decided to have food outside.

The next day was monday so it was time to get basic things set up in house.So the very same day we decided that we need to buy some groceries as the next day naveen had to leave to office and I was still new to venture out on my own.

The one place every Indian visits first is Little India. I will post a details description about this place some other day.

Its mostly packed during weekends because of a shopping center named "Mustafa". Its a 24/7 shopping center, you can get everything here- right from groceries to electronics to gold,you name it they have it !!

We bought everything needed to survive for one week.We spent almost 4 hours in that place and by the time we knew it was 12:30 PM.

It was my first grocery shopping after marriage :)

Our First Ganesh Chathurthi

Its was our first festival after marriage so we decided to celebrate it in a traditional way.

Being so far away from home in a new city has its disadvantages. for eg we had no clue how to perform the rituals.So we zeroed on the best thing we could do in such situation. Prepare a nice meal,wear new clothes and perform pooja.It turned out pretty good .