Pune Pics Pliss

I popped my memory card into the laptop to have a look at what was on it and found a handful of picures I took in Pune. On the 4th of April, I acted upon an impulsive decision to visit Chikoo in Pune, where she now studies, and spend one night there. My weekend surpassed a regular day in Mumbai by a wide margin.
From drinkning Irani chai to riding tripsy on a scooter, we managed to squeeze in immense amounts of food and laughter into two days. The fact that I returned with only about twenty pictures on my camera itself proves that I was far too busy making memories to document them.

Here's some visual nostalgia.

Some kids loafing around while their parents shop at a Books By Weight sale.

Such swag, no?

My camera bag, equipped with a portable water bottle and loaded with party-whistle-streamer things I bought for some friends.

An old parsi uncle reading in what seemed like a deserted, British-style bungalow.

A motor repair shop next to a tree that housed a kite nest and its young chick.

Two boys with buckets full of the aforementioned party-whistle-streamers.

One of them showing off how far the whistle goes.

Irani chai at Good Luck Cafe. And bun maska, of course.

Bought and piled with pride- books from Books By Weight.

Piles of abridged books in a sweet place called Book World. We sat on the floor staring at these books for longer than should be acceptable.

Bus stop contemplation/zoned-out man.

A worker inside Fergussen College.

What I think is the kitchen door to the canteen at Fergussen.

Books By Weight Chairperson doing business over the phone with nothing short of a hundred boxes full of books looming behind him.

Scrumptious spinach, mushroom and cream cheese sandwiches at a quaint cafe called Le Plaisir.

Chikoo helping me make note of all the food we were eating as we awaited our order at Le Plaisir. Behind her is a wall covered in post-its written by doting customers (who are incidentally brilliant at doodling).

fin.

Camera360

My dear friend Chikoo introduced me to an application that would redefine my mobile-photo-taking experience. It's called Camera360 Ultimate.

And Ultimate it is.
More than photographic brilliance, it's just plain fun. Here are some experiments with the woman who made this all possible.

PS- One of their effects makes your lips a bright orange. It is especially fun to switch to front camera and make faces at yourself with. 

Doing that made me crave an orange dolly. (For non-Mumbaikars, it's an ice lolly.)

Goodbye, trees. I'd like to place an order.

Last week, my friend and I visited Candies- the incredibly popular eating joint scattered all over our city. We've been going to Candies since our school days for sandwiches and a minty drink, but as college took over our lives, we learned to discover new places and didn't go back until recently. Some new developments we found there made our experience more bitter than if they crushed lemon seeds into our ice tea.

Dear Manager/Owner/Decision-maker of Candies,

Are you daft?
I walked in to find that I had to wait in a long queue to place my order, which I obediently did. But then, I found that your employee was waiting at the counter with a larger-than-A4 sized receipt pad with your entire menu printed on every page. She then went on to make a small tally mark by the items my friend and I wished to order. She then ripped out the entire sheet- unused but for two short lines- and handed it over. That's when I noticed she had made a carbon copy of our order on another large (but differently coloured) paper which she passed behind her to another employee to get the order ready. Two whole sheets of paper gone to order a sandwich and an ice tea.

We were then directed to the next counter where we waited in line to have our order read from the paper and then entered into a computer which was then PRINTED AS A BILL ON ANOTHER PIECE OF PAPER. When asked if I could add to the order, I was asked to return to the first counter and place a new one. On two new sheets of paper.

Once we got our bill, we had to move to the third counter where we waited for someone to give us our order (in the tray with the carbon copied sheet). The man there then stamped our bill and stacked away the large sheet of paper.

"Next please!"

This is the last time I'm stepping foot into a place that uses more paper per order than fries beside my burger. So dear Sir or Ma'am (I should be yelling 'Murderer'), I ardently hope that the next tree that falls to help keep your organised system running smoothly lands right on your brilliant head- before any employee can shout, "TIMBER".

Yours in disgruntled annoyance,
Ishika