Crepes & Cameras

Nepal is considered to be a heaven for trekkers, but the country offers something for all kinds of travellers. We visited Nepal in 2015 for 8 days, a week before the earthquakes hit. We had an enriching experience and thought of making a list for future travellers. DISCLAIMER: This post is based completely on our personal travel experience. The list is not done in order of preference. 1. Visit a Monastery Matepani Gumba Monastery, Matepani, Pokhara, Nepal                                                                      Many might think a monastery to be inaccessible, but it is quite the opposite and quite a must visit. There are two notable monasteries, the Kopan monastery in Kathmandu being the larger one, and the Matepani Monastery in Pokhara being the more scenic one. Matepani, with its ma...

Time and again, we keep hearing that our friends don't quite like watching indian films, or Bollywood films as it is popularly known. Personally, we have grown up watching indian films and aren't quite ashamed to admit that we see just as many indian films as western films. So we have tried to compile a list of films which we thought were deserving but unfortunately were not seen by wide audiences. Out of the commercial/well known films this year, we loved DANGAL , UDTA PUNJAB , NEERJA and KAPOOR & SONS. Presented alphabetically, here are the six less commercial indian films we loved in 2016. ALIGARH Director :  Hansal Mehta Starring :  Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkumar Rao Watch out for: The performances, the subtle screenplay and realistic treatment. Indian films probably don't handle topics such as homosexuality with as much fluency, but this is a bold yet graceful perspective. (WATCH ONLINE ) HAPPY BHAG...

As a photographer, I dont use zoom lenses. I have somehow been fascinated by primes for as long as I can remember. For most parts of the past 2 years or so, I have been shooting mostly with the 85mm. 4 Reasons why 85mm is a brilliant focal length:  1. Possibly the best focal length for portraits. Not too long, not too short, just about perfect.  2. A versatlie lens for weddings and lifestyle.  3. Produces the best possible bokeh( 135mm f/2 can be the only other lens as its competitor)  4. Almost no distortion,  especially compared to the 50mm.  I have owned the Nikon Version , which is slightly lighter than the Sony one, but the Sony 85mm f/1.4 outclasses any other 85mm in the market with its image quality. Coupled with the "EYE FOCUS" technology of the A7R2, it does produce excellent results most of the time. This lens, like most Sony and Fuji lenses, is razor sharp. Somehow, it also exudes a dreamy effect on the photos, especially...

Amidst all the study workload for Adnan's masters, we really needed a break away from town. Since we were scheduled to miss the much anticipated christmas, we thought we could atleast experience glimpses of the upcoming festivities by travelling to Birmingham which is an hour away from Leicester. We made a last minute decision, and opted for nationalexpress bus tickets since its comparatively cheaper.  Birmingham hosted two adjacent massive Christmas Markets, predominantly occupied by German ventures. There seemed to be a vast collection of hot dogs and cocktails(which weren't halal so we never got to taste them), so we retorted to trying cheesy fries and yummy donuts! And how could we spare the chance of having CREPES!! We had to try the nutella crepe from one of the few local stalls. Rather than having heavy lunch from one of the stores, we had made it a point to try various items from different stalls, often sharing! This was also our first v...