And That’s When I Realized – Part II

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5. South Africa remains inspired by Gandhi in the vision of her Madiba; that’s what the common people call Nelson Mandela. And perhaps that’s why as the rest of Africa burns in their struggle, South Africa remains peaceful. And that’s because people like Rev. Desmond Tutu believed that he had the responsibility to forgive. Every guide in South Africa talks about the moment when Madiba came out of his prison and they knew that he would one day be the President. And that’s where I feel proud to have the man with a stick as the Father of My Nation.

And that’s when I realized, violence can never replace non violence.

6. We went on the biggest culinary journey I have ever taken, more experimentative than any I have ever done before with food. It started with Nandos and the peri peri sauce. The signature spice burst in my mouth was like multiple instruments creating an orchestra at high crescendo and I had ordered just the medium spicy. For the first time I was crying in front of my boss and he had nothing to do with it!!! We went across tasting the lobsters and prawns and the occasional vegetable dish, all through figuring out which side of the Atlantic the fish came from. The Langoustine remains the best prawn I have ever had. One day, the Bongs of the World would count The Codfather as their ultimate culinary destination. And then one night we searched for home food and landed in Jewel of India. It was definitely not the best Indian Food in the World but then after a week of staying away from home, it tasted heavenly.

And that’s when I realized, the taste of home is beyond any in the world.

7. We travelled like crazy in the only free time we had before we had to board the flight and we went ahead to view the most important spots of the country. The choice was between Nature and History and my city bred eyes have always picked nature without a second though when faced with this dilemma.  Table Mountain spread out an entire city beneath us, cradled between the mountain and the sea. The clouds did not descend on us but what we saw was worth it by itself. The sunset at Camp’s Bay, the Cape of Good Hope, the legend of the Flying Dutchman and the Chapman’s Drive, all of them took our breath away. I worked on my framing of my pictures and realized that slowly my own style had developed over the years. I have three distinct takes – portraits, which need a good camera and thus I need to wait for a good one; nature – I think I am getting better at it when there is no human interference and album – the pictures you want to show people back home. Now in the album art I know exactly how and where to focus on people, what should be the subject and how the background should look like and it was nice to go back to theory of photography once again. And all with a Point and Shoot. Good at least I have shutter speed and aperture to play with.

 And that’s when I realized, I never bought a digital SLR not just because I missed my old analog cameras but because deep down I knew a digital lens can never replicate what my eyes can see and hold in wonder.