Skip to content
Menu
Travel Tales from India and Abroad
Travel Tales from India and Abroad
Selfie with DSLR

Love Story

Posted on January 4, 2014May 9, 2021

All great love stories are complicated. If you have any doubts look around you, look at the literature and recall the legends. Could you find one that was uncomplicated? Remember Romeo and Juliet? What about Heer and Ranjha? Even the run of the mill Bollywood ones aren’t without love/hate sagas. You get the point?

It goes everywhere with me, be it vacation or office, my buying habits have changed and I yearn to take a walk with it every morning and evening. It is an integral part of my existence, a bit of who I became. It was a love that blossomed late, as late as my mid thirties.

Today I am going to narrate that love story, my love story. My live was simple before its existence. Before I got a SLR, the point and shoot could easily fit in any hand bag. Now I buy handbags that are big enough for my camera. Earlier I would look at my savings in terms of vacations. Now it is a split between more camera gear and vacations.

There was a time when I could sleep as long as I would like in the morning and I could do as I please in the evenings. Not any more, as I discovered the concept of the golden hour. The light is beautiful just after an hour or so of sunrise and before sunset. So I take the SLR out for a walk at those times whenever I am on a vacation. I have to admit there are times when I can’t take it out, but the pang of guilt is always there, oh! the missed opportunities, the missed conversations.

When I walk along the beach it is hanging from my neck, when I am trekking it is still, there. On one such walk along a beautiful beach at Havelock in Andamans, I tripped on a coral, as I waded into the water. While I was falling I was more worried about what would happen to it, than me. The SLR didn’t like the salt water and died up on me instantaneously. When I called my husband and told him the news his first words were, “as long as it was not your limbs how does it matter!”

For a period of three months I was without a SLR. I did not realize it but when one of my colleagues told me the price of his SLR and the deal he got, I knew it was time to renew my affair. When I held it in my hands again, I realized how much I had missed it.

It has become so much a part of my life that I plan how I will spend my time with it even when I am away. One day for good fifteen minutes I kept thinking how I would approach a particular night shot. When I reached home, I realized that the SLR was at the service center! There are many others who carry their SLR (remember the correct handbag size) everywhere they go. I am not a slave to this principle but I too follow it as closely as I can.

I do all this when it is so high maintenance. I had seen the result of someone else’s love. It resulted in a kit worth 10 Lakhs. While I am nowhere near it, I just keep adding bits and pieces and yet it demands that I buy even more.

So things came to a head one day and I tweeted that life was uncomplicated before I bought a SLR. Bijoy Venugopal replied that hence he preferred a compact and suggested if I would go Quickr? That is when I realized the depth of my attachment once again. I would not even dream of selling my precious, because all great love stories are complicated anyway. My life would not be the same without it!

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet
FollowFollow us
PinterestSave

26 thoughts on “Love Story”

  1. Sreesha says:
    January 4, 2014 at 10:06 pm

    Aah… A photographer’s love story! I loved the way you have narrated your love for your SLR 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:31 pm

      Thank you Sreesha.

      Reply
  2. Nisha says:
    January 4, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    May your love grow many times.

    And did I tell you how much I like this photo? The tattoo, the smile, the camera.. 😀

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:30 pm

      Thank you Nisha 😀

      Reply
  3. Rajesh says:
    January 4, 2014 at 11:56 pm

    Aha…great love story..

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:30 pm

      Thank you Rajesh.

      Reply
  4. Priya Raj says:
    January 5, 2014 at 5:17 am

    Nice story. Passion for an art is really great.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:29 pm

      Thank you priya, other than the camera I have never shown any talent ofr any of the other arts.

      Reply
  5. Raghavendra says:
    January 5, 2014 at 8:49 am

    I loved the way you said your love story 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:28 pm

      Thank you Raghavendra.

      Reply
  6. Soham Roy says:
    January 5, 2014 at 11:42 am

    We all had our tales of Love…And the tales are close to our hearts. While I read your , memories of my first love gushed into my little brain 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:28 pm

      Soham I hope they were happy memories 😀

      Reply
  7. Lady Fi says:
    January 5, 2014 at 12:11 pm

    LOL – I have the same kind of love affair!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:27 pm

      I am sure this is a very common disease 😀

      Reply
  8. r ramakrishnan says:
    January 5, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    A love story with a difference ! Enjoyed reading this .

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:26 pm

      Thank you Rama.

      Reply
  9. Anita says:
    January 5, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    Lovely! May you click more super-pics & make your love-story last for this lifetime & beyond 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:25 pm

      Thank you Anita, amen to that!

      Reply
  10. Manish Kumar says:
    January 5, 2014 at 5:09 pm

    Never used an SLR till now but love ur attachment with the one u have.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:18 pm

      Thank you Manish.

      Reply
  11. Vidya says:
    January 5, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    Well, I had an SLR too. I used to take lot many selfies and blue skies and starry nights all the time! I loved it very much because it can capture the moment of happiness et voila! That moment is forever stored as a photograph! But, now a days I became lil’ busy and not taking many photographs.. I miss it! Your post reminded me of it!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:17 pm

      Vidya, I am sure the time for SLR will come again 😀

      Reply
  12. Preethi Venugopal says:
    January 5, 2014 at 6:45 pm

    That was a love story that inspired me.
    May be I can turn to be such a lover too.

    I have added it to my secret wishlist already!!!

    Thanks to your love, we get to see such wonderful pics. Long live the love…
    Keep clicking and keep loving 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:16 pm

      Thank you Preethi 😀 Be careful what you wish for!

      Reply
  13. njoyeverymoment says:
    January 6, 2014 at 8:56 pm

    A love story with a twist 😉 i too share the same bonding with my camera 😀

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      January 6, 2014 at 9:15 pm

      I guess all of us who like photography have this bond 😀

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Me

I am Mridula Dwivedi and I started this blog in 2005. It has been an amazing ride. I have visited 33 countries till date! I have worked with many tourism boards and prominent travel companies. My blog was featured on the BBC and the Guardian.

I did my Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur. I worked full time in academics till 2015! I quit my job as a professor, thinking I will take a break for one year, which turned into five.

Subscribe to the blog!

Subscribe

* indicates required

Support provided by Credible Content Writing & Copywriting Services

©2025 Travel Tales from India and Abroad | Powered by SuperbThemes