Planning the Unplanned

I’m a preacher of planning. It’s different, that most times things don’t go as planned, but for the times they do, I can proudly say ‘I knew it’. I live for those special moments.

There are times when I’ve been completely satisfied with the turn of events. And yes, sometimes they have been unplanned. “So why not just let it be?” friends ask. I’m a creature of habit. And plus, I think planning gives you purpose, a sense of direction. Sure, you can be that leaf that drifts away with the wind, only too happy to land wherever, or you can plan your landing.

Yesterday, I had a plan. I was to finish my meeting and then head home. “Why don’t you come here instead, and we’ll drive back together”. As I headed to town, further away and in the opposite direction to home, I wondered, what about that sentence was so utterly convincing for me to trade a sans clothes & pollution air-conditioned apartment to a rickety hot taxi! Maybe, it was the fact that he was leaving town the next day.Hmm. The plan therefore, is to have an unplanned evening.

So here I was, sitting at Sky Café munching on an unplanned roast chicken mustard sandwich, accompanied with salad and fries. In my defense, the fries were hidden under the salad, I didn’t even realize they were there until they were, well, gone. Post which, we decided to walk the streets looking for cameras. Sounds like fun, except that I had turned up post a meeting so, I wasn’t really sporting the most comfortable footwear. That’s why I say - plan!

He excitedly ran towards a store that collected ancient stamps. I always considered those things a time pass of the pseudo cultured , but suddenly I was transported into Alice’s Wonderland. There were stamps dated to Hitler’s time and some even before that . They had stamps with Gandhi ji in a western attire signed off in English and then him in Khadi signed off in Hindi. They had Khadi stamps. They had collages, Berlin, China, Japan, Australia of a time even before you’d ever know. Small A5 size prints of scenery, Buddha’s face, village backdrops etc amazed me. Each of these prints had embedded in them numerous smaller perforated stamps. The beauty of which was each stamp when separated held its own identity, it didn’t even look like it belonged to any bigger picture. Fragrant stamps with pictures of flowers, representing each one respectively. There were stamps that cost Rs 5 before, now being sold for Rs 900. Collections were divided as per Countries, Social, Culture, Events, Hobbies etc. No wonder the owner was even particular about the way you looked at each stamp, ensured it was placed back in the pile, always face down and in order. Wow!

Really happy, he handed me the envelope of purchase, as if my heels were less to worry about I was now walking around with an uncommon packet. I crossed the road, clinching it hard, looking for suspicious eyes, all till I reached a camera store and dumped the packet and my cell on the counter.

We flipped through catalogues aspiring to buy a Canon 7D and a 300 fixed lens. And that’s when I fell in love. Unplanned again. The new Canon digital – 30 X Zoom. “How much?” and that question was repeated every ten minutes for the next one hour as I walked bare feet around the store. We looked at tripods, assembled them, shook them hard, to test durability against wind, camera weight etc. Toyed with different kinds of ‘heads’ – ahem, for the tripod. My favourite was the ‘Pistol Grip Ball Head’ now this one actually has the handle in the shape of a Pistol Grip. (I know I sound like duh! but stay with me here!) So you actually feel like you’re holding a gun and revolving it all around. It even has a trigger for you to press and hold onto for stability! Pouting, I randomly aimed it around the store. Felt like the answer to the next Bond Girl.

Next we looked at some binoculars. Did you know that after a certain altitude, nitrogen leaks out of the binocular and causes the lens to fungus? Well neither did the shop owner selling the binoculars? I’d started seeing my friend in a new light now. And I was liking! What’s nitrogen doing inside a binocular anyway, isnt that stuff explosive?

We debated over buying a battery charger - with or without a wire, well It seems like an important decision when you’re already carrying a circuit mayhem. He grazed some more, I did too. Brushed up on how the same picture can be treated differently with different lenses – from off a rubber mat on the counter.
And then, came the perfect climax, a click button. Now this device can either be wireless or attached to your camera. In low light situations, the lens almost never captures what the naked eye does, the flash goes off, or the camera shakes or there is only a trail of light suggesting movement.
Now, with this device attached to the camera you can stand at a distance and click away. You’re not in contact with the camera body, so shake free pictures are ensured. Sure, you can do that on a timer as well, but that doesn’t work on continuous frames. After every click you’ll have to come bck and set timer again. With the clicker, you set frame, set timer and go click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.

We proudly walked back to the car with our treasure in tow. Shared a coffee, some more jungle stories, how after today each picture will be different, and a lovely ride back home. All unplanned. Shocking! I must look a little more closely into this theory.