Day 8: Let it snow, Let it snow!

I must say that the first half of the day until about 11 am was spent preparing ourselves to go into the snow. We got special treatment because the spiral staircase to go to our breakfast area had become very slippery and Mit called breakfast to a room for the girls. Very convenient. And even more excuse to take our own time and not get out of the room into the icy paradise.

It had been fifteen years since I saw snow like how I saw it that day. It was snow-ing (yes the continuous tense), and it had been snowing (the perfect continuous tense? I have forgotten my grammar), and the entire area around us had snow. White, white, white.

I instantly felt bad for not getting out earlier when I saw a snowman a few people of our group had made. It took them 2 hours I think. We had a mini-snowball fight. Took lots of photos. Niti and Saumya helped me into a headstand since I really wanted to do one and take a picture with it. I think I need to work on being able to do it myself. Lots of boomerangs, lots of mid-air snow shots. Then Niti fell down so only Saumya and I proceeded to take a walk in the market.


Turns out Nits thought we’d be back quickly, and it became a little messy because she was waiting for us for the longest time :(

Nonetheless Saumya and I had a great time. The market was mostly shut – I am not even sure we reached the market. But we discovered a flap staircase led rooftop which actually four other boys had discovered, and were joined by Hriti and Shyen to ruin the untouched snow with our footsteps and overall destructive nature. Sambhav shared some melon he bought with us, and Saumya and I got oranges from the same place (which we later realised were as good). After another photo session, Saumya went back to the hotel. I proceeded to explore a bit more with Anish. Everyone else had retired to their rooms.

Fast forward an amazing lunch where I am sure all of us over ate inspite of having to fight for paratha as the guy came at the entrance of the lunch room, Mit gave me a lesson on taking pictures in the manual mode of a camera. Saumya slept through it because she was tired and not too well.

Here are my key takeaways, sorry if I got anything wrong:

Shutter Speed: How fast you will click. Quicker you click, lesser light will get in. But you might want to click quickly to capture fast moving things.

Aperture: Squint your eye, and the background will be more blurred. So lesser apurture implies a smaller opening, which means you will get lesser light, but probably a good portrait mode photograph as well.

ISO: This is what you adjust in the end. It is what adds random noise and light to your image.

The white balance: For instance, in cloudy light, colours tend to appear different from real ones.In such a case, by setting white balance to that setting, you’ll get the original setting. Custom for any lighting not present – take a picture of a white page and the camera will do the rest with science.

Post his lesson, I fell sick and Saumya got better. Uncontrollable shivering. Cold hands. Cold feet. Didn’t know what to do. And pain in my chest too.

Apply brandy? Check.

Apply balm? Check.

Stay close to a heater? Check.

Multiple layers on my body and bedsheets to add? Check.

Dinner in bed? Check.

Complimentary custard? Also check.

I have great friends.

I think by night I was feeling much better.

I know everyone else played a lot that day. Some people watched Singham. Why would you watch Singham?

Guess there are still things I don’t understand :P

Kanksha