Over the middle two weeks of November, we celerbrated Diwali, albeit with lessened enthusiasm this year. However, one event during that festival: Bhaubeej (or Bhaiduj in Hindi), the extended family decided to getaway to our uncle’s on-going project in Lonvala.

This project’s first phase is due to complete by March,2021. So it was a good opportunity for us to celerbate and be there amongst ourselves without intrusion while observing pandemic-level precautions.

Around the site is the start of the Pavana river. It’s a private area shared by the few properties there. I’ve shot some videos around there for my iPhone 12 Camera review, but here are some quick shots from the area:

At around 5:00PM, I decided to walk back to the site and join the pack again. Some shots as the sunset had just begun:

Finally, around 6PM, we left for home after all our celebrations. While still on our way to the main town of Lonavla, we spotted the beautiful sunset sky.

It’s unfortunate how the tourists have spoilt the serene beauty of this place. Trash thrown all around the place, plastic bags & bottles, alcohol glass bottles and disposable glasses. It was quite a sad note to end an otherwise wonderful day.

But the day had another surprise waiting for me, at my own fault: At the exit of the Lonavla town towards Mumbai or Pune, in the dark, I accidentally turned towards Mumbai. Entering the Expressway, I noticed the distance marker read Panvel, 51KM. Luckily, I was able to find a turn point 11KM away.

The two-way journey back to the Lonavla exit point cost us a solid 30 minutes, but the family and I will remember this one for a good while and laugh about in years to come.

The iPhone 12 & 12 Pro are now generally available in India. After deliberating over my choices for 2 weeks (yup!), I finally decided to take up Apple on their Trade-In offer for my 3 year iPhone X. 

And golly! What a surprise this phone is. Compared to my X and my brother’s iPhone 11, the iPhone 12 feels completely different. 

I have not held a phone like it in my hands before. It’s so light, for a moment I thought I was punked and someone sent me a dummy phone with no internals, just a shell.

The most fascinating aspect of this phone though, is the back. Yes, its very similar to the iPhone 11, but not really. The squared edges make it look very different, and it seems like the polishing on the back is much much finer compared to the 11.

I took the above shot with the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 wide open just to show how reflective that surface is.

The sides give me flashbacks, brought back happy memories from the iPhone 4 and 5 days. Those were such amazing phones, especially the 5S. They finally have a worthy successor in the iPhone 12.

I can surely see myself using this phone over the next 3 years, unless Apple launches a new phone with radical changes over that time. Until then, I finally have the new camera system in hand (which Apple introduced in the iPhone XS) and I’m very exicted to explore it.

PS

During the Trade-in, for some reason, my iPhone X refused to show the Diagnostics Menu in the Settings.app. The delivery guy, his manager, and I were all confused as to why this was happening. They had never encountered something like this before. I then remembered this was also accessible by opening the URL scheme diags:// in Safari. Worked like a charm. If you're looking to upgrade and don't plan on keeping your phone, I urge you try Apple's Trade-In program.

I got a new lens, the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 E-Mount. Some shots from less than half a day of using.

Immediately after getting the lens, my fiancée and I stopped for some lunch at a local Korean Restaurant (my first time there, they apparently host a lot of cultural exchange programs).

Then some food!

At home, my furry friends waited for us.

First impressions: Love it! The weight, the focal range, and the colour contrast produced by this lens is beautiful.