my whimsy-cam story!

There are quite a few problems of being a techno geek at a young age like mine, one of them being the continuous inflow of funds, which is, almost always, nowhere to be found.
As for me, the only source of money is my father, my hard working - never complaining father, and hence, my 'techno geek'ism has always been limited by gaping and drooling over latest products and price lists over online electronic stores or pages of a tech magazine like digit.
its only occasionally that i get so obsessed with an idea that i actually go all the way to persuade my dad, my hard working - never complaining dad, to shell out a few thousand grands to satisfy a fraction of my elephantine hunger for techno toys and eye catching gizmos.
This is exactly what happened a few months back, when my 18 years old, focus free, zoom free, primere film camera complained for the 5th time of an out of order flash. I got so frustrated by the idea of taking it once again to the local studio and getting the flash mended that i decided its time for a digital camera.
it took me another week to be convinced that my cam is actually out of order and to master the courage to confront dad (hard working and all that), with the petition for a digicam. And finally when i did, to my immense relief, he coolly agreed! pat on my back, level one cleared without any hiccoughs. Little did i know, my worries had not even begun.
after another week of pouring over photography websites and brainstorming sessions with experienced people, this is the config i settled for:
minimum 3x optical zoom,
minimum 3.1 mp res.
a price tag under 8000/-
it was the last specification that was going to be the cause of all my woes.
after setting the target, i started off with my market survey. a little study
of the popular websites told me, its going to be one hell of a job to find anything with 3x optical zoom for anything under 11 grands. tired of checking the manufacturers sites, i shifted to field work.
checking the stores in ahmedabad gave me a closer look at reality.
All the eye catching stuff i'd been gazing at over the websites, were either out of stock, or oftener, never heard of. The few shops i tried out in ahmedabad showed me variants of the Kodak model and a few models of canon. But still nothing that completely matched my specifications.
after long hours of measuring the dusty streets of a'bad, i finally located an olympus model in a small showroom, with all the muscle power i'd been looking for. Overcome with relief and blinded by content, i paid 200 bucks advance and promised, hell, swore to return next day with the full 6700, and get my cam.
on returning home though, my dream run shattered just as dad enquired about the bill and the warranty. I realised with a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach that i'd never touched on that subject while in the store. nervous as an ant, i picked up the phone and dialed with trembling fingers the number on the visiting card... it took me hardly three minutes to have my worst fears materialized and my dream cam melt before my eyes... no warranty - no bill - no cam... said dad...
I didn't quite see his point, as so many of my friends are ruling their worlds with 'without bill' gizmos of all sorts, but then i seldom argue with dad...
tired of this sick game of finding my specifications, i declared, more to myself than anyone else tht let's lax our criteria a bit and forget the optical zoom for the time being, specially since dad was always insisting on a low end device to start with. me and dad went to sales india next day, picked up the HP photosmart 435, without any opt zoom, 7200 bucks, and drove back home ( I drove mind u!)
call it the cream on the cake or salt on my wounds, next month itself, that is this month, digit published a full fledged review of digi cams, featuring an HP m307, with 3x optical zoom and a price tag of 7000 bucks, and that is when i decided to write this piece, only to warn techno geeks, if nothing else, so as to never hurry into any investment, as long as its not an emergency. only if i had not given up on my dream so easily...