I finally got my Digicam. Its the Canon S3 IS Thanks to Anoop . 
Had been looking around for someone to get it for quite a while. Had tried to sound out everybody going abroad coz it costs around 34k odd here in India. U.S price around 18k( 400 USD) . Thats just for the cam.Memory card, charger and all will add up another 2.5k. I got it in 22k all included and am really glad . Though its really more than the initial budget which i had in mind while hunting for a cam. I thought i’ll settle for something within 15k all inclusive. But the more i searched, it became clear that i’ll have to compromise on what i want in that case. Since i prefer more of outdoor/nature shots, i didnt mind if the cam was a little bulky if it had the features.Basically i was looking for something like :
1. A resolution 5 Megapixel or above.
2.A high optical zoom(Was looking for at least 6x Opt. Zoom when i started searching. went up to 10x later 
).
3.Option for both Auto and Manual mode settings.
4.Option to switch to a Wide angle/ Teleconvertor Lens.
5.Image Stabilization Feature
6.A reasonably good battery life.
I had a few options with the above requirements. The one i liked best was the Panasonic FZ7(almost same size and features as that of S3IS) and the Panasonic TZ1. Also, the TZ1 is really sleek for all its features. I would have gone for that. The trouble is you dont have good after sales support for Panasonic in India and the spares are really difficult to get. 
Otherwise this one is a real winner. Then there were Sony DSC-H2 , Kodak P850 etc. The Sony cam is great too. The Kodak models dont have Image stabilization and that goes against them when say, you are on a moving vehicle. So finally i decided to settle either for the Sony or the Canon model.In fact i was thinking of going for the previous version from the Canon stable i.e S2IS but it wasnt available. That would have come out cheaper. Have a look at the Canon S3 IS review. It comes with a 12x optical zoom with a wide angle option, 6 MegaPixel resolution, a LCD Screen that can be rotated, Image Stabilization, Option to switch lens(has to be bought seperately, of course…) and easy to use for both layman and a discerning user with its range of Auto and Manual modes. Added to that, an awesome video quality (records in 640*480 resolution with Stereo sound recording at 30 fps).Not bad for a Digicam at all !!In short, you’ll have a bit of everything without having to go for a very expensive camera.
The only cons for the cam as far as i found out are:
1.The video size is huge(its in AVI format btw). A MPEG4 support would have been better but i guess u’ll have to choose between quality and space.
2.Occassional focus problem at the long end of the zoom (only).Though this exists in almost all long zoom cameras, and mind you this is a budget cam giving you a variety of features.
All in all, i’m pretty happy with it and glad i finally went for it. Had been too much of going through all the models..hehe.Will upload some snaps from it soon.Have taken some around the house and they have come out great but havent had the chance to go roaming and check it out to the fullest.Waiting for that!
