Why I like the Wine

Wine and dine sessions are quite interesting and can be equally entertaining (if you know what I mean). Talking about wine, my memories go back to the year 2003 – it was when I first tasted the chilled, sparkling fermented grape juice. I was in Germany celebrating my birthday eve with my friends and at the stroke of midnight a bottle of Sekt (German sparkling wine, similar to champagne) was uncorked. They say you need to develop the taste for wine to enjoy it, but I fell in love with it the very first time I imbibed it.

In the year 2005 when I again visited Germany for academic purposes, my university used to organize weekend excursions for all the students. Castles and palaces, lakes and gardens and one day trips to nearby cities was the customary routine; but what also was a part and parcel of the weekend jaunt, was our visit to vineyards and wineries! The whole experience was really fantastic – it was explained to us how the grapes are selected, how the wines are fermented, how they are stored in the cellar and what differentiates the wine varieties from one another, the quality categories: Tafelwein (table wine), Landwein (country wine), Qualitaetswein (quality wine) and Qualitaetswein mit Praedikat (better quality wine) and there are several other criteria for classification. I don’t know and don’t remember much about the technicalities about wines, all I care about is the taste ;). I enjoyed the wine tasting experience to the hilt – not to forget everything was gratis for us (so predictably the Indian students among the group were over the moon and consumed more wine than the rest of the group altogether) - wine and cheese accompanied with some German music and dance and traditional German drinking games!

This time I got a couple of wine bottles for my dad – one of the Riesling variety (from Alsace) and the other was the Sekt (sparkling white wine). It was a one-of-the-best souvenirs from Deutschland for daddy dearest and he was obviously delighted.

The very next day after I returned from Germany, I went to Vaishali in the evening for a cup of “medium-strong sweet” (for all the non-Puneites that is coffee) and sada dosa. I returned home by dinner time and when I opened the door, the living room was dimly lit with terracotta and paper lamps, Ghulam Ali was intoning “Kal chaudhavi ki raat thi…” and the center table was primly set with homemade chicken and cheese appetizers, three wine glasses and a bottle of Alsatian wine. Dad was comfortably resting on the jhula, waiting for me to come home – the moment he saw me enter the house, he welcomed me with his charming smile and poured in wine in the three glasses, handed one glass to mom and the other to me and said “Here’s to you my lovely.” I remember I ran to him and curled up in his warm embrace like a baby.

Today I dedicate this memory, this blog to dad “Here’s to you Baba, here’s to all the precious moments we share!”

Achtung Baby

How to judge whether a movie is worth a dekho or not:

1. The production house has got nothing to do with "Yashraj" or "Dharma" productions.

2. There is no cross border (Veer Zara or Alvira Khan - Ricky Thakural) love story.

3. There are no songs shot in Switzerland, Times Square or any exotic locales.

4. Himmesh Reshammiya is not the music director.

5. Big B does not perform the song and dance routine at Waterloo station (or any other station for all I care).

6. Salman Khan does not take his shirt off or better if he doesn't make any appearance.

7. There are no Punjabi families - no balle balle, shava shava or mahive; no extravagant North Indians. I would like to draw attention to the fact that there are other many other communities in India viz. Maharashtrians, Tamilians, Mallus (yes there is a big difference between the two – all South Indians are not the same and anything below Maharashtra on the map cannot just be classified as South India), Gujrathis, Assamese (FYI they are Indians and not Chinese/Korean) et al.

8. SRK is not trying real hard to portray a 23-24 year old college guy, Rahul/Raj, clad in Tommy Hilfiger.

9. There is no Fair and Handsome (or its correlate) product placement throughout the movie.

10. It is not a miserably failed over the top remake of some Hollywood (or foreign) flick.

11. There is no unreasonable, tasteless humor (that makes you wonder am I the only one who is not laughing, what is wrong with the people) as well as there is no emotional melodrama of any kind.

12. There are no 3-4 bachelor roommates desperately trying to create humorous situations with their stupid acts and everyone hitting on the same girl

13. No weird camera angles that seem to feature exclusively on the actress's derriere.

14. The title of the movie does not include the article “The” or the director’s initials.

Achtung baby!

BEFORE & AFTER

All the characters, incidents and places in this post are factual and certainly
bear resemblance with any person, place or incident dead or alive.

Conversation between two friends pre-nuptials:


A : hiya woman…wassup…what ya upto?

B : nothing much ya…एक translation assignment submit केली आता just chilling at home…was just about to text you…

A : same here गा…खूप bore ज़्हालय घरी बसून…चल ना काहीतरी करुया

B : what do you wanna do? Shopping? Barista? Movie? Actually चल vaishali मधे जाऊ…काल सकाळनंतर गेलेच नाहीये मी! श्या…आज जाय्लाच हव गा…

A : hehe…हो ना तुला तुज्हा daily dose of vaishali नाही मीळाला तर कसा होईल! अग्गा by the way I have to tell you this – latest gossip – X broke up with Y

B: whatt??? Weren’t they supposed to get engaged in dec? घरी पण सांगीत्लेला ना…

A: अग because she found out he was cheating on her – I mean not cheating cheating on her but yeah he never told her that he was in touch with his ex and that they frequently catch up with each other…अणी solid भांडण ज़्हाला म्हणे त्यांचा and guess where – कांचन गल्ली मधे!

B : अग काहीही काय…कसला waste ना…but have they like seriously broken up or general भांडण ज़्हालय आणी patch up करणार आहेत?

A : god knows…you know how X is ना!

B : अग that reminded me – ती परवा soho मधे काय ghalun आली होती महीती आहे का – she was wearing a white tube top – I mean imagine X wearing a tube top, एक तर she has put on so much …आणी heavy make up करून आली होती…hehe and Saturday night ला X and Y were totally into each other…when did this tiff happen?

A : अग माला तीचा काहीच कळत नाही…मग mebbe patch up पण ज़्हाला असेल त्यांचा…दोघे ही stupid आहेत तसे…आणी what she was wearing a tube top? of all the people she was wearing one? What a sight it must have been…आपण कस्ल्या gossip queens अहोत ना! पण तू Saturday night ला G च्या birthday party ला जाणार होतीस ना…मग?

B : अग G ची birthday party was in soho! and apparently G had invited Y so X had to be there! अग ए मुली आपण भेटतो अहोत ना आता…मग भेट्ल्यावर बोलू ना! मी C ला msg करून सांगते free असेल तर वैश्ला ये म्हणून…temme कीती वाजता भेटायचं? 5 ला near foodworld?

A : hehe…yeah…भेट्ल्यावर detail मधे gossiping करूया…yeah C ला तुच सांग आता..आणी अग 5 काय? Its already 4.30 माला अजुन अंघोळ करायची आहे….see you at 5.20…नीघ्ताना missed call देते मग तू नीघ..

B : जा लवकर अवर आता…see ya at 5.20.




Conversation between the same two friends post-nuptials


A: Hi..काय करते आहेस?

B : अग just finished cooking – आज मटार उसळ आणी कोबीच्या वड़्या केल्या मी…was in the kitchen for 2 hours…phewww

A : wow…तू एकदम expert ज़्हाली आहेस – रोज काहीतरी interesting बनवत अस्तेस…मी आज छोले करीन..अजुन काही नाही prep केला…अग ह्याला ऑफीस मधून यायला late होतो आजकाल आणी मग ओफ्फिसमधेच खाऊन येतो…मग मला एकटीसाठी बनवायचं कंटाळा येतो…by the way मला सांग फुल्के साठी तू सांगीत्लेला सुजाता पीठ आणलय…ते कीती आधी भीजवून घेऊ?

B : hehe..अग general experiments करते आहे on my personal guinea pig! आणी तू पण एकदम जोरदार छोले and all…nice! अग साधारण 30 mins आधी तरी भीजवून ठेव आणी थोड़सं lukewarm पाणी घाल भीजवताना मग soft होतात फुल्के.

A : ok..मी आज प्रयोग करणार आहे …lets see how they turn out to be…india मधे कधीच केला नाही ना आपण…how I miss the maid! weekend चा काय प्लान आहे तुमचा? आम्ही grocery करणार अहोत आणी might catch a movie..

B : hee hee…हो गा…भाजी चीर्ताना पण आठवण येते बाईची…weekendla आम्हाला पण grocery करायची आहे…no plans as such…ikea मधे जाऊन येऊ…sofa hunt still going on ना…laundry आणी vacuuming पण कराय्चय..

A : ok...मावशी कशी आहे? she must be missing you a lot ना…तुम्ही दोघी constantly एकत्र असायचात ना…

B : mom मजेत आहे..yeah she misses me like nobody’s business but she is trying to keep herself busy with something or the other आणी तीच्या friends बरोबर काय काय चालू असत तीचा…What about your parents?

A : they are fine…spoke to mom and सासु yesterday…आज हां लवकर घरी येईन म्हणालाय बघू आता कधी येतो…मला अजुन कांदा चिराय्चय….अग मला दाल fry कशी करायची ते सांग ना…or mail me the recipe…म्हणजे मी वीसरणार नाही…

B : oh ok…cool..येईल गा लवकर…मी तुला लगेच mail करते…खूपच easy आहे…by the way hot news – F finally proposed to R on her birthday! He gave a nice speech and all and then slipped a ring in her finger…

A : wow…finally केला का! तुला कोणी संगीतला…बाकी आपला conversation कीती पण change ज़्हाला तरी these things will never change…हे अग मला नण्देचा call येतोय…talk to you later….dont forget to mail me the recipe…टाटा

B : hehe….very true…taa!

NOSTALGIA

A certain music style rather particular songs remind us of someone, some place or sometimes a few long lost memories suddenly flood our hearts. The weather also influences the state of our mind to a great extent…not always but yeah most of the times…sunshine can be scorching or it can epitomize exuberance and energy. Rains can be gloomy or soothing or sometimes gloomy yet soothing, or sometimes even invigorating. Silver white winters can be churlish and bitter or can be synonymous with hot chocolate, Christmas and the New Year. We have so many associations and memories intertwined with the seasons.

I looked out of the window some time back and was engrossed in watching the drizzle. The drizzle finally resulted into a heavy shower and I was lost in the memory lane leafing through the older episodes of life – memories – some sour, some sweet, some bitter and some indescribable. People come and go; places can be revisited but certain moments last till we are living them and are lost forever as a speck in our memory. Memories are eternal, life goes on. I love to be reminiscent once in a while and absorb myself in the memories. Even if I could turn back the clock, I wouldn’t want to change a single day!

PITTER PATTER

It has been pouring cats and dogs since last night but the New York rains seem so disparate and perfunctory. The natural setting was fairly identical to that in Pune yet completely diverse – crystal clear raindrops on lush green foliage and blossoming buds but no scent of the moist earth; mud and water puddles quietly flowing through the streets but kids with their cute little paper boats were missing! There was a rainbow stretched across the sky but it didn’t serve as a backdrop to the crows perched on the cables and wires; there weren’t any stray dogs shaking the water off their fur. Oh and there were no two-wheelers speeding on the streets and splashing water on the passers-by. Starbucks can no way replace the roadside chaiwallah and french fries cannot be a substitute for hot and crispy pakodas. And the most important part – the electricity never conked off...I felt out of place because Puneites always associate rains with kanda bhaji, chai and power cuts! I remember how I used to crib during the monsoons but at this juncture, intriguingly, the depressing and dreary rains in Pune seem so pleasant and enchanting to me. Jeez do I miss them or do I miss them….

BRAND MANIA

A pair of Nikes and Lees, Gap tee, iPod Nano, CK eternity, LV handbag, Fossil and oh yeah I forgot the Oakleys – well I am sure you all know what products I have mentioned here. We can guess the product by the mere mention of its brand name or slogan – products have become synonymous with brands (e.g. for a layman iPod is a product and not a brand, most of the people don’t know that iPod is the brand name for a portable media player by Apple). Even if we are going down the lane to do the groceries, we want to be in our new Lees teamed with the new Gap t-shirt. Brands have become status symbols and prestige issues in our society. It is the brand revolution – we are living in the material world of labels – Chevy, Tag Heuer, MNG, The Body Shop, Esprit, KFC, Starbucks et al.
Cut to 5 years back and we were totally clueless what CK stands for or whether Cappuccino is a coffee or an Italian actor or even how to pronounce ‘Louis Vuitton’. We have become so brand conscious in the recent past that we are virtually covered with brands from head to toe - today our coffee is branded (we have masala chai at Starbucks and not at the roadside tea-stall anymore); kids want a Mcdonald happy meal on birthdays, Pepsi and Coke serve as the ultimate thirst quenchers – we have now even started to eat and drink brands, all our clothes have labels - be it national or international; the brands have conquered not only the apparel and shoe business but also the food and beverage industry. We want to be recognized, so we need to be branded and the more the better! Even kids have become brand conscious and are quite picky and choosy when it comes to shopping for clothes, toys or shoes - they know all about it. Brands have changed the socio-economic scenario in our country. Well, nothing is bad about brands but nobody has a plausible, convincing answer for what is so great about them!
What is a brand? An encyclopedia explicates a brand as a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or a service. Forget the technical description; a brand has now become an essential element of the culture, of one’s persona and obviously of our financial system. It is like a feel good factor and a necessity for most people. Let us accept the fact that we are slaves to brands .Consumerism and brands are not just restricted to western world but are now also associated with the developing third world countries, thanks to the emergent higher income groups or the upper middle class and the improved standard of living. The incessant hammering of commercials and glamorized endorsements of products and services are exerting a pull on the young and the old alike and we are all surrendering ourselves to the brands, in order to belong to the clique (our reputation is at stake, and we want to be like everybody else yet maintain our individual identity, right? ) So if you have the money, spend it – if you have more, spend more because yeh dil maange more!

BEING SOMEBODY

There are times when you wish you could rewind the cassette named “life” and alter a few events in the past – convert some frowns to smiles, some wrongs to rights, some delays to some timely actions, some hatred to love, some gibberish to something significant and something incomplete to something complete. In such a case, these “somes” and “somethings” and “undos” and “redos” will be never ending! Why isn’t our life as uncomplicated as computers? Why don’t we have certain keys like Ctrl+Alt+Del or backspace or Esc? If you take a wrong step simply erase or delete it, if you have had enough of something/someone dump it into the recycle bin and if you suddenly realize you need that particular thing (person!) again, just restore it/him/her. Oh how we would all love to have a recycle bin around! Why can’t you just save something that you are just half way through and open it later and continue with it! And make different files and folders for everything and classify everyone and everything accordingly. (Well, do you really want to be that organized, are people that easy to understand so as to pigeonhole them in specific groups - naaah!)

This feeling is utterly momentary – if our life were as banal and trouble-free it would be mechanical and monotonous. Emotions will lose their importance because we would want everything to be just perfect and pleasurable. Expressions will be restricted to laughter and smiles; there would hardly be any exhilaration, surprises, anger, fear, suspicion, sorrow, jealousy et al. Utopia will just be a nine days wonder and it will start bothering us real soon. We have to spice up our routine and make the most of every single moment. For us, things happen only once, life happens just once and nothing recurs (cliched but the truth); and it is often the case that we don’t know what we have got it till it’s gone. Utopia is surreal and we tend to long for something that we don’t have so trust me when everything is so idyllic we would yearn for imperfection and chaos.

Come on, we are human beings we cant live without arguments, challenges, envy, hardships – we undoubtedly want to live without all these but practically we need them as a source of motivation to lead our lives. They say nobody is perfect and we don’t want to be a nobody! We are somebody. I am somebody.