Wine Tasting @ Sula Wines

This December holidays, like all of my previous ones, involved new places and nice experiences. One of them was a wine tasting tour at the vineyards of Sula Wines at Nashik. Nashik is one of the only regions in India that today produces Indian Wine. Might sound strange to all of us accustomed to hearing about French and Spanish Wines.

 

 

Rajeev, a Stanford grad, quit his hi-tech job and started Sula Wines in the late 90's after he inherited some land. He along with a Californian winemaker planted French Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc (I guess this is a Californian variety of grape, never saw this during my visit to vineyards in France). And now, they produce some really good wine (or so I am told!)

 

    

 

Wine tasting is an art and my earlier experience was limited to some French wine about 4 years back. I was almost reprimanded by the Sula Wines guy for gulping the first swig down. Now, I know you need to swirl the wine so as to  release the odor in the wine. It also tells you if the wine is full bodied or not (A full bodied wine has high alcohol and sugar content. It is more viscous and hence upon swirling sticks more to the walls.

 

 

Once you are done swirling, you sniff the wine. trust me the first time it feels weird and canine-like. But, by the time you are onto your third or fourth wine, all those terms : fruity smell, oak odor start making sense. Aerating the wine while it still is in your mouth by sucking in air through your teeth is a treat for your olfactory senses. And then you sip it elegantly.  My favorite was the last wine I tasted, Dindori Reserve.

 

The tasting room is pretty good and though it said under-21 not allowed, nobody raised an eyebrow! You can even see bottling going on from the tasting room and it is nothing spectacular but still interesting. A course of 6 wines comes at Rs 150/- However, it doesn't include their champagne : Sula Brut (I don't think they call it champagne officially due to geographical indications restriction. It was listed in the sparkling wine category in their catalogue). It overlooks the Ganganagar reservoir and is surrounded by the sprawling grape vineyards.

 

 

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My favorite was the Dindori Reserve Shiraz which is a Red wine made from the grapes grown at Dindori. It is aged in an oak cask for a year and has very nice woody taste to it. And yeah, after each wine remember to cleanse your taste buds with a strong black coffee or at least water. This is a must try if you ever go to Nashik. Highly recommended, though getting there is a bit difficult as it is about 12 km from Nashik. Thankfully, I was with family and not one of my low budget trips where buses are the only mode of transport. 

Technorati Tags: Sula,Wine,Wine Tasting,Dindori,Nashik

An Year Ago

Exactly an year ago, I was returning from New Delhi back to BITS Pilani at this very time. Those are memories still fresh. And most of them are naice. Especially the Cappuccino at Costa. Yum!

Although, the Honorable Government of India tried to screw it up as much as they could. We, that is students from around the country, had been invited by the PMO to attend the Republic Day Parade. The Parade was pretty decent but the Ministry of Human Resources Development had assigned some buffoons to manage the whole thing. I wasn't reimbursed the travel expenses initially because I had taken a Metro and had stupidly claimed the Rs 8/- fare. The approved fare? Rs 30/- for an auto from ISBT to the hotel we were put up at. After arguing and being given shit like "Fine. 8<30. style="font-style: italic;">beta can't pass a Metro ticket" I finally managed to get the money, which I left on their makeshift counter and walked off.

I know that's what my friends call me an ASW for, but I love such moments. I still smile when I remember the look on those faces. It is about telling them that people shall stand up. They believed that I should have been (and I quote as faithfully as I can remember) grateful to MHRD for letting you witness the Republic Day Parade and sit in the box next to the PM. You would not have ever been able to ever see Putin had it not been for this noble gesture by Minister ji. Probably it was a noble gesture to all sycophants sitting with the student group in the PM's box. I couldn't care less about the PM's box. Putin looked to me exactly the same at a distance of 30 feets as he looks on the web.

A Political Science topper from JNU had asked if we could meet the PM or Putin, and the Jt. Secretary put on his best babudom mantle and talked about how important they are and how we are too immature to meet them. This time I wasn't alone. We pounced on that fellow and he had to apologize. A MHRD babu not taking the youth of the nation seriously is hara-kiri.

Still, all said and done, it might be an extravagant show but yes, I did miss the R-Day parade this time. Not because it looks the same on the national broadcaster. Because, last Parade taught me a few lessons. The art of waiting for someone percieved to be important. The art of putting up a fight with the GOI. There were none to be learnt this time.

Another Trip, with the W.I.N.G

Destination : Chail

Name : W2C (W.I.N.G 2 Chail)

Planned : Night before ES-1 CompreE

Went : Jan 11th - Jan 15th

Dramatis Personae : Cheela, Kevin, Chate, Maut, Amey, Anurag, Trikha, Dukhi Bhavsar, DJ, Pandey and the wiki

Budget : Rs 1100

 

And the rest of the tale... [PG advised. 11 topless hot bods!]

 

Sad picture due to fog and a shit Sony Lens, but us waiting at Rohtak's Supra Chowk. You kind of get the feel of our trips I believe. Lounging on the ground :)

 

After 13 hours of back breaking journey (including covering Rohtak-Panipat segment standing!) Shimla at last

 

Breakfast (Hot tea and Bread straight out of the pack) and lots of sidee-love at a tea shack in Shimla

 

Lets go to Kufri!

 

The green valley en-route Kufri

 

The tall Green Conifers and a gaunt wingie : Kevin

 

The pic of the trip : a pensive Trikha

 

Finally at Kufri, Cheela exclaims : Amar jeebon saphol hoi geche!

 

Never seen so much snow in my whole life!!

 

Awwe Inspiring

 

Hazaar Pimps with ponies surrounded, rather hounded us. But, we marched on foot to the top. Marched through mucky mixture of Horse Shit, Urine, Mud and Snow

 

The W.I.N.G

 

While they frolicked, Andy and I were climbing... on a steep incline which everyone thought to be unclimbable

 

Andy and I. Without you, I might not have done the climb! Zanku

 

The top was certainly worth the missed heartbeats and slipped footsteps. See the wet patch on my knee? My knees took a beating, used them as ice picks to negotiate slippery ice with no footholds whatsoever. The cold hard ice left me limping for quite some time

 

The picture says it all

 

The snow and me. Yeah, OK go ahead and call me a narcissist

 

W.I.N.G

 

Well, we love the attention so we went ahead and...

 

Topless at the Top

 

Sorted by room numbers. See that B on Andy's glove? B for BOGS

 

Dangerous descent. Hard ice slips and hence sucks. Chate had a few major falls

 

Virgin Snow

 

The been there, done that ;) ishmyle

 

Cold feet and bear hugs

 

The afterglow :P

 

Parting shots of Shimla

 

After a prolonged discussion and several  occasions when we were at loggerheads  we went to Tattapani thereafter, to raft. The Sutlej at this time of winter has no water. More so because of the dam. However, the sulphur springs rocked. Even jumping out of the raft in ice cold water was amazing fun. Buying cheap roadside pajamas to raft was a very useful brainwave. The drive in a State transport bus from Tattapani to Shimla was terrifying. I have rarely encountered such deep gorges and narrow roads. It almost even beat the scary drive from Gohpur to Itanagar (the former being in Assam and latter the capital of Arunachal Pradesh). And the driver talking about a bus falling down an hour ago did no good to my spirits. Another long journey and a few hours on the bus (with Andy loosing count of the pool money :P), we were in Ambala! A delicious dinner at Trikha's place, creamy coffee  and Lohri celebrations. Phew! Too many things. I quit!

 

This picture defines us

CRAZY. OUTRAGEOUS. SPONTANEOUS. DWLLWGAS (W=We/W.I.N.G)

Technorati Tags: Shimla,Snow,Kufri,Bus Journey,Sutlej,Tattapani

Adolf Hitler and Rolling Stone

Well, to all those who (includes me!) doubted Andy's credibility and compared him to Krypton, here's some evidence that the guy is believable at times.

There's actually a Wikipedia entry on Adolf Hitler Lu Marak, a politician from Meghalaya which Andy loves to bring up in conversations. Now, I am given to believe Rolling Stone Marak, his class mate might also have existed.

Check out this post on by Shravya.

An opportunity missed

I have been very passionate about OLPC since the very start of the initiative. Now this winter break, as I was recuperating from a horrible semester at BITS Pilani, I went for a few treks in and around Pune. One of these treks was to Rajmachi and I had loads of fun. Sahyadris are wierd mountains especially for me having grown up in the foothills of Himalayas.

That's me in the spotlight (REM does that to you)

Incidentally, the only 22 OLPC laptops in India are in a village called Khairat. And from the newspaper reports it sounds very very close to our trekking route. I could have seen it. I am so sad about the missed opportunity. To console me, I am reading this (The Khairat Chronicles). Some other day, some other time.

PMRU Site up, finally!

After numerous hiccups, the Publications and Media Relations Unit website of BITS Pilani is finally up. And guess what? I designed it :) Much love to Six Shooter and Andy for the template and the header respectively. And yeah, this blog is linked in the credits ;)

The other side

Enough column inches and airtime has been wasted on two big events of the month ; the Reliance Power IPO and the launch of Tata Nano. I shall not bore you with the details but in a nutshell

• Reliance Power IPO subscribed 14 times
• Eclipses the DLF IPO to become the largest ever in India

• Tata Nano launched amongst unprecedented fanfare
• Expected to capture a large part of 7 million/year two wheeler market
• Critics cry foul about traffic and pollution
  

Both reflect a buoyant Indian industry. But, have we given enough rational thought to the other sides?

India currently has a per capita consumption of about 500 kWh lagging a lot behind the industrialized nations. If you look at Reliance Power and its 13+ Gigawatt production plans, you realize the enthusiasm for its IPO. However, to the best of my knowledge, the 5.5 Giga watt project at Dadri is going to be a gas-fired one where as the smaller but equally ambitious 4 Giga watt plant at Sassan will be a coal based plant. To cut the crap, its dirty energy! You might argue energy is energy and we are not in a position to choose. But, I really wonder when would we realize that installations such as these need to be phased out.

On the other hand, a product like the 100,000 rupee car (though on-road price would be closer to 140,000) is under fire for pollution! True, it will lead to proliferation of the number of cars, but why not make better laws to control emissions across the spectrum? Nano conforms to Euro IV norms, more than what the law prescribes. I see Nano as a great leveller. In a country where we still have just 8 cars per 1000 people, the focus should be on taxing households with multiple cars. The middle of the pyramid is a wierd place to be in. Neither do you have the financial or social clout which the top enjoys nor the sympathy which the bottom lives on.

An interesting addition to this post : Daswani Classes (based in Kota obviously) ran a 4 page ad in TOI today. In my 11 years of reading newspapers, I do not remember seeing a 4 page ad. Love it or loathe it, coaching industry shall thrive I guess.

Breaking the vow

So, the blog is alive.Its heady to be in Pilani again, notwithstanding the inclement weather. The air is thick with talk about missed grades and plummeting CGPAs. Registration mistakes and sac electives. I can't but smile. Not mocking junta though . I smile because with a new semester, I start on a clean slate.

But, before I consign the baggages of last semester to oblivion, for the record, 2-1 was about being let down. Of being always sad.It taught me about loss, life and love. And scoring C's and making deals ;-)

As final shreds of the reminders disappear into my dust bin, I start afresh. Vowing to forget but not forgive. I declare war.

A Long Journey

It started with Srikant and I sleeping in the aisle of the bus and every one trying to trample the poor souls! [By now we are experts in sleeping comfortably in the aisle]. Delhi was biting cold in the wee hours and we stupidly rented a room to put all our luggage. My, oh my, the hotel wallah was such a PITA. Kept rumbling about so many people and just one room. Our attempts to find good non-veg in the heart of Delhi had to be aborted but Paranthe wali Gali was worth the effort.

The legendary Paranthe wali Gali is a gastronomic delight and was a nice start to the vacations.[To get there, take a Metro to the Chandni Chowk Metro Station and come out on the Chowk side. Ask anyone near the Gurudwara for the  Paranthe wali gali, note the emphasis!!]

After the usual lounging in Connaught Place, I boarded my train . The reason I love train journeys is the fact that you get to talk to a lot of people. The smooth talking urbane hypocrite, the genuinely worried mother, the doting dad,the warring siblings, the salesman, the frustrated government  employee and the union mazdoor [a term for labor, popularized by the Left]. Every single worker on the Azad Hind Express [runs from Howrah to Pune] was carrying the RMU [Railway Mazdoor Union] ID card. With its striking red color, the ID symbolizes[and I quote from a freewheeling chat with the coach attendant] a sense of belonging to an institution greater than the individual.

Not to forget, I read Shalimar, the Clown by Rushdie on the train. An amazing tale of love and revenge, it is nicely set in the backdrop of the political and social travails of his homeland, Kashmir. Following words struck a chord with me

You never know the answers to the questions of life unless asked

All said and done, having traversed 10 states, I am finally at Pune : my home for these vacations. And I am with family. I love sitting in the balcony with street lights for company

 

See you soon in the vineyards of Nashik.

Update: As I write this, I am hurtling across the vast stretches of Central India back to Pilani. On this train I met a chemistry lecturer who couldn't stop stressing about the importance of nomenclature in Organic Chemistry. Then a proud "goalkeeper" of Indian borders in Bengal. He says if the truckloads of cattle can cross through 100+ checkpoints in India before reaching the frontiers for smuggling there is hardly anything BSF can do.For the record on a 54 km stretch of the border just 400 soldiers of the BSF patrol!! So, its inhuman to expect them to stop a horde of 10000 cows being smuggled across for slaughter. Well, to add to the gyan about Chemistry and Paramilitary forces in India, I met a businessman-cum-tourist from Switzerland. Had a very interesting discussion about Spanish wines-vis-a-vis French ones. And how they admire India for being far more deserving of the title "United States" despite hazaar different languages,religions etc. Swiss are divided over the four (yeah just four) different languages they speak, of which two are dialects ;-)   

Technorati Tags: Pune,Railway,Shalimar,Rushdie,Paranthe,Food,Wine,BSF

Pune Darshan

Today, we took a guided tour of the city offered by the Maharashtra Government. Now, I am cynical of everything that the government does, to some extent. But, Pune darshan was amazing.Priced at INR 117 for the whole day, it took me to some 20 odd tourist places of the city. A large part of the credit goes to the very nice bus conductor-cum-guide we had. He looked a typical middle aged bus conductor, but by the end of it I was floored by his knowledge and above all his spirit! Hats off to you, Sir.

Luckily I was carrying my camera around. So, lets take a photo recap of the tour.

 

This is where it started Deccan Gymkhana Pune Municipal Transport (is that what P.M.T expands to?) Bus Station

 

A pretty decent bus. Not very clean, but I do not blame PMT if tourists leave all kinds of trash on the bus

 

The tour schedule, not followed in this order

 

Lok Manya Tilak. This is one guy I really respect. A true leader and nationalist, Pune was his karmabhoomi

 

This is the palanquin which was used for the Ganesh Utsav celebration is Tilak's time. He very smartly started Ganesh Utsav celebrations on the scale we see today. He channeled the religious fervor to stoke a nationalist fire. Strategy

 

 

This all that remains of the grand seven storey palace of Peshawas : Shaniwarwada (Shaniwar means Saturday in a lot of Indian languages). Mummy would have said, a palace whose foundation was laid on Saturday, inaugurated on Saturday couldn't have suffered any other fate other than being burnt to ashes :-)

Sun favoring me, a brilliant shot of the Agha Khan Palace (pat on the back to self for the photo)

 

Agha Khan Palace didn't prove lucky to a Mr. Gandhi. Within days of coming here, he lost his secretary to a heart attack and later his wife to a prolonged illness. The two samadhis (??)

 

Shinde Chhatri. Never knew Scindias were, rather are, Shindes. Another new surname created by the phonetic limitations of Britishers.

A nice artistic map of the Pune Zoo.It had some other really nice signposts (more on that in a separate post)

 

 

Lots of high rises. A city in growth mode.

But, will all this concrete and iron and cars let Pune remain Sundar?

 

One place which you should definitely not miss out while in Pune is the Kelkar Museum. I have never seen a more eccentric collection of Indian artifacts, clothes, doors (yes, there are windows too!), locks,combs, weapons armors (ever seen an armor made of tortoise shell? Fish scales?) .I saw a Ganesha idol made entirely of the utensils we use in our daily life. A 19th century lock was specially amusing. More so because last semester I broke 4 locks :-) One was of course Andy's.

The museum has over 50 types of foot scrappers (and they make twinkling sounds when you are getting rid of those ghastly dead skin cells), a mind boggling variety in combs, a dozen hair dryers and an interesting collection of erotic nut cutters! This guy was one hell of a collector I guess.

 

Technorati Tags: Pune,Guided Tour,Pune Darshan,Agha Khan Palace,Scindia,Kelkar Musuem,Pune Zoo,Tilak