This is about drinking.
No, I cannot be coherent here. So pardon this already. I shall try, but I am agitated and fairly confused.
I do drink. I enjoy my drink. I have nothing against people who drink, or what they drink.
Liquid has been an important part of my growing up, growing old, and growing fat.
Calcutta,Anand (Gujarat): Milk. Not only was it the Holy Wine in my house, it was Plan A-minus for every meal not quite prepared, and Plan B-Plus when my mother had to improvise. Milk was, in a big way, the DNA of Anand, the place where I did my Colleg-ing. And my campus had not only Dairy Fest, but Fruit Fest at all given times of the year. Off the farm, and at "Student Prices" ( read: BPL rates).
Bangalore: Bangalore starts drinking at 8 am. All the pubs have happy hours from 8 am to 5 pm. A pitcher of beer is cheap, even to a student, always avialable, served with popcorn. Uncomplicated. Coffee. little shot glasses of dusty, earthy liquid. On the nights i was sleep-starved and cold, milky coffee and glucose bisctuis. And Whiskey. I used to hang with a bunch of boys. They were really good boys. We used to drink whiskey every alternate day. In a bar, on the floor of our dorms, on the terrace at night. My palate completely changed. Ah yes, Bangalore.... the fruit juice capital. No other city in India serves them like that. Not kidding. Liquid, o yeah!!
Nasik, Maharashtra: Wine. I lived in a vineyard. Worked in a winery. Learnt how to make wine, to taste wine, to test wine. To enjoy a wine, to love a wine, to get comfortable with a wine. Then I was a wine taster for about four months. I was a little minion, but I worked with wine-makers from Chile, Australia, South Africa, Germany and California.And I loved those men. And I would be drinking different types of wine, half fermented, half made, fully done or/and well bodied all through the day!
Delhi: I stuck to whiskey, and bourbon. My mother's house has a constant flow of all assortment of teas and coffees that comes in from everywhere. I love the cha that she serves. I seem to live on the Milky-Cooked-and-Boiled Cha that the rest of the country serves. I like how Keralites make their tea. I need coffee like I need air. And yes, in desperate times, even instant is good.
In Kenya, I am not done experimenting with tea and coffee. Really! I am like a spoilt brat on this front!
And as I travel, I try more wine, lager, more scotch, sake.
It gives me a thrill to know that Turkish folks drink Dahi, like Indians drink Chhas. And that the Brits drink their tea pretty much like the village folks of North Bengal. :)
I thinkI have drunk local hooch in people's not so fancy houses. I have picnicked on some high-up cliff-like valley viewed place with corn and mahuda....I like my drink. I kind of amble along with it. Its like the books I seem to collect as I get along. I drink. A lot!
Some Drinks and their People I dont hold with. Green tea, or Vodka-orange juice. Rum-and-Coke. Or even Soya Milk. But thats ok. I can still have good conversation with such folks. And the Rum-and-Coke types usually have a good stock of music up their sleeve. :P (yeah, total generalization...kill me).
Oh yes, cocktails. I have never been able to understand,; or appreciate those colored drinks. They taste like Blasphemy to me, and sound like Bastards. But thats just me. Dont take me seriously.
So like I said, I am total peace with Liquid. Whatever be your liquid. Whoever you are.
I like my drink, like I have said many times before, alone; or with jsut about the number of people who fit in my drawing room. While reading a book, or working at home late at night, while eating something I have made, with a fruit, with a tomato sandwich. I drink when I cant sleep. I drink milk, fruitjuice, wine, whiskey, beer and bourbon, tea or coffee.
Sometime, I drink because I need to have my hands around a glass or a mug, or that the sunshine calls for a white. Sometimes I like a whiskey by my lamplight, ( bedside/desk/reading corner) with my cat curled up somewhere in that patch, and sometimes, I drink because the book I am reading calls for it... depends on what I feel...rain, mist, sunshine, energy, grave, sad, wiser, discoverer, nostalgic,laid back, journalist,monkey...whatever. I drink in my sweatshirt, and in my shorts. I drink while we are pajama partying, or having cha-wallah conversation. But Always, I drink because I enjoy the drink. And because I will give the drink the attention it deserves.
But something about the way some folks do it these days, bother me.
I don't get this compulsion to drink. How the young people, and the just-arrived-bunch can completely make an occasion of just drinking. Gujjus and Bombay-ites will go to Goa and have a blast drinking beer in the pool, drinking beer on the beach, drinking feni in the shacks, and be real litterbugs about it all. I met some folks who had been to Thailand/Singapore etc etc...and all they could go on about was the Mini Bars in the Hotel Rooms/Shacks etc!!
People in Delhi.... HAVE to go drinking. HAVE to wake up drunk and groan and do goo-gaa about it. HAVE to drink to meet people or have good conversation. People in Pune-Bangalore these days....cant meet old friends and have a good time unless there is the bottle of what-they-will.
WORSE!! That Nouveau Riche 30/40-something-year old segment, who has happened to have travelled the world one fine day... suddenly won't settle for anything less that sangria or something...and then glug it like Coca-Cola!! Or have little brain orgasms when they pour in some left over wine into spaghetti or chicken or whatever...having NO idea that that wine is vinegarish, or that its not something that would hold the sauce, or that...well... the food is not at that stage of cooking where the wine could make any more difference to the food! Or will have NOTHING to say about the whiskey except that they "picked it up at duty free." Seriously, "at" duty free?!
And the NOISE!! The boasts of ...."oooh we drunk so much....." (read: three beers, or two whiskeys)..."We had a BLAST, we drunk all over the place...." (read: went to five clubs/pubs/hotels...and had half a vodka at each place).... and "oooooh...the wine was SO fresh" ( Yeah, like the grapes have just been squeeed, rapid fermented, and put in the fridge...all in just the past hour). And the hoo-haa about tequilas. Dear Yuppie, a tequila, is a chaser. Having three shot glasses of it in isolation, doesn't buzz even the lining of your alimentary canal, let alone your Butt-head! Not even if you have a bottle of H.
Oh yes, there is also the Bong way of doing it. Which is the most despicable. Bongs will call it "Bosha jaak?" ( Shall we sit?, literally). And they drink R&C, or Teachers, throw fistfuls of chanachur into their mouths,eat a lot of dead goat and rice after... and play wrong chords and sing loudly all the while. If you are lucky, they shall NOT sing or play bengali music/songs.
Disclaimer: Pardon.Maybe I have been at much too much proximity with this scene, and I am saying this based on the Bongs I met in Delhi. I have NO idea what those buggers do in other places.
And then, there is also the social statement that comes with saying how many drinks you had at which place. Five star hotels, the loudest club in town...all of that. Little statements about how three of them drank worth twenty thousand in a night. I not only despise you, I find you stupid, really!
There are also, are those young women who love free drinks! Any party, any conversation, any guy-girl etc will do...just for drinking and not having to pay for it. I am intrigued, how do you manage to have a good evening like that? Really? I think I missed that lesson while I was growing up.
I feel sad, when I hear folks say,"It was no fun at all, they weren't serving any alcohol!"...or..."Oh I HAVE to go get drunk wild tonight.!" THAT statement irks me no end. Whats with so much vendetta?!
I still dont get this deal about HAVE to drink, HAVE to get drunk, HAVE to have alcohol.
I am frankly,sickened by such statements.
I have no patience for such a wannabe yuppie crowd. I dont know what it is that makes you feel so status-ed just because you had alcohol. Grow up for god's sake! Most people I know had outgrown this by the time they were 15! Alcohol is NOT something you need to make a statement with!!
Sorry, no, you are not just a "wannabe-yuppie-crowd". You are pretty much anyone I meet, so there must be something I am not getting. I am trying to understand. Help me.
I've had magical times with and without alcohol. Moments, when we were drunk on each others company, or the adventure we were created around us, or the weather, the book i just finished, or the conversation. Really, what we were drinking, or smoking...or not...had nothing to do with it. We have discovered, introduced, and invited folks around a Bottle. I have celebrated a Bottle, but I don't think I needed a Bottle, ever, to just celebrate.
Thing is, the Bottle deserves your attention. Please, enjoy the drink. And understand it. If you just want to feel the buzz, or not feel anything, or forget something, or mourn the end of a 8-month relationship... go run 5 kms, or hit the gym and do 25 planks-25 plies...or even better... wash your dishes and do your laundry! Id say run, though.
No, I cannot be coherent here. So pardon this already. I shall try, but I am agitated and fairly confused.
I do drink. I enjoy my drink. I have nothing against people who drink, or what they drink.
Liquid has been an important part of my growing up, growing old, and growing fat.
Calcutta,Anand (Gujarat): Milk. Not only was it the Holy Wine in my house, it was Plan A-minus for every meal not quite prepared, and Plan B-Plus when my mother had to improvise. Milk was, in a big way, the DNA of Anand, the place where I did my Colleg-ing. And my campus had not only Dairy Fest, but Fruit Fest at all given times of the year. Off the farm, and at "Student Prices" ( read: BPL rates).
Bangalore: Bangalore starts drinking at 8 am. All the pubs have happy hours from 8 am to 5 pm. A pitcher of beer is cheap, even to a student, always avialable, served with popcorn. Uncomplicated. Coffee. little shot glasses of dusty, earthy liquid. On the nights i was sleep-starved and cold, milky coffee and glucose bisctuis. And Whiskey. I used to hang with a bunch of boys. They were really good boys. We used to drink whiskey every alternate day. In a bar, on the floor of our dorms, on the terrace at night. My palate completely changed. Ah yes, Bangalore.... the fruit juice capital. No other city in India serves them like that. Not kidding. Liquid, o yeah!!
Nasik, Maharashtra: Wine. I lived in a vineyard. Worked in a winery. Learnt how to make wine, to taste wine, to test wine. To enjoy a wine, to love a wine, to get comfortable with a wine. Then I was a wine taster for about four months. I was a little minion, but I worked with wine-makers from Chile, Australia, South Africa, Germany and California.And I loved those men. And I would be drinking different types of wine, half fermented, half made, fully done or/and well bodied all through the day!
Delhi: I stuck to whiskey, and bourbon. My mother's house has a constant flow of all assortment of teas and coffees that comes in from everywhere. I love the cha that she serves. I seem to live on the Milky-Cooked-and-Boiled Cha that the rest of the country serves. I like how Keralites make their tea. I need coffee like I need air. And yes, in desperate times, even instant is good.
In Kenya, I am not done experimenting with tea and coffee. Really! I am like a spoilt brat on this front!
And as I travel, I try more wine, lager, more scotch, sake.
It gives me a thrill to know that Turkish folks drink Dahi, like Indians drink Chhas. And that the Brits drink their tea pretty much like the village folks of North Bengal. :)
I thinkI have drunk local hooch in people's not so fancy houses. I have picnicked on some high-up cliff-like valley viewed place with corn and mahuda....I like my drink. I kind of amble along with it. Its like the books I seem to collect as I get along. I drink. A lot!
Some Drinks and their People I dont hold with. Green tea, or Vodka-orange juice. Rum-and-Coke. Or even Soya Milk. But thats ok. I can still have good conversation with such folks. And the Rum-and-Coke types usually have a good stock of music up their sleeve. :P (yeah, total generalization...kill me).
Oh yes, cocktails. I have never been able to understand,; or appreciate those colored drinks. They taste like Blasphemy to me, and sound like Bastards. But thats just me. Dont take me seriously.
So like I said, I am total peace with Liquid. Whatever be your liquid. Whoever you are.
I like my drink, like I have said many times before, alone; or with jsut about the number of people who fit in my drawing room. While reading a book, or working at home late at night, while eating something I have made, with a fruit, with a tomato sandwich. I drink when I cant sleep. I drink milk, fruitjuice, wine, whiskey, beer and bourbon, tea or coffee.
Sometime, I drink because I need to have my hands around a glass or a mug, or that the sunshine calls for a white. Sometimes I like a whiskey by my lamplight, ( bedside/desk/reading corner) with my cat curled up somewhere in that patch, and sometimes, I drink because the book I am reading calls for it... depends on what I feel...rain, mist, sunshine, energy, grave, sad, wiser, discoverer, nostalgic,laid back, journalist,monkey...whatever. I drink in my sweatshirt, and in my shorts. I drink while we are pajama partying, or having cha-wallah conversation. But Always, I drink because I enjoy the drink. And because I will give the drink the attention it deserves.
But something about the way some folks do it these days, bother me.
I don't get this compulsion to drink. How the young people, and the just-arrived-bunch can completely make an occasion of just drinking. Gujjus and Bombay-ites will go to Goa and have a blast drinking beer in the pool, drinking beer on the beach, drinking feni in the shacks, and be real litterbugs about it all. I met some folks who had been to Thailand/Singapore etc etc...and all they could go on about was the Mini Bars in the Hotel Rooms/Shacks etc!!
People in Delhi.... HAVE to go drinking. HAVE to wake up drunk and groan and do goo-gaa about it. HAVE to drink to meet people or have good conversation. People in Pune-Bangalore these days....cant meet old friends and have a good time unless there is the bottle of what-they-will.
WORSE!! That Nouveau Riche 30/40-something-year old segment, who has happened to have travelled the world one fine day... suddenly won't settle for anything less that sangria or something...and then glug it like Coca-Cola!! Or have little brain orgasms when they pour in some left over wine into spaghetti or chicken or whatever...having NO idea that that wine is vinegarish, or that its not something that would hold the sauce, or that...well... the food is not at that stage of cooking where the wine could make any more difference to the food! Or will have NOTHING to say about the whiskey except that they "picked it up at duty free." Seriously, "at" duty free?!
And the NOISE!! The boasts of ...."oooh we drunk so much....." (read: three beers, or two whiskeys)..."We had a BLAST, we drunk all over the place...." (read: went to five clubs/pubs/hotels...and had half a vodka at each place).... and "oooooh...the wine was SO fresh" ( Yeah, like the grapes have just been squeeed, rapid fermented, and put in the fridge...all in just the past hour). And the hoo-haa about tequilas. Dear Yuppie, a tequila, is a chaser. Having three shot glasses of it in isolation, doesn't buzz even the lining of your alimentary canal, let alone your Butt-head! Not even if you have a bottle of H.
Oh yes, there is also the Bong way of doing it. Which is the most despicable. Bongs will call it "Bosha jaak?" ( Shall we sit?, literally). And they drink R&C, or Teachers, throw fistfuls of chanachur into their mouths,eat a lot of dead goat and rice after... and play wrong chords and sing loudly all the while. If you are lucky, they shall NOT sing or play bengali music/songs.
Disclaimer: Pardon.Maybe I have been at much too much proximity with this scene, and I am saying this based on the Bongs I met in Delhi. I have NO idea what those buggers do in other places.
And then, there is also the social statement that comes with saying how many drinks you had at which place. Five star hotels, the loudest club in town...all of that. Little statements about how three of them drank worth twenty thousand in a night. I not only despise you, I find you stupid, really!
There are also, are those young women who love free drinks! Any party, any conversation, any guy-girl etc will do...just for drinking and not having to pay for it. I am intrigued, how do you manage to have a good evening like that? Really? I think I missed that lesson while I was growing up.
I feel sad, when I hear folks say,"It was no fun at all, they weren't serving any alcohol!"...or..."Oh I HAVE to go get drunk wild tonight.!" THAT statement irks me no end. Whats with so much vendetta?!
I still dont get this deal about HAVE to drink, HAVE to get drunk, HAVE to have alcohol.
I am frankly,sickened by such statements.
I have no patience for such a wannabe yuppie crowd. I dont know what it is that makes you feel so status-ed just because you had alcohol. Grow up for god's sake! Most people I know had outgrown this by the time they were 15! Alcohol is NOT something you need to make a statement with!!
Sorry, no, you are not just a "wannabe-yuppie-crowd". You are pretty much anyone I meet, so there must be something I am not getting. I am trying to understand. Help me.
I've had magical times with and without alcohol. Moments, when we were drunk on each others company, or the adventure we were created around us, or the weather, the book i just finished, or the conversation. Really, what we were drinking, or smoking...or not...had nothing to do with it. We have discovered, introduced, and invited folks around a Bottle. I have celebrated a Bottle, but I don't think I needed a Bottle, ever, to just celebrate.
Thing is, the Bottle deserves your attention. Please, enjoy the drink. And understand it. If you just want to feel the buzz, or not feel anything, or forget something, or mourn the end of a 8-month relationship... go run 5 kms, or hit the gym and do 25 planks-25 plies...or even better... wash your dishes and do your laundry! Id say run, though.
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