18 months is a long time. I have many things to write about. I will probably never write all of them, but I will try to capture the highlights. This is something that happened around Independendence Day the previous year (Aug 15th 2005).
I had been in India less than 3 months. I still followed the instructions of the travel doctor in Poughkeepsie to the T. "Every morning after you shower, slather on the mosquito repellent, when that dries slather on the SPF 90 to prevent sunburn." Wear sunglasses and a hat, light colored or white clothes. And if you want to absolutely avoid sunburn and insect bites, try not to leave the hotel room.. -okay that last bit was part of my strategy. I did not eat raw fruits and vegetables, only drank bottled water and clutched my passport with both hands at all times. However, I was still enamored by Indian food, and made it a point to never eat anything else, except perhaps American Chop Suey at the Chinese restaurant.
I was on a business trip to Bangalore. A friend was going to be meeting me there the next day, and we were going to travel on to Ooty where we would stay at the home of someone whom I had perhaps met before, though neither of us could swear to it. We would be staying there courtesy the friend who was meeting me in Bangalore.
I was a captive at the Park hotel, having dismissed the Hertz car for the evening. So I decided to check out the restaurants in the hotel. After much back and forth, it seemed that the Italian restaurant was my best option. Having eaten in some of the finest Italian restaurants on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard, my expectations of food, quality, service etc were low.
So I was very surprised when they brought me a wine list. I opened it , very patronizingly, thinking the concept of a wine list at a Italian restaurant in Bangalore was nothing short of absurd.
Imagine then, my surprise, when the very first wine on the list was a beautiful Burgundy from Casa d'Estronel in the South of France, with a whopping price tag of some INR 12,000 or about US$270. Now do not for a moment get the impression that I am deeply acquainted with wines or am able to quote memorable wines. I just happened to have had this wine at a very special celebration in Feb of 2005 at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. The CIA has a very well stocked cellar and they do a very fine job of pairing the right wines with the right food and ambience. We had enjoyed the wine so much that I had gone looking for this wine in various stores and on the internet.
Now I was in a dilemma. I had finally found this wine. If I did my math right, I really could afford the wine - so what if it was more than the salaries of all my household staff put together. If I was brutally honest, I could not afford the wine. After all, wealth, poverty aren't these all states of mind..? And when would I ever be presumptuous enough to think I could buy such an expensive bottle of mind.
It was clear that I lacked the strength to buy the bottle that very evening. It was also clear that I lacked the moral conviction to decide I would not buy the bottle at all. It was time to secure both options.
The helpful staff explained that the restaurant opened at 1pm - well after my scheduled departure. Just as I was starting to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that perhaps I will not have the option to buy it after all - they informed me that they could leave it with the coffee shop. Aaah but we will not have glasses - " Oh do not worry madame, we will get you glasses. ....And yes we take American Express."
I really did have the option to buy this bottle of wine. I decided to test my conviction by sleeping over the decision.
It was a long night during which I made a phone call to the US, many trips to the Internet and asked myself over and over again if I had the nerve . Morning came, and I was as undecided as I had ever been.
I related the entire story to my friend. "That is just a little more than I would spend on a bottle of wine myself". "Yes, it is a lot of money.. but what the heck... why am I here working so hard if I cannot buy myself this indulgence.. after all this is a bottle of wine I've been looking for for a while..." "Well we don't have glasses... " "Yeah but they will give us some..." "Alright lets do it - but only if they give us the good glasses"
So we sought out the coffee shop waiter, and asked if he could fetch us the bottle of wine. The coffee shop had no instructions from the restaurant, who clearly must have encountered many clients like me. "But wait, let me make some few phone calls". 15 minutes later the whole thing had been sorted out, and the bottle was presented for our inspection. The maitre'd packed a pair of glasses, took my American Express card and handed us the bottle of wine.
While they were packing the glasses we struck up a conversation with the maitre'd. They only had the 1 bottle of this special wine. They sold about 1 every year. This was the first they had sold in as long as he could remember. He was sure we would really enjoy it.
We decided not to share it with the friends in Ooty - after all, I might have met the wife ... but I could not remember what she looked like. She did not remember me either. This turned out to be a very good decision , since the couple turned out to be teetotallers.
We decided to save the bottle for my next trip to Mumbai.
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