Wine and Wine

Itching to write on wine for sometime now. Visited wine festival held in Bangalore few months ago. They had good collection of Indian wines. I looked forward to visiting it since I carried my memories of wine tour in California. There were wine tasting and grapes stomping and other activities. But as expected I did not find it too great.

Now its just because of my expectation that I was disappointed. Nevertheless, the fact that Bangalore was hosting the wine festival and that people are patronizing wines is good enough.

My experience has been a drive through the scenic Napa and Sonoma valley lined with acres and acres of vineyards and old mansions. Every vineyard has its winery that can be toured to learn about the grapes, its variety, how climatic conditions affect wine type; wine process and storage facility. Not complete without wine tasting sessions with good cheese and crackers.

Through the years, have learnt about different wine types and their specialty. My friends and seniors know whom to contact for an expert advice on wine :P Yeah weird source isn't it? I have an interesting anecdote as well. That story is for another time. Anyway if you need a recommendation on this elixir, you know now whom to ping! Here are some pictures from few of my wine tours.

Landscape dotted with rows of vineyards along the way.

 

On the left side too

 

A fitting statue; Liked why the grapes bunch is too important here. 

 Grapes ready for harvest

 Wine tour. A friend arranged for a private tour. This man was explaining how they choose the grapes and all that story; it was nice to learn a lot while sipping signature wine.

Wine processing units

Oak casks- they provide a distinct flavor to the wine as they mature

First glimpse of wine

An old winery at Sonoma valley

Aged casks

No description :)

More..

And more...

Posing in front of the wine bottles during one of my trip to Napa - me in 2007

 

Prison Life

That fellow Breivik who murdered 96 innocent civilians in cold blood in Norway is set for a comfortable and luxurious stay at Haiden Fengsel prison. Haiden boasts of jogging trails, plush kitchen, flat screen TVs, fridges, recording studio and rock climbing. The guards dont carry guns and the prisoners are not forced to work. They want to create a 'sense of family'.

Haiden is not alone, there are few others prisons around the globe which boast of good life and plush stay. Why that far? I watched a documentary few days ago on NGC about Bangalore central prison. The criminals keep coming back because of the good food and the fun. The daily meal is from ISKCON - tasty and healthy. Fun is salsa classes, music and such activities.

:-/ I also came across a tweet after the 13/7 Mumbai blasts that said "Dear Government, please give protection against terrorists the way you are protecting Kasab".Coming to think of this; it seems life in a prison is safe and punishment could indeed be a pleasure.

Well, my thoughts are about prison today :) Channels like NGC and Discovery give you a glimpse of prisons in their documentaries. American prisons - they prefer to call it 'correctional facility' and the prisoners as 'inmates'.  I always thought usage of such mellowed verbs helps instead of  strong words like 'prisons' and 'criminals'. It shows that even criminals are treated with respect and are not isolated from the society; they are not denied their basic rights and are treated with humanity. A clean facility, basic needs are catered to; they can read, watch TV, have access to healthy food. Well, one doesnt know what happens behind the scenes.

Visited the Alcatraz last year. Didnt write about it then. The island located in the San Francisco bay area 1.5 miles offshore from San Francisco. Its referred as "The Rock"; often featured in many movies. Remember the movie The Rock?

Its told that no one escaped from this high security prison. Even if they managed to get out of the complex, the chilly and strong Pacific ocean currents would make it impossible for them to swim ashore alive.

Here are few pictures.

Main building - "Indians Welcome" makes you happy; until you realize this was the result of native American occupation of the island in 1969.

The watch tower. 

With such a gorgeous view; the guards would sure have enjoyed their job. 

But  the soldier's life seemed to be tough.

Here is where the inmates picked their clothes and shoes. 

Toothpaste and other cosmetics.

Row of showers.

A cell

A closer look

Breakfast Menu...Yummmm

High security cell for more dangerous convicts

 Decks of cells.

2x5 life

Control room

The Social Hall destroyed by fire during the Native American occupation

Water tank

View of San Francisco and the Golden Gate

The statistics

Scary eh?

A stroll around San Jose Downtown

My poor and humble point and shoot camera which clicked so many awesome pictures went bust due to my carelessness. I was playing in the sea in Mauritius when this unfortunate incident happened. The service person told me it was beyond repair after hearing about it; I have not yet taken it for inspection yet. I am very angry with myself for being so callous with my camera which served me so well. People who have been following my blog for long time now can understand why I am so mad. The same camera which captured those moments an visuals which I saw and enhanced them aesthetically is beyond repair now :-(

Anyway, here are few pictures taken when I and Gautam strolled around the city of San Jose on a Saturday. Each picture has a story. 

The famous cathedral in San Jose. There was a wedding so could not go inside. Gautam likes this cathedral a lot and he mentioned that its very beautiful inside. We thought we will come back after few hours so that we can go inside but something else came up for me later. Missed it :-( Next time for sure!

A Chinese restaurant. I liked the intricate red gate

A very old piano. Gautam told me that such piano are left outside for the public to play. We stopped and Gautam played Pudhu vellai mazai/Yeh haseen wadiyaan from Roja. I was lost in music and got goosebumps for few moments. Gautam, thank you, subtle things like this are treasured forever. :-)

A very ornate and colorful graffiti capturing the essence of the city of San Jose.

 Hungry, we wanted a quick meal. We saw this shiny hot dog cart and this guy inviting us to savor his hot dogs. His shop was set up new, he said how tough it was to seek permission from the cops to set up a business on the streets. And he readily agreed to pose for the photo. Oh! I did not ask his name :-|

 I liked the lamp posts and the bunch of colorful flowers that fall out from it

These golden leaves and its fruit shimmering in the sun was a delight

We were sitting by the glass partition in a Starbucks coffee shop. Just less than 7 feet was this Light rail track. There was this light rail chugging every 5 minutes. It was surreal to be sipping coffee sitting just close to it. Right opposite on the walkway was this pothole lid made of bronze and beautiful carvings. We discussed as to how such items might not survive a single night in our Indian cities. A real treat to thieves :-)

Outside a Thai restaurant was this beautiful lady

Bright crimson flowers lining a wall sill. 

 

Abandoned? No just a model piece for advertisement.

The beautiful flowers and the lamp post

A tower against a clear blue sky. I dd some shadow and highlight effect to get this :)

AR Rahman's Jai Ho Concert

Have not been going out to places much this time. Been to most places here during my previous trips and nothing much left out to explore. So indulging in different activities.

Its been attending music sessions all the way. One of them was AR Rahman's Jai Ho world tour concert that was held on 12th this month in Oakland. How could I ever miss!! I knew about it just couple of days before the concert and immediately got tickets booked. Wanted a seat very close to the stage so that I could see the action at a close range.

I have always wanted to see ARR in real. If I am getting a chance here; the last thing I would do is to miss that. Who doesn't like his music? Apart from that; I really like him as a person for he is humble and grounded. Ultimately; its not what you do but what you are as a person. I have immense respect for him just because of this.

That day, the BART to Oakland and the area was crowded with people; mostly Indians. The arena was nearly full; amazed that he was supposed to perform here in July and it was postponed. So I was sheer lucky to be here at the right time.  The show was grandeur; he was on stage most of the time. Performed really good songs; I dont recall what all; as I lapped up everything and anything he had to deliver.

I was flabbergasted; I could not comprehend if what I was witnessing was true or not. It was my dream to see a concert live and it was a surreal experience now that it is ARRs concert. His mom and his sister were 2 rows ahead of me; spoke to his mom. She is a lovely lady.

I should say I was totally disoriented throughout as I was not ready to believe where I was. He walked past me to the stage and when Gautam nudged me and said "He just walked past you. Did you notice?" I was like "huh!!...hmmm...errrr....who?" He was like "Rahman!! " and me "eh? ....ohh!! hmm..."

This was my reaction. Only confusion and shock. Couldn't believe!! This sort of disorientation has never occurred to me prior to this. He performed for "Irumbile oru idhayam" from Robot near the aisle I sat. During the fag end of the show, walked closed to the stage and saw him perform. Phew!!! I cant explain my happiness level. Managed to click few pictures without flash; camera was not allowed. But somehow managed to click few.

ARR, Blaaze and Benny Dayal. Dont know who the lady is

A solo drummer from the troupe.

A song from Rang De Basanti

The acrobatics were awesome as well.

Hariharan

This was a duet by Lataji and ARR. I loved this concept.

Forgot which song was this :-)

Hmm Black or White? I forgot again. But this was MJ number.

Performed a BGM from Vinnaithandi Varuvaya

This was a Jugalbandi session

Jai Ho!!

Vande Mataram.