On a fine afternoon–a day when the clouds covered the sky just enough to make the weather feel pleasant, a small bunch of us bloggers gathered at the terrace of Hotel Royal Orchid in Bangalore on invitation from Four Seasons and Ginger Claps.
It was an invitation event for bloggers in Bangalore to interact with former Miss India Shamita Singha, who briefed us on the offerings from Four Seasons Wines and on how to pair the right wine with the right kind of food.
The event began with casual introductions as food bloggers and travel bloggers in the city started arriving just after noon. The pool side location with a canopy was an excellent place to sit or move around, meeting many new faces and greeting familiar folks. It wasn’t long before Shamita Singha arrived at the scene and took us on a quick tour of the wines offered from Four Seasons. She explained the differences between Red and White Wines, the best ways to store them and what foods pair well with which type of wines.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, let me quote from dhempe, who has perfectly summarized the briefing.
Shamita introduced us to different kinds of wines that Four Seasons has to offer like The Blush or Rose (a sweet fruity wine), the Barrique Reserve Shiraz (full bodied garnet wine) and a lovely Sauvignon Blanc (a zesty fruity white wine). She had a lot of interesting facts for us too including information about the temperature to serve the white and blush wine (8-10 degrees Celsius) and the temperature to serve the red wine (16-18 degrees Celsius).
All this while, appetizers were in continuous supply from the kitchen of Royal Orchid.
Soon after Shamita’s briefing was a live cooking session that was directed by hyperactive chef at Royal Orchid – Sudhir Nair. He invited all of us to try our hands on cooking, but most us were too scared of spoiling the food that we eventually had to eat! The flavour of the day was Thai, and on the menu was Thai Green Curry and barbecued chicken.
A good meal later, it was time to say good byes. It was an afternoon well spent with fellow bloggers from the city, thanks to Four Seasons and Ginger Claps.
Here is a compilation of all the good stuff I have been reading on the web lately.
- It is amazing how much good software can do to your images. The debate about post-processing’s to-do or not-to-do will never end, but it is hard to debate the fact that people do make beautiful looking images with plenty of help from software. And there are always a good number of photographers who wonder what would be the steps followed or the software tools used in arriving at that amazing end-result. On Digital Photography School, here is an interesting example all things that a RAW image went through into making the image of a colourful Seattle skyline.
- A lot of us take cabs to commute. A lot of us complain about their inefficiencies or lack of professionalism as well. But few of us would have seen or known the other side of the story. Here is one such story, of a man who drove a cab and all things that he thought about his work.
- Nearly every other travel story that you read is about a place or about an experience. The places remain the same (more or less) and stories about the place without an experience slowly loose sheen. Some times, there are brilliant stories that are primarily about the experience that may transcend the importance of the place. The experience may be extraordinary, unusual or it could just be the brilliant narrative of the author. One such story by Dianne Sharma-Winter talks about her experience of having to face a police inquiry and having to explain an association with a Guru.
- For a lot of people, a wildlife trip is simply about spotting a tiger or a leopard. But there is much more to wildlife and wilderness for a keen observer. Small life is fascinating as well, with some amazing behaviour and action that escapes our eyes simply because they are too small. Ever took time to wonder about the life of ants or lichens? Radha Rangarajan shares her insights into symbiotic relationships in small life, which is present everywhere around us but barely gets seen.
- Old World Wandering has some very interesting insights into the present and future of travel writing and blogging. The insights are drawn through interesting interviews with some well-known travel bloggers and writers – Rolf Potts, Jodi Ettenberg and Graham Boynton.
I took a sabbatical in 2006-7 and spent a few months travelling in North and North-East India. Varanasi was one of the places I visited, which was instrumental in changing much of my life. A story I wrote about the ancient city was published by a travel magazine. It was the first piece I was paid for, which prompted me to look at life beyond a desk job. It was the beginning of a series of events that changed the way I lived and worked.
Six years hence, a travel assignment is taking me back to Varanasi in a month’s time–something I am looking forward to. While I await another journey to Varanasi, here is reminiscing a few moments from my previous visit. All the text below is extracted from old posts here on India Travel Blog.
Varanasi has many faces. For some it is a holy city and a must visit place of pilgrimage. For some it is a place to experience India’s cultural diversity. Some come here to learn fine arts and a lot many come in search of making a living.
When I announced that Varanasi is one of the places I am planning to visit, many people had questions to ask. My aunts wanted to know if I am going on a pilgrimage, and my mother snubbed them and responded that I am just travelling (“him? Pilgrimage?”). My sister-in-law asked me what I am planning to leave behind in Varanasi. Traditionally, a pilgrim to Varanasi leaves behind something very dear to him, indicating a recessive attitude to earthly matters.
Varanasi, or Kashi as it was once called, has been a traditional destination of the spiritually inclined and is a must-do pilgrimage for the devout Hindu. My father insisted that I visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple, and called up every day I was there, to make sure I did. I was there on the night of Maha Shivaratri, a festival dedicated to the lord of Kashi. He wanted me to visit the temple on the festival night, but I was deterred by the crowd of thousands who would like to be at the temple on the auspicious night, and preferred to postpone my visit. Pilgrims to Kashi have many things to do beyond the visit to Vishwanatha temple or a traditional holy dip in the Ganges. They make offering to the forefathers in heaven, pray to sun god, perform pooja or just meditate… (See original post – Many perceptions of Varanasi)
Ganga looked calm and still with little flow in this early summer. My boatman Naresh told me that she flows fast and furious in the monsoons and the water level rises much higher. Sadly, the industrial waste flowing in from Kanpur and other cities upstream ensured that the water was dark, polluted and repulsive. My dream of swimming for hours in the deep waters of the Ganga had to remain unfulfilled… (See original post – Boat ride on the Ganges at Varanasi)
In all the days that I was in Varanasi, I never missed morning and evening walks on the ghats. I would start from Assi Ghat where I stayed, and walk up to Dasaswamedh ghat, and sometimes to Manikarnika ghat…
Religion and religious practices are the most dominant experiences on the ghats. No matter what time you are there, you always see someone indulging in a ritual or the other. It could be as simple as a woman going round the peepul tree, a holy dip or a sadhu meditating, or a celebration as complex and elaborate as the Ganga Aarti… (See original post – life on the ghats of Varanasi)
