Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Napa Valley wines Part 2 for Mint Lounge
Beyond the blue yonder where chocolate-coloured grapevines stretch as far as the eye can see, a plant is making choices about its future. It is gnarly and old. Its snaking brown roots sink deep into the land that has been its sole and only home; a land that made its name through Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa, they call this place. It used to be farmland until the 1970s. A young Stanford graduate, Robert Mondavi, moved there to start a winery in 1966. That changed everything.
Napa Valley wines Part 1 for Mint Lounge
Nicholson Ranch was the last stop on Day 1. By then, Platypus Wine Tours had taken a group of us wine tourists to three Napa Valley wineries in California. Buena Vista, because it was the oldest; Robledo, because it was the first to be owned by a migrant Mexican worker; and Peter Cellars, because it was a one-man show by a transplanted Brit. They say Pinot Noirs are the hardest to grow, but really, it could apply to any varietal. Blame it on Sideways.
The art of collaboration between dancers, artists and social scientists
Rehearsals are a vicarious pleasure; a way of accessing the genius of performers without the pressure of a performance. A few arts institutions—the Lincoln Center in New York, for instance—accord the privilege of watching a rehearsal for a price. I am at Kamani at the behest of Minaakshi Dass, whose venture, India Heritage Desk, aims to discover the next Aditi Mangaldas or Malavika Sarukkai. Gauri Diwakar may be one candidate.
Heavenly breakfast in Varanasi: Mint Lounge
South Indians, or should I say Tamilians, can be cantankerous purists. No mixing tastes. No adding sugar to dal like the Gujaratis do; or adding jaggery to rasam like the Kannadigas do. Only one vegetable per sambhar; be it okra, brinjal or small onions. If you mix multiple vegetables, you are a caterer who is trying to palm off all the cheap vegetables available into one pot. These Tamilians ought to taste the pleasures of breakfast in Varanasi. It might change their minds.
The delights of wearing a sari: for Mint Lounge
This is going to be my year of regional styles of donning this garment. Just saw and loved Baji Rao Mastani. Nanditha Lakshmanan, Shilpa Sharma, Sudha Kanago, Deepa Krishnan, Ally Mathan, Jo Pattabhiraman, Chandra Jain, Geetha Rao, and all you casual and effortless sari wearers, this one is for you. 25 December 2015 | E-Paper Home » Leisure » The Good Life Last Modified: Fri, Dec 25 2015. 02 05 PM IST The delights of wearing a sari For many of this generation, donning a sari is both a moral and an aesthetic choice 18 Shoba Narayan Dress is [...]
Paris and Luxury
Should brands take a stand is the question I try to analyze in this piece. Normally, no. But now? Thanks to Elisabeth Cadoche-Guez for setting me up with luxury brand executives in Paris. Elisabeth is the author of a wonderful book on Arthur Rimbaud. 27 November 2015 | E-Paper Home » Leisure » The Good Life Last Modified: Thu, Nov 26 2015. 05 07 PM IS Luxury in the time of great tragedy France’s great luxury brands haven’t done much in this time of tragedy, and they ought to repair that Shoba Narayan Imagine if you were the head of [...]
How to talk to elders: game their wisdom and learn from it
What is your strategy when you meet elders; those uncles you encounter at weddings? You sit with them, chat desultorily about their prostate, how hot Mumbai has become, and maybe reminisce about the ancestral home or village. The conversation ends abruptly after 5 minutes; and then both parties, with relief, turn to their devices.
The outrage over Manchurian ‘idli’: for Mint Lounge
The outrage over Manchurian ‘idli’ There are a hundred wonderful variations of this ancient, flawless dish. Why spoil it? It was on board a Vistara Airlines flight that I first tasted the ghastly concoction called idli manchurian. It was my first time on the airline. I was happy. The distinct airline smell was absent. You know the one I mean? The explosive combination of closed lavatories, chemical air freshener, deodorant, all overlaid by the scent of hot food stuffed into trolleys and crammed into a small space—like a gassy burp waiting to happen. Then the food came. I should [...]
How to give (or how to clear out your closet)
This then is the long view of life. I view interactions as transactions. My parents view interactions as relationships. Post office personnel get invited home for festivals; and the man at the transport office gets new nightwear because he complained that his joints were aching in Bengaluru’s cold weather. As for me, I have a lot of spare room in my storage closet these days.
Can you smell and taste through cyberspace?
The killer app, at least in the fields of wine, perfume, cheese, or anything that relies on olfactory and gustatory sensations, will have nothing to do with curing male baldness. The killer app for wine and perfume will be the ability to transport scent and taste through cyberspace. If you could click on a wine bottle that is displayed on your computer and smell the aroma of the wine it contains, all the wine descriptions that we struggle to come up with will be rendered useless in an instant.