Last Saturday, I was standing near Chamundi Devi temple observing last total lunar eclipse of this year. As I am an enthusiast photographer (‘amateur photographer’ is the exact term but I wanted to avoid it here!) I started photography experiments. It was all pleasant – the beautiful moon, the breeze flowing upwards the hill soothing body while distant chants from nearby temple soothing the mind.
It was all good until a drunken local person came my way. ‘Full tight’ he was on a beautiful Saturday night just at 7:30PM! He said, “…” - well, something something in drunken Kannada to which I replied, “Kannada gottilla boss!” – (This is one sentence I know perfectly in Kannada & ‘Boss’ is something I learnt here in Mysore so it’s an integral part of language.)
He, “Hindi ata hai?”
Me, “ha.”
He, “udhar camera mai kya dikh raha hai?”
I told him about eclipse and me trying to shoot it. He was curious, came along and asked me to show it to him what I see in the camera. I directed him to the viewfinder where he could see. But my camera was on tripod kept on height beyond the reach of drunken man. He started arguing to put it down, something which was not possible for me in the middle of my experiment. Though I managed to show him the view in LCD & make him go away.
There I was back on my experiment when the man came back in about a minute or two. This time, he was speaking Kannada again, the drunken fellow had memory span comparable to that of goldfish! I can’t reproduce exact words here but I know he wanted me to zoom to the moon and show him details. My camera has 3x optical zoom which is not sufficient to see details on the moon. I told him the fact, but looking at the size of the camera, he wouldn’t agree & thought I am lying! Then he warned me to leave the place or he will smack my camera & destroy it! I could resist but then I something I read in Marathi literature which means “Don’t get engaged in arguments with Drunk, Fools and Monkeys” and of course my camera was at stake. So I left the place.
My night was ruined. I was angry, disappointed and thinking all about other such experiences. All the way from a fight I saw while I was with my uncle in a village to the college parties where one of our friends got so high that he said he loves one of our teachers and apologised to his grandma who was according to him at that moment dancing in the heavens. All other those tiny little incidences where I suffered because of somebody else got drunk. So where it all started?
Liquors are probably the oldest of consumables which human known to have adverse effects but are still in existence. Earliest known wine production occurred in Georgia around 8000 BC. Other notable sites in Iran and Armenia dated 7,000 BC and 6000 BC, respectively. Wine tied in myth to Dionysus – god of grape harvest, was common in ancient Greece and Rome. Wine making technology since then evolved and became more advance. The first evidence of distilled liquor (Whiskey, Vodka, Rum, Tequila are just some varieties of distilled liquors) is recorded in the 12th century in School of Salerno – a medieval medical school in south Italy. Distilled liquor does not get contaminated by bacteria or other parasites and hence can be stored for long durations without fear of spoiling it. Hence it was quite popular to carry liquors as the only source of hydration on ships.
I still don’t understand in spite of having so much of great history and culture of liquor consumption why there is opposition to consumption of wine in modern day society? It’s something to be in practice from beginning of time (according to theist) as god created universe and wine was one the things included.
There are many apocryphal tales about the origins of wine. Biblical accounts tell of Noah and his sons producing wine at the base of Mount Ararat. One tale involves the legendary Persian king, Jamshid and his harem. According to the legend, the king banished one of his harem ladies from his kingdom, causing her to become despondent and wishing to commit suicide. Going to the king's warehouse, the girl sought out a jar marked "poison" which contained the remnants of grapes that had spoiled and were deemed undrinkable. Unbeknown to her, the "spoilage" was actually the result of fermentation caused by the breakdown of the grapes by yeast into alcohol. After drinking the so-called poison, the harem girl discovered its effects to be pleasant and her spirits were lifted. She took her discovery to the king who became so enamoured with this new "wine" beverage that he not only accepted the girl back into his harem but also decreed that all grapes grown in Persepolis would be devoted to winemaking. While most wine historians view this story as pure legend, there is archaeological evidence that wine was known and extensively traded by the early Persian kings.
While Europe still holds the legends of wine making – and they have wine influenced in culture; probably Americans are the last ones to get introduced to wine when Italians started to grow grape production and wineries.
As now you know the rich history of wine, go ahead without any hesitation. Book your favourite hotel for New Year eve party which pleasantly falls on boozers favourite Saturday. All the popular boozing places have started early booking and getting filled. If you want to invite me (at your expense) call me on my number, 2565600… Oh, wait! That’s my parent's phone number please do not call on that!
Now many of you will find this article absurd and be driving away from the title; I’ll tell you the reason, while I am writing the article, the inspiration behind it happily resides in my stomach!
Statutory Warning: Drinking alcohol is injurious to health and causes liver & kidney failure!
