VIBGYOR

Gone with the wind

Once in a while this blog gets shut down... this time it looks like a permanent shut down. Thank you for the interest.

Those lost days

An evening of "those days have gone by" and like an icing on the cake, I was tagged by my school friend... - there in facebook was me from 20 years back looking back. I stared at her, tried to decipher what she was saying - yet, as expected she was smiling. Inspite of getting into trouble with all the pranks, she had really enjoyed herself. Perhaps it is a reminder to take life a bit less seriously now though it is a struggle.

A lot of people exclaim at the 300 and odd friends that I have in facebook (no doubt I am not one of the top ones) - yet, when I saw this picture it reminded me about why it is more difficult for me to chose. I have lived in 13 places (oh dear! what is that for a number) in my three and a half decades of life. This is not the count of the number of times I have moved but just the number of places I have lived in.

Each time I moved and associated with a place all over again, I made new friends. Though I lost touch with them, I managed to find them back many times over again. Here in Brussels I again am managing to make new friends. So, while I do not keep in touch with all of them regularly, they are always there for me to call on them or for them to come calling with memories knocking on the door. I hope facebook is a new way to keep in touch with them permanently instead of losing touch the moment one of us forgot to reply to a mail or just kept postponing the reply - there is a mail from Thangam that I keep thinking I should reply to but I remembered just 1 month back that I was thinking about a mail she sent 4 years back.

Me and my fringes and my hair left open, me with fringes with my hair tied up - both in the uniform that I found interesting quite early on. As a result of all the moves (6 moves since these pictures were taken), I have lost these pictures. I think they are in my parent's house in Trivandrum or Chennai. However, since they do not live there anymore, it seems strange to knock on the tenant's doors to just take pictures. Perhaps next time.

Bins, I want to put up a post about the questions you asked - so I have not forgotten your comment.  

Probe der 100 wein - 2-nd May 2009, Kallstadt

Some glimpses into the wine probe. When we reached Kallstadt it was dead,

there were 5 stalls of sweets, toys and dart and shooting games and a children's ferry wheel in the middle. There was a hall with a white and black banner called "Probe der 100 weine" and there were two security guards outside. Disappointed at the lack of fan fair, we decided to walk further into the vineyards when Vidya and I thought it would be a shame to walk away even without looking in. So we went in to be accousted by two security guards.

 

"Ausweis bitte". (Identity card, please)

"Oh.. I do not have it - fuhrerschein gehts?" (Will the driving license do?)

They flipped mine to the date of birth and smiled. They looked at Vidya's and the smile turned broader.

We walked in. 12 Euros entry fee but unlimited tasting for 100 wines. Some special ones will cost 1.5 Euros extra (for the Raritein) and the others 2.5 Euros (Eiswein).

We went out to a crowd which was more interested in cake and coffee. We shrugged - let us try on our way back. After the cake and coffee we walked back here. While Parmanu, a non drinker found a colleague to talk to and then went on a long walk in the vineyards, we wine lovers spent our time sampling the different ones. Here are some pictures.

and we did come away with some of them though advised by Parmanu's colleague that we should perhaps come back on May 18-th when some wine cellars open with their Vintage collections - and why not - it gives an additional chance to walk in this lovely village and be a part of the special culture that belongs here.

Brussels in spring

Bins asked for pictures. Here is the first set just before leaving for weinfest in the Pfalz. Rest after I am back.

The different types of sweets in this country makes it an ideal place for me to live.

Chocolate fountains, chocolatiers at work...

and though the waffles look lovely, I do not like the ones in the tourist area as much as some in certain hidden restaurants....

and no tourist place is complete without the Japanese - here they are competing to take pictures of the most famous man in Brussels.

I am no man... yet....

"Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another." *--Jacques Anatole Thibault/Anatole France,

Nobel Prize-winning novelist, from "The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard"*