Bottled poetry

My sleep cycle was deemed a deserved sacrifice, albeit on a Sunday, after a week of hard work. Truth be told, I woke up at 6.00 am and left for the airport feeling quite refreshed. Divya Palat, the young beautiful actress in the new Coke ad with Aamir Khan, was one of the guests who came with my son, Krish, and myself. Sanjeev Choudhary and Kishin Mulchandani gallantly escorted us and took care of all the check-in formalities. We boarded the chartered Indian Airlines flight, which was near full with friends and acquaintances. The plane, from a quick perusal of the occupants, had quite a few nocturnal creatures who all looked like they could have done with some extra sleep. There was a general air of bonhomie and the Captain and crew of the Indian Airlines flight were extremely warm and welcoming. We went in luxury coaches from Pune to Narayangaon, adistance covered in a little more than an hour. On arrival at Indage we were greeted by a local band and children playing the lezim and the proverbial glass of Champagne.

I mingled and said hello to Ramesh Garware and some of his guests who had come in the company chopper from Pune. I exchanged a quick greeting with Mr and Mrs Sanghvi, Mr and Mrs Kirloskar, Mrs Kalyani, all of whom had joined us from Pune. Credit for the arrangements must go to the Chougule brothers Ranjeet and Vikrant and Devika Bhojwani, the event manager. From sporty straw hats to small wine tasting glasses, everything had been taken care of.We started by walking across to the vineyard to harvest a few bunches of grapes. Ranjeet Chougule, the scion of the house and his charming wife Rina accompanied us. They filled us in with the finer details of the vineyard and the fact that it had been in existence for the past 20 years. We ambled up a small hillock, to the march of the band to sink into white chairs set up around white tables, prettywhite umbrellas completing the picture.

From the moment we sat, it was a visual, olfactory and culinary treat. We were treated to a sampling of virtually every wine produced by the house of Indage and of all their joint venture partners. These include Wente vineyards of California, Peter Mertes of Germany and Group Taillan of France. Karen Anand’s Gourmet kitchen did the European catering and we were treated to sumptuous local tandoori cuisine. The Sahyadri Valley’s famed beauty was all around for the eyes to feast on. On the plane, I’d exchanged pleasantries with Kumar Gaurav and Anju, along with sister Priya Dutt, Anil, Imtiaz and Ayesha Dharkar, and Nirja Shah, but despite my best intentions of grabbing them for a chat I saw them again only back at the airport. Poonam and Sanjeev Malhotra, Rashmi Uday Singh, Rashmi Mehta, Neerja and Anaida, were some of my other friends that despite my best intentions we missed, till our return trip. We made a cozy table with Andrew Carnegie, Sheldon Austin, Ajit Singh,Vayu Garware and Mayuri Smamrth, Suketu Shah, Krish, Sanjeev, Kishin, Divya and Ranjeet Chougule, all of us playing musical chairs to accommodate others. The media were well represented and I managed a quick hello to the sporting, charming Mehr Moos, Malvika Sanghvi, the dapper Anish Trivedi with wife Vinita and the crews and photographers from all major media enterprises.

The Grape Harvest Stomp had quite a few young ladies quite enthusiastically jumping up and down in a large wooden vat. Sabah Khaleeli and Miss California led the stomping brigade till Vikrant joined his lovely French girlfriend Nadia, eventually Ranjeet was also pressed into service. Fun and laughter was the order of the day and after consuming vast quantities of `bottled poetry’ we were in fine fettle. When Mario, Madhu Sapre and Sangeeta Chopra arrived almost at lunchtime we welcomed them like long lost friends. The choppers of the house of Garware and Kalyani began their noisy shuttle soon after, prompting our group to start thinkingof a detour via the Garware farm en route to the airport. We soaked a bit more sun, had Chef Ramesh of Karen’s kitchen make us a special cheese fondue, and drank some of the new `Millennium’ a sparkling rosé, from the house of Indage. This wine is a delicious light sparkling rosé wine, in a light gold-labelled bottle, very French, very chic. This one, I’m sure, will be a huge success as they say a good curry is best complimented by beer or a rosé wine. A sparkling crisp light rosé can only enhance the flavour of our foods and I look forward to introducing it in my home by the millennium. We left by half past three and detoured to Vayu Garware’s home in Khadakvasala, Pune. We were greeted by handsome hunk Vayu and his fiancé the gorgeous Mayuri Samarth.

Gosh! Do these two have it all, they are a perfect match with a warmth, generosity and sense of fun that’s hard to match. The farm is perched in the hills of the National Defence Academy and the home is a sprawling testimony of Sunita Garware’s taste. We satby the pool playing with Dingo, the boxer and Soufflé the Maltese terrier. We ate, drank and merried till it was time to leave for the airport. Our detour to Vayu’s home was a fitting finale to a day of extraordinary warmth, laughter, glamour and chic. The journey back was quite subdued and the thought of a hot bath and bed seemed irresistibly welcoming. The Chougules plan to host his event every year from this year on, I advise all my friends who are invited, to accept and come for sure, as it was a fabulous one of a kind experience which I highly recommend as a `must do’ in the social calendar of the city. The meticulous planning and execution turned the day into a memorable one. Thank you Indage! Another Indian first to make us swadeshis proud.