Bottles Up!

People probably say I am mad, but I am happy,'' says Jaikumar B. Bhandari, managing director, B.U. Bhandari Auto Ltd. But people may be f...

People probably say I am mad, but I am happy,8221; says Jaikumar B. Bhandari, managing director, B.U. Bhandari Auto Ltd. But people may be forgiven when they see Bhandari8217;s collection of miniature liquor bottles 8211; 500-strong 8211; all shapes, colours, sizes, and each still sealed. With the light glinting off the jars, golf balls, reindeer, golf club heads, ukuleles, barrels, revolvers, pigs, ships, shoes, canons, Swiss horns, apples and pears8230; the mind simply boggles. A 30-year collection this, most Western countries and liquor companies would find a little8217; representation here.

Bhandari started early, while still in college. 8220;I was visiting a friend8217;s place when I saw a few miniature bottles. Till then, I had never seen a whisky bottle,8221; he says. He is a Jain, he says in explanation. He remembers it was a miniature Johnny Walker Red Label bottle. He began his accumulation with it. Since then, his collection has grown in starts, as he explains, 8220;If I like a bottle, I buy it.8221; This means that should shape, colour, type of glass and, of course, size take his fancy, he8217;ll buy it. 8220;I am first attracted to the glass of the bottle. Look how beautifully this one is embossed and finished,8221; he says as he lovingly caresses a fine clear glass globe-shaped bottle with the countries picked out in frosted glass. This, at approximately Rs. 4,000, is his most expensive addition so far.

Some of his more recent acquisitions have been the product of his trips to Europe. But this only comprises 10 per cent of his entire collection. The rest have come of wanderings in and around Pune. 8220;There was a shop on Centre Street selling smuggled goods and they8217;d sell bottles to me. When I went to Mumbai, there were two or three shops I8217;d visit regularly.8221; His longest, yet fruitless, search has been for Wynand Fockink, a Dutch liquor company. He picks out a delicate glass pig whose snout forms the mouth of the bottle. 8220;I bought this in Goa and found that the company sells other shapes as well. When I went to Amsterdam, I spent two hours with the hotel staff trying to locate the company but I think they have closed down,8221; he says regretfully. He explains that he has a collector8217;s eye8217; and sees miniatures where others do not.

All the bottles contain their original contents 8211; whiskies, wines, champagne, liqueurs. 8220;Others drink it, I preserve it,8221; he says. He cannot say what each bottle contains for his interest lies only in the beauty of its presentation. Unfortunately, over the years, the spirits have been evaporating, leaving many of them with only half the volume. But explains his son, Shailesh, 8220;He has devised a way to prevent this. He melts candle wax, inverts the bottle and dips the mouth into the wax. That stops the evaporation.8221;

He hasn8217;t broken a single bottle so far and doesn8217;t have a written inventory for his collection. 8220;I have it all in my head,8221;he says. How often does he look at these beauties? 8220;Not as often as I like. They are locked away in a cupboard right now but I will be making a display cabinet for them so that I can look at them everyday,8221; he says.

His latest project is to get one miniature each of the 6,000 scotch whiskies available. 8220;I will be visiting England in June for the World Cup and then will look out for more bottles. I am also looking for crystal glass bottles. Money is no object.8221;

And we thought bottles were only for storing and pouring.