Wine 'n' Sensibility

Will have to interrupt the Bordeaux story as the events in Mumbai have changed the mood drastically. When it all ended, some French friends came over with the mission to give me moral support, they opened a bottle of wine and handed me a glass.

I didn’t quite feel like eating or drinking anything as I was in shock, but also, strangely, I found myself looking at my friends with some amount of disapproval as they sipped an inexpensive table wine with the goat cheese quiche that they’d come with.

A true Delhiite to the core, I am still conditioned to connect drinking with the “pubbing spirit”, our heritage from the Brits combined with some traces of Indian middle class virtue.

Going out to get sloshed is fun. So drinking is revelling. When you are sad you don’t drink unless you are a alcoholic. You don’t drink out of respect for those in mourning.

For some others, drinking while “on duty” is a no-no. I often work with both Indian and French cameramen.
And have found they always feel a bit squirmy if I choose to have a glass of wine for working lunches with my fellow Indian cameramen!

In other cultures, and for the French at least, wine is not always revelry.
Drinking a glass of wine for lunch break when at work is perfectly fine if you are not on a diet, not likely to feel sleepy and are okay spending a little extra money.

It’s often a luxury that adds to the overall culinary experience. Wine is also “nourriture” as the French say..“nourishment”, therefore food.

And even people in mourning drink wine. I remember drinking champagne at someone's funeral in Paris because it was their favourite wine!

So if France is in many ways the origin for world wine culture then drinking wine is not about getting sloshed. At least not always.

But mostly like food, consuming it in normal doses can be just blasé. Just like seeking tasty food does not have any moral implications.

Unless you believe gourmandising is sinning or that drinking is always about attaining high levels of intoxication.

Guess if that makes you happy, it's your choice. I prefer not going overboard with my wine because it’s a waste to end up forcing the body to bring it all up and out.