After arriving back in India on Friday last week, I had a quick turnaround as we had planned a weekend away to Nashik; a city up in the hills 160km north-east of Mumbai. I knew two things about Nashik before we set off; (i) it is a holy place for Hindus attracting many pilgrims who travel great distances; and (ii) it is the centre of the Indian wine growing industry and is surrounded by vineyards. Both good from a tourist perspective.
We left home early on Saturday morning to avoid traffic in Mumbai (we had our driver Sagar with us for the weekend) and stopped off in Sion for a breakfast samosa at Guru Kripa on the way, an establishment recommended in my Savour Mumbai cookbook. These 8 rupee goodies were extremely tasty though the 9 rupee samosas that I've had from BKC still have the edge.
Replenished, we travelled to Nashik which was an easy 2.5 hour drive up a well-kept highway. The landscape soon becomes attractive upon leaving Mumbai, with undulating hills and noticeably fresher air as we climbed up to the higher-altitude of Nashik. We saw several pilgrims walking along the road from Mumbai to Nashik, an amazing sight and impressive journey for people to make, especially in the heat of the day.
Our first stop was the Sula Vineyards, a California style winery on the outskirts of Nashik. Sula wines seem to be everywhere in Mumbai and we learnt, on the winery tour, that the company's turnover is huge and its wines are exported all over the world. Sula was set up by a Princeton graduate and the climate in Nashik feels Californian; I fully expect that the Indian wine industry will continue to improve and develop as it has done for the last 20 years in these conditions. St John's College in Cambridge has Indian wine on its wine list, and I'd expect to see much more of it around in the future.
We enjoyed the short tour and subsequent wine tasting with an informative although rather jaded guide who was patiently explaining how to taste wine to a group of people who primarily wanted to drink as much wine as possible. He explained to us that the concept of wine tasting hasn't fully taken off yet, hence his detailed description of how to taste wine properly (see, swirl, sniff, sip etc.), but that knowledge is now improving. He explained that all Sula wine is now in screw-top bottles as many Indians do not own or know how to operate a corkscrew. I'm not sure I believe this and consider this statement to be rather sweeping, but that's what he said to us!
We enjoyed the Shiraz and Viogner (both Californian-style) and purchased a few bottles to stock our (rather depleted) wine rack at home.
For a complete change of scene, we drove into the centre of Nashik to visit the ghats and templates that draw Hindu pilgrims to the city. This was not a touristy place, we were the only non-Indians in sight, but we were not hassled and enjoyed seeing another side of Indian life.
We had a relaxing evening at our hotel and early night owing to our very early start on Sunday morning. After booking our weekend break to Nashik, we'd found out about a 10k run and 21k run happening at the Sula vineyards on Sunday morning. In preparation for January, we signed up and looked forward to the opportunity to run in a cooler environment with clean air; although this would require a 5am alarm on a Sunday.
We thoroughly enjoyed the run and our driver Sagar seemed to take the news about the 5am start remarkably well. We bought him breakfast at the vineyards to make up for it...
When we arrived, there were lots of very fit looking people warming up with impressive stretches and the atmosphere was full of energy and enthusiasm for the run. We somehow ended up on the podium, Phil was 2nd in the half marathon (despite a slightly dodgy tum, again) and I was 3rd (woman) in the 10k. We're not quite sure how this keeps happening though running in races in India is a big confidence boost! We also met several friendly and strong runners from Mumbai who welcomed us and shared their experiences of running in India. We were told about the runner who won the men's open category in last year's Mumbai marathon - a poor Maharashtrian farmer who runs barefoot and slept on the ground the day before the race, before completing the marathon in 2hours 30mins. Quite astonishing and very inspiring.
Now for the swimming bit...Phil went away to Chennai on a work trip yesterday and I aim to get some exercise in every day whilst he is away. This started with a swim after work on Monday, much to the horror of Sagar who thought I would get ill swimming in the current "cold" conditions. Err...the temperature is still reaching 30 degrees each day and the lower humidity is pleasant relief in my view. There was a children's swimming class happening in the pool (swimming widths) whilst I was swimming lengths (this involves a bit of diving child dodging). Amongst a confident group of youngsters, one little boy was adamant that he did not want to leave the side of the pool and screamed loudly when the instructor tried to nudge him out to swim. The boy eventually climbed out to his mother for sympathy who patted him on the head and promptly picked him up and dunked him in the pool again. It was tough love, but worked eventually as he managed a few widths, but made a lot of noise about it!
Moving on to phones, I have recently been considering buying my first ever smart phone (yes, I know I'm behind the times). Just about everyone seems to walk around with a smart phone in India so I had naively assumed that these are affordable for the average person...not so, they seem to be more expensive than in the UK! The lastest iphone is more than £500 for the handset here, and that's before you get to the contract.
After looking at a few phones, feeling confused, and deciding that a cheap one to make calls will be fine for what I need, I discussed smart phones with Sagar who is saving up to buy the latest expensive one in January, worth several months' salary him. This does though make me understand just how important phones are for the young generation in India, both for their actual function and as an important status symbol.
Bread...a small thing but the happy point of my day was returning home to find that Veronica had spontaneously made me a pile of chapattis which were keeping warm covered by plates in the kitchen. This was lovely and made me smile.
Another random event of my week is that I had to provide details for a new access card for the building at work, which bizarrely included my blood group. I have never had a blood test so have no idea what it is! In a perfect world I would love to give blood and know that it's an important thing to do, but I unfortunately tend to faint when approached with a needle. Anyway, I've discovered that not knowing your blood group is considered to be extremely strange in India. My work colleagues were astonished. The standard reaction to any kind of minor ailment is to take a blood sample and people seem to have extensive blood checking tests as a matter of course even when they are feeling fine. I visited a local clinic at lunchtime today and had a protracted discussion about what I wanted - they just didn't believe that I could not know what my blood group is! After much discussion and persuading them that (i) I do not need to be referred by a doctor; and (ii) I do not want my heart, lung, liver and kidney functions checking at the same time at finding out my blood group, the test went ahead. After all that excitement and parting with 150 rupees, I found that I'm O positive, as common as muck.
We left home early on Saturday morning to avoid traffic in Mumbai (we had our driver Sagar with us for the weekend) and stopped off in Sion for a breakfast samosa at Guru Kripa on the way, an establishment recommended in my Savour Mumbai cookbook. These 8 rupee goodies were extremely tasty though the 9 rupee samosas that I've had from BKC still have the edge.
Our second breakfast
Replenished, we travelled to Nashik which was an easy 2.5 hour drive up a well-kept highway. The landscape soon becomes attractive upon leaving Mumbai, with undulating hills and noticeably fresher air as we climbed up to the higher-altitude of Nashik. We saw several pilgrims walking along the road from Mumbai to Nashik, an amazing sight and impressive journey for people to make, especially in the heat of the day.
Flying the flag
Our first stop was the Sula Vineyards, a California style winery on the outskirts of Nashik. Sula wines seem to be everywhere in Mumbai and we learnt, on the winery tour, that the company's turnover is huge and its wines are exported all over the world. Sula was set up by a Princeton graduate and the climate in Nashik feels Californian; I fully expect that the Indian wine industry will continue to improve and develop as it has done for the last 20 years in these conditions. St John's College in Cambridge has Indian wine on its wine list, and I'd expect to see much more of it around in the future.
We enjoyed the short tour and subsequent wine tasting with an informative although rather jaded guide who was patiently explaining how to taste wine to a group of people who primarily wanted to drink as much wine as possible. He explained to us that the concept of wine tasting hasn't fully taken off yet, hence his detailed description of how to taste wine properly (see, swirl, sniff, sip etc.), but that knowledge is now improving. He explained that all Sula wine is now in screw-top bottles as many Indians do not own or know how to operate a corkscrew. I'm not sure I believe this and consider this statement to be rather sweeping, but that's what he said to us!
We enjoyed the Shiraz and Viogner (both Californian-style) and purchased a few bottles to stock our (rather depleted) wine rack at home.
Impressive modern wine tasting bar
The sniff test
Sula vineyards looking out from the main winery building
Lots and lots of wine
For a complete change of scene, we drove into the centre of Nashik to visit the ghats and templates that draw Hindu pilgrims to the city. This was not a touristy place, we were the only non-Indians in sight, but we were not hassled and enjoyed seeing another side of Indian life.
View over the main ghat and temple area
The only two tourists in the area
Living temple
Water edge teeming with activity
Washing
Obligatory cattle picture
We had a relaxing evening at our hotel and early night owing to our very early start on Sunday morning. After booking our weekend break to Nashik, we'd found out about a 10k run and 21k run happening at the Sula vineyards on Sunday morning. In preparation for January, we signed up and looked forward to the opportunity to run in a cooler environment with clean air; although this would require a 5am alarm on a Sunday.
Cake on our hotel buffet. The great Indian cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar retired on Saturday after playing his last test match in Mumbai.
We thoroughly enjoyed the run and our driver Sagar seemed to take the news about the 5am start remarkably well. We bought him breakfast at the vineyards to make up for it...
When we arrived, there were lots of very fit looking people warming up with impressive stretches and the atmosphere was full of energy and enthusiasm for the run. We somehow ended up on the podium, Phil was 2nd in the half marathon (despite a slightly dodgy tum, again) and I was 3rd (woman) in the 10k. We're not quite sure how this keeps happening though running in races in India is a big confidence boost! We also met several friendly and strong runners from Mumbai who welcomed us and shared their experiences of running in India. We were told about the runner who won the men's open category in last year's Mumbai marathon - a poor Maharashtrian farmer who runs barefoot and slept on the ground the day before the race, before completing the marathon in 2hours 30mins. Quite astonishing and very inspiring.
Post-race on a beautiful morning at the Sula vineyards
My award for 2nd place in the 10k.
Phil was left on the podium alone for a while as no one could find his trophy. He started doing poses for the audience after a while..
There were two (incredibly bendy) Yoga teachers leading stretching sessions after the run. We learned that (i) we have no sense of balance; and (ii) we are completely inflexible relative to the average Indian.
With fellow friendly runners who we met after the race.
An overloaded truck on the road back from Nashik.
Now for the swimming bit...Phil went away to Chennai on a work trip yesterday and I aim to get some exercise in every day whilst he is away. This started with a swim after work on Monday, much to the horror of Sagar who thought I would get ill swimming in the current "cold" conditions. Err...the temperature is still reaching 30 degrees each day and the lower humidity is pleasant relief in my view. There was a children's swimming class happening in the pool (swimming widths) whilst I was swimming lengths (this involves a bit of diving child dodging). Amongst a confident group of youngsters, one little boy was adamant that he did not want to leave the side of the pool and screamed loudly when the instructor tried to nudge him out to swim. The boy eventually climbed out to his mother for sympathy who patted him on the head and promptly picked him up and dunked him in the pool again. It was tough love, but worked eventually as he managed a few widths, but made a lot of noise about it!
Moving on to phones, I have recently been considering buying my first ever smart phone (yes, I know I'm behind the times). Just about everyone seems to walk around with a smart phone in India so I had naively assumed that these are affordable for the average person...not so, they seem to be more expensive than in the UK! The lastest iphone is more than £500 for the handset here, and that's before you get to the contract.
After looking at a few phones, feeling confused, and deciding that a cheap one to make calls will be fine for what I need, I discussed smart phones with Sagar who is saving up to buy the latest expensive one in January, worth several months' salary him. This does though make me understand just how important phones are for the young generation in India, both for their actual function and as an important status symbol.
Bread...a small thing but the happy point of my day was returning home to find that Veronica had spontaneously made me a pile of chapattis which were keeping warm covered by plates in the kitchen. This was lovely and made me smile.
Another random event of my week is that I had to provide details for a new access card for the building at work, which bizarrely included my blood group. I have never had a blood test so have no idea what it is! In a perfect world I would love to give blood and know that it's an important thing to do, but I unfortunately tend to faint when approached with a needle. Anyway, I've discovered that not knowing your blood group is considered to be extremely strange in India. My work colleagues were astonished. The standard reaction to any kind of minor ailment is to take a blood sample and people seem to have extensive blood checking tests as a matter of course even when they are feeling fine. I visited a local clinic at lunchtime today and had a protracted discussion about what I wanted - they just didn't believe that I could not know what my blood group is! After much discussion and persuading them that (i) I do not need to be referred by a doctor; and (ii) I do not want my heart, lung, liver and kidney functions checking at the same time at finding out my blood group, the test went ahead. After all that excitement and parting with 150 rupees, I found that I'm O positive, as common as muck.
Another reason for smiling is that we've found out this week that Phil's brother Richard and girlfriend Frankie will be getting married in March. Hooray! All I need to find now is find an Indian wedding outfit...
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