a day about black holes and white wine

A bright April morning found our family heading for a sleepy town of Nasik district called ‘Narayangaon’ in our Maruti 800. But for a change the town was buzzing with activity and at the centre of this excitement was the largest radio telescope complex in the world called ‘GMRT’ on Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope open to public only once a year on science day.

As we left the highway and took the bypass to the complex an extraordinary view awaited us around the corner. Spread across acres of barren chocolate brown land with patches of lime green paddy in between were numerous huge discs of pure white wire meshes resembling giant butterflies ready to take off to space !

Reaching our destination and post conversation with scientists taking questions from sharp and inquisitive kids sitting below one of the telescopes made us realize that this could almost be counted as a modern wonder of India. To begin with radio telescopes differ from our humble optical telescopes in the sense that the former look beyond our own galaxy and map the entire universe looking out for black holes, pulsars among other complex tasks whereas the latter is restricted to observe planets and stars within our solar system. Each single telescope is 2om high, has a dish with a diameter of 45 m and time slots are allotted to research labs all over the world.

Getting back after lunch we had an extra surprise-another famous export of the town besides radio wave bandwidth-wine!! On the highway itself was located the pioneering winery of India-“Chateau Indage”. Research had shown that 3 regions in India namely-Baramati, Nasik and Narayangaon had the necessary qualities like soil alkalinity, temp variance, rainfall levels etc conducive for the complete cycle of wine production.

A guided tour took us around the vineyards (we even tasted a certain variety of merlot grapes!), cellars, bottling plants enlightening us about the difference between red, white, rose, port and champagne.

We finally headed back after shopping for wine from the exclusive outlet cum restaurant and black grapes from roadside vendors on the highway.

a magical meal called maggi

Circa 2109. A cold winter evening in New Delhi’s South Ex. Sonam Reddy a design consultant working with the 2112 Gurgaon Olympics project is lazing around in her apartment on the 63rd floor after getting back from a memorable weekend trip to Kathmandu ( the round trip by nuclear fusion tech powered low cost airlines is quite convenient!) with her friends. She is slightly hungry and needs just that light warm meal to get back to the groove. She orders from the nearest Walmart store - a packet of Maggi Noodles, a litre of Bisleri water (potable water is a big scarcity now) and a packet of organic, precooked, finely cut vegetable mix using online banking from her 5G Nokia mobile handset. The transaction costs her a mere 20 dollars (the world’s common currency in vogue) and the items are home delivered within no time.

She sets about cooking the meal in her solar cooker and the result is a magical meal of golden yellowish-brown bowl of steaming Maggi Noodles sprinkled with chopped veggies. Its unique tangy aroma takes over the confines of her wi-fi modular kitchen momentarily. Settling down on a khadi beanbag ( a fab india product) and indulging into it a morsel at a time she slurpingly relishes every part of it as the night sets in outside and the zillion lights of the delhi skyline start sparkling outside.

So, that was my maiden attempt at writing fiction but what one really wants to bring out is the sheer and unparalleled joy of consuming a bowl of Maggi and popular the world over (a number of communities on Orkut and Facebook dedicated to it testify the same!) A favourite Maggi moment would be secretly making it with the help of an electric iron and books without making a single noise and not even a whiff escaping the cabin (a trade secret known only to Ex-NDA officers!).

Others would be after a long trek while camping under the stars snuggling to a small bonfire or in a forward bunker on the line of control prepared in desi ghee chatting with other sepoys and watching the snow fall outside or at the end of long journey at the roadside kiosk alongwith cutting chai or at a coffee shop with some interesting company and mocha coffee, after a rigorous workout with some form of eggs thrown in for taste (never mind the calories!) or simply at home with a dollop of amul butter added during preparation accompanied by a glass of coke!

A dish which can be cooked confidently by all men (and possibly the only dish) deserves more-a museum and research to make it edible in space too possibly!

kasmir musings

One realised that the so called “writers block" does exist but no more for I have found my muse- the beautiful cashmere valley!! As work related travel found my Indian Airlines flight descending from the clouds above to a green sea below and touchdown at Sri Nagar airport on a bright August afternoon I was convinced that this was another fascinating part of incredible India.

The first impression of the city was of huge and fabulous European style wooden bungalows, the picturesque Dal lake, Jhelum river, the distant Hari Parbat and Shankaracharya hill and the occasional military presence.

As our Tata Sumo glided along the smooth highway to Muzaffarabad lined with tall and lean pencil like poplar trees planted by Raja Hari Singh half a century back ( as claimed by our Marathi speaking Kashmiri driver Mushtaq ) one was awestruck by the greenery all around. There were miles of lemon green paddy fields, distinct bottle green hills on the fringes covered with thick pine forests and the occasional gigantic chinar trees in between. At intervals the surroundings changed into orchards full of reddening apples resembling a green summer dress with red polka dots!! Conversation revealed that the harvesting season was approaching and there are almost half a dozen varieties of this precious fruit grown in the valley with interesting names like American, Maharaja, Delicious, Hazratbali etc.

Enroute was also reminded of the recent meal I had with my sister on Rakhi day at a Kashmiri restaurant in Pune called “Shikara". If marketed well kashmiri cuisine can become a rage the would over and associated with other culinary brand names like Thai or Italian . A simple dish of Yakhni (curd based gravy of chicken/meat) with plain basmati rice is enough to impress even the most critical taste buds not taking into account various other concoctions and recipes on offer!!

So on a breezy night as one sat atop a nearby will with the vast valley below and its zillion little lights merged with an equal member of stars in a clear sky above one pondered that this valley was ideal for photographers, film makers, artists, tourists, trekkers and shoppers and not for the existing but much subdued conflict in place instead fueled by vested interests. May peace and normalcy descend upon it asap. Amen.