Author: meenarnair
To Billy who is no more
Amid the bleat of goats
Billy is taken to the slaughter house
One huge blow
And lo! Billy is no more
The sharpened knife
Finds the right spot
Just a knock
And the bones and ribs
That once kept Billy together
Easily fall apart
And as the sliding knife
Paves its way through
Billy is turned into pieces.
Isn’t it so simple, so easy
To quieten and bring to end
A God’s creation?
Has it every happened to you?
That you saw a vision of a rising sky
Smelt the fragrance of eternity
Heard a deep voice within you
Asking you to rise above
And taste the blisfullness of being alive
Has it ever happened to you?
Words!
Imprisoned words
Tries to break free
The lump in the throat stops them
You cannot escape, my friends
The outcome will be too much to bear
The mind hurries after them
No, don’t let yourselves loose
The outcome will be disastrous
The words look around
Catching everyone’s pleading eyes
Suddenly, the heart speaks
Release them, let them free
Happiness writ large on their faces
The words run to freedom
In minutes, they are out as confessions
The heart looks on
Their freedom has done nothing
To reduce its agonizing pain
Smiling sadly, it slowly walks
Into the prison of uncertainity.
Thoughts…
Thoughts,
You are so lucky
You can wander about
Anywhere and everywhere
You can be what you want to be
You can be where you want to be
You tend to meet different other thoughts
Whom you may either befriend or make foe
You feel no hunger
You feel no thirst
You never age
You can be as young or old as you choose to be
You reside within me
Yet, you are on your own
Oh, thoughts you are so lucky
Is there any way I can be like you?
I want to….
I want to walk
Through a lovely meadow
Knowing that I don’t have to hurry back
I want to look up at the sky
And reach out to every cloud that passes by
I want to smell the flowers
Till my soul befriends their fragrant powers
I want the wind to caress my hair
Till they become wild and unruly
I want to romance time
Till it becomes mine
For that will stop all my longingness
Because then, all the moments will be mine.
Life is Crazy
Life is making me go crazy
It shoves me
It pushes me
Then, it picks me up
And like a dog shaking
A bone between its teeth
Life shakes me and shakes me hard
Left, right and center
I am terrified in the beginning
Then I begin to enjoy it
What the hell
After all I am getting a joyride for free
But as I enjoy it
Life decides otherwise
It decides to let go of me
Takes pity on me
And allows me to have the best of things
I am again terrified
I am standing steady with no one shaking me
How is this possible?
I was enjoying the joy ride! Come On
Sigh! Life ways are strange
But slowly terror is leaving my side, I feel
So, good life! Here I come
Before Life changes its mind once again
Let me enjoy you.
Searching for the little me
I went on a search
A search for the little me that I used to be
The little me who could conjure images out of nothing
Who could laugh at anything
To whom happiness was always a company
The elder me is mature
She strikes a fine balance between reality and imagination
She weighs every word she talks and laughs with caution
She conjures images that are practical
But she often misses the little me that I used to be
I silently watch the elder me reach out to the little me
Trying to wipe the dust of time, and embrace her
Fighting the waves of the present lashing at her …
I continue watching
She looks at me with confused eyes
Then I slowly tell her –
Dear, do not go to the past
Make the most of the present
Then only will the future me
Miss you and try to reach out for you
She smiles, understands and quietly returns back to me
Promising to make my present the most memorable !
Check out my Slide Show!
[slideshow id=3530822107895934234&w=426&h=320]
Hey, before I go on to talk about myself….hope you enjoyed the pics in the link above. I had put them up for two reasons –
a) because they are close to my heart and remind me of some serene moments
b) to add a little more colour to the page
I actually wanted my latest posts to be my default page but somehow Word Press does not have the facility of prioritizing posts. Which means if at times I write something that I don’t want as the latest, yet it ends up being there as the top one. Hence, this is the solution I came up with. 🙂 If you have anything better, do let me know.
Now about me –
A simpleton – who loves to dream, who tries to be true to oneself in this mystical world of un-realities, who tries to find humor in every wake of life, one for whom words mean everything. Nothing can be more beautiful than words!
So guys, thanks for being here. Please surf through my posts by clicking on the categories onto your left. Do leave behind your inputs. It helps greatly 🙂
A Perspecitve on Wine Industy
Inception and Growth of Wine Industry
The wine industry has come a long way since 4000 BC, when vines were first cultivated and wines produced for the first time in the Middle East. Today, the wine industry is approximately a USD 300 billion industry. Several factors have contributed to this growth over the centuries.
Wine-olution
Egypt and Crete began to trade wine as early as 2500 BC. Around 1000 BC, the Greeks introduced winemaking to Sicily, southern Italy, and northern Africa. Another 500 years later, France, Spain, and Portugal joined the race. By first century AD, wine was being produced throughout the Roman Empire. The Romans introduced viticulture and wine production to France. Later it spread across the Mediterranean, and northern and much of southern and western Europe. By now, wine was endowed with powerful religious and secular meanings and offering wine to Gods was a common practice. Throughout the Dark Age, the church and monasteries kept the production of wine going. As Europe came out the Dark Age, irregular supply of water made wine a necessity, thus fuelling wine trade. The growth continued in the 17th century, where innovative techniques were introduced for the first time – like careful selection of grapes, new barrels instead of old ones, and wine in glass bottles sealed with cork instead of the usual practice of pouring directly from barrels to jugs. These techniques allowed wines to be preserved and to age better, which in turn led to a surge in the wine trade. In Australia, British settlers planted vines in 1788 and the first wine was produced in 1792. In North America, wine was first made in California by Franciscan priests. Viticulture reached Napa and Sonoma regions by 1820. By 1890, the Hunter, Barossa, and Yarra Valleys were also producing wines.
Factors Fuelling Growth
If Ancient Age saw wine business thrive as a result of knowledge transfer over centuries, and innovative techniques taking precedence over old methods of wine production, the New World saw transformation of traditional winemaking methods into an industrial process. This has been a major influencer in promoting the wine industry. Modern techniques of fermentation and refrigeration led to successful production of quality wines. In addition, institutions like the University of California at Davis and Roseworthy Agriculture College in Australia opened academic departments dedicated to the study of viticulture and winemaking. Technology combined with new-found expertise led the New World to produce quality wines that rivaled those of the Old World.
Another differentiator between the Old and New World was climate. While the Old World had no control over the climate, the New World wine producers operated in more predictable climate that produced consistent grape harvests. Technology and innovation allowed the New World to come up with a wide range of wine styles and ensure consistency, which was not there in the earlier era.
Mantras of Success
For a wine producer, the success lay not only in production of fine wine but also on marketing strategies. Better technology ensures constant enhancement in the quality of wine, while a sound marketing strategy, which includes stable distribution system; and focused advertising, guarantees the brand is well established among the consumers. Quality wine, coupled with excellent brand recall among consumers ensures a successful product. The New World wineries follow this combination religiously and so have been able to capture a sizeable share of the global market.
Talking about the global market, the year 1995 saw Australia’s largest brewery – Foster Brewing – buy its first wine company. Over the next six years, it acquired six more companies, including Beringer of California for USD 1.7 billion, thus marking the advent of a continuing spate of mergers and acquisitions. In 2001, Australia’s BRL Hardy got into a joint venture with U.S’s Constellation Brand. Similarly, large companies were acquiring small wine companies in the U.S. In this manner, various forces are creating a change in the wine industry in the 21st century, even as well-capitalized international winemakers emphasize on global presence and brand recognition.
Market for New Players
While there are many established, big players in the wine industry today, there is still scope for new entrants. For example, Asia is discovering wine and is definitely in the race. It is important to mention here that due to recession – which the world has been witness to – the overall growth of wine business had taken a beating in the past two years. However, recovery is on its way. As per IWSR Forecast Report 2009, France and Spain may still show a small decline in wine consumption but China is expected to show robust growth. China, one of the world’s major importers of wine, is expanding rapidly the vineyard near Beijing, while in Japan, Honshu is becoming the center of infant wine industry. If we take a look closer home, the wine market in India still remains largely untapped. As per Indian Wine Industry Forecast 2012 by RNCOS, India is one of the fastest growing wine markets in the world. However, in 2008, India recorded a per capita wine consumption of approximately nine milliliters, which is quite low compared to its one billion population. Ideally, India has not been a wine consuming nation, but the habits of the people are changing and this is paving way to a potential wine market. For new entrants, the wine market is waiting to be explored – the need of the moment, however, is to identify the viable areas and tap them.
Continuing my romance with Tinkle
I thought I should mark March 16, 2006 as an important date in my diary. It was the day I introduced my daughter to Tinkle. Yes, our old lovable Tinkle comic with whom I must say I had my first romance.
Buying my daughter her first copy made me take a walk down the memory lane. I can still remember vividly the days spent with Tinkle. It must have been the early eighties when my father introduced me to the magical world of Tinkle. We then lived in the Northeast – Kohima, a small town that had only two bookstores selling the comic – one close to my school. The supply was never regular and it came as no surprise if we were reading the April issue in August.
The wait for new issue always generated excitement, wherein every morning, a thought would knock and say – today the issue is bound to be there, it cannot get later than this.
I still remember clearly the bookstore. It used to have a huge window through which I regularly scanned the collection of books and comics. I used to visit the shop everyday to ask if any new issue had arrived. It had become such a habit that as soon as they saw my approaching silhouette, they would either wave a bye conveying – No issue – or wave excitedly – Come over, it is here.
After taking a peek at the new issue, I would rush home to get the money. Then it used to cost Re 3. The rush up and down used to be a marathon. Kohima, being a a hilly region, had many slopes and winding roads…. I had to climb up and down a flight of 200 steps as well as walk through narrow tarred roads, which looked like lines drawn amid trees and bushes. But I used to scale all these in no time.
Once the copy was in my hand, all the effort seemed worth it. I used to start reading it immediately and my way back used to be a very slow one. The cover story was always the first to catch my attention. After I had taken in every word and lived their adventure, I would move to other stories. RajaHooja and Tantri – the Mantri used to be an all time favorite, followed by Supandi, whose stupidity always evoked laughter. Then came Nasseruddin, Raghu, Anwar, etc. I always saved Kalia or Shikari Shambu for the last. All these characters used to instantly come to life and I would be in their world as I walked home. Once I reached home, I would always find my father waiting eagerly waiting for the issue. After he read it, I would go and read it over and over again. I never got tired of it. It was indeed magical.
So, the other day when I bought Tinkle after about two decades, I was envisaging a similar experience and I must tell you I was not disappointed. Though the price had risen to Rs 20 and Raja Hooja and Tantri had given way to their children – Junior Hooja and Junior Tantri, the essence was still there. I have to admit Uncle Pai is still at his best.
Now, when I see my daughter sit with the comic trying to take in every picture (as words are still a mumble-jumble for her), I proudly feel I have introduced her to a world where she can sneak in whenever she wants to and have her own adventures. I bet my father must have felt the same, though I always feel he introduced me to Tinkle to continue his illegal flirtation with the comic. But today, I don’t blame him as I intend to do the same – continue my romance with Tinkle.