Vat69 and other miniatures

Mmmmm.... Courtsey: oldblendedwhisky.com

I think my first encounter with vat69 was in the movie Naseeb. There was a song with Amit, Reena, and Shatru where Shatru is drinking. He comes to the bar and drinks from vat69 bottle. Of course we didn't drink in those days, but it did seem enchanting at that time. vat69 was one of the most popular whiskeys in those days, and of course later on, Johnnie walker took over, and now it's all about 'labels'. Apparently, the drink is still in production. You can read more on it here -


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vat_69
 
Back in 80s, when we were experimenting with liquor, it was more about bagpipers, mcdowells, and RCs. I picked up big on whiskey. I know Dinesh, Ajay, Mayank, Ashish, etc. didn't. Of course, Ashish got his style from his dad who had his own taste in style - while we thought 10Re was too much, he donned a 200Re goggles, and he was always uptodate on electronics, steroes, etc. In their drawing room showcase (you know how those 80s showcases were), Gulati uncle had these miniature whiskey bottles displayed. I don't know where he got them from, but they looked enticing. During the summers of the 80s & 90s, I often used to hang around at Ashish's house. We were either playing teen patti, or were trying to take a peek inside the maid's blouse. If that was not available, we would try and get some amroods from his backyard, and sometimes, anil and sonu would jump over the boundary and join in.  

Courtsey: A collector on internet

During one such summer afternoon, when uncle and aunty were gone, we laid our hands on the miniature whiskey bottles. We drank a little and evened it our with water. In dark bottles, it would be difficult to make out whether it's liquor or water. When uncle didn't notice anything, we continued on our adventure, and every now and then drank from the bottles. Now I don't what the state of the bottles is now or whether one day uncle tried them and wondered why they tasted like water or not (onyl Ashish can tell us), but it was a lot of fun.

Aquarium

Kids have been asking for a pet for many many years now. Their first choice was obviously dog, then it came down to hamster, turtle etc. We even went to the pet store and looked at the hamster. It didn't seem like I could handle it, and then there was the task of training it. Initially it bites because it thinks that your hand is the food. So after much ado and emotion from kids, I finally settled on fish.

Many books were gotten from libraries. Kabir & I being the literati in the house spent hours and hours analyzing their physiology and diet and setting up the tanketc. Finally, one fine morning, we stepped into the store. Setting up tank wasn't an easy task either. Size, decorations, water purification, filter process, etc - tons of stuff. Wondering how they do it in India. Anyways brought the tank, set it up and then left the filter on for several weeks. It needs to be done to accumulatte enough checmical on the bio wheel, whatever that is. Also, I wasn't ready for a pet still. In the end, after much pushing from kids, one fine Sunday morning, we went to the store, and selected 2 guppies. Put them in the tank and they started floating. Right from the beginning they went along well. They were the best friends.

2 weeks later, we got 4 more varieties, and the tank looked great. The new guppy joined the 2 old ones. The silver platy became loner but was the fiercest eater. Another guppy shied away and explored hiding places, while the most beautiful one, the blue one, also tried to mix in. Yesterday, the whole day, the blue one didn't come out and this morning I saw it's dead body floating in the water. Yes, we lost out first pet!

Now, I know Dinu's mouth is watering as he thinks of fish pakoras. I think tonight there will be fish frying in the pan at Rawat house!

If I had a pet Hamster by Kabir Jain

I go to the store to get my hamster.It`s 4:00 so that`s the time I can get my hamster.My hamster`s color is brown with a stumpy tail.I bring him home.Hamsters are so cute and fuzzy.I got one because they`re so adorable.Now I`ll let it take its first breath.After it takes i`ts first breath,then I`ll give some food and water.I know I have to be careful because they could bite you!It`s very difficult to take care of a hamster.Hamsters can be able to learn tricks.My hamster`s name will be Mr.Master.

Here are some questions to answer:

Do you want a pet hamster?
What will you do with it?
Why did you get a pet hamster?
Would you teach your hamster tricks?
How did you get your hamster?
Where did you get your hamster?

These are my answers:

I do want a pet hamster.
I will take care of it. I got a pet hamster because they are loving to people.
I will teach my hamster tricks.
I will get my hamster from Petco.

My hamster is the long haired hamster.

Hamster may be a little mean but they are also kind and loving. They could be a part of our family.

Pics from 1999- Celebrating frist ever Corn railcar loaded for Venky's

A great adventure in young life.
Harihar a small moffusil town of Karnatka known for its Harihar temple .
Good first taste of Dosa as Kannadiga's enjoy , Jawari roti  and coconut milk @ INR 2/-

Rental Movies

So this evening when my sisters asked me to get some DVDs from the market, I was pulled by unknown forces to the same shop where I rented 'Cobra' 20 yrs ago; this was during one of the video rental nights as captured in one of earlier blog entries. I just couldn't belive the same shop exists in almost the same shape. I expected to buy one of those 10 movies in a DVD kind of deals. To my suprise, these guys didn't sell those things. Instead, they continue in the same tradition of 20 yrs ago. yes, they are still renting movies, in the same old style fashion. They said they didn't believe in selling like others are selling (road side stalls or even mobile thelas are selling those), rather they have their "library". After I picked up couple of titles, namely Aurangzeb and another one, he duly put my name down on the card and got 200 Re deposit, as well. The deposit was ridiculous, considering these were not original DVDs. Anyways, I was taken back to the movie night days and for some reason, I am valuing these movies more as rentals than if I had bought them from a thela!

A day of the bad guys coming by Krishi Jain

Once upon a time, there was one bad guy and some bakers. One day bakers made nice cookies and put them out in the shop. The bad guys were passing by. They were hungry. They stole the cookies, sat in their car and ran. However they needed a bag to put their cookies in. On the way, they noticed an old lady waiting for the signal to turn on. They grabbed her purse and put the cookies in it.

And then they came to a signal that was red. To run away, they broke the signal hitting lots of cars on the way. Suddenly, a police car came chasing them. The cops said to the bad guys no more car for you. Put your hands up or we are going to shoot at you. It turned out that it were the bakers who were also the cops.

They put the bad guys into jail. And then the bakers lived happily ever after with their families and made tasty cookies every day.

My planetarium adventure by Krishi Jain