Wine Tasting Party

Jay and I went to a wine-tasting party last night at an Italian restaurant sponsored by the Overseas Women's Club of Bangalore. The restaurant is normally closed on Monday nights so our group had the place (one big room) all to ourselves. The man who grows the grapes came and talked at length about his Indian vineyards and the processing of the grapes... way too much information. He talked for about 25 minutes before we got to taste the first wine. It was a white table wine. The next two wines were red. Neither of us liked any of the wines that the grower was so proud of.

Everything and everyone in India is loud, and the restaurant was no exception. At the beginning, as the man who owned the vineyards was talking to our group of about 100 who were all quiet, the person in charge of the kitchen was giving orders to the staff in a loud voice in the same room! We were sitting at tables of eight and as the wine was poured and the food served people began to get acquainted at the table and the volume of the conversation got louder and louder and LOUDER. The floor, walls and ceiling were all hard surfaces so the noise became overwhelming in just a short time. We found we could only understand the people sitting on either side of us. The event was to be from 8-9:30. They were still serving pasta courses at 10:00 when we were the first ones to get up and leave.

We hired a car and driver for the evening (3 hrs./$15). When we got outside Jay called the driver's cell phone number but got no answer. We looked around and couldn't find him. Another driver standing nearby said, "There's your driver." He was inside the car, fast asleep, right in front of the restaurant! The windows of taxis are heavily tinted. Next time we'll write down the license number of the car!