Pithaly

Music is like alcohol.

Ranges from very sweet Port, to Rose, to sherry, to the dry white, to highly over-rated champagne, to fine single malt scotch, to the most delicious +100 proof cognac, to the extremely fragnant cashew Feni of Goa, and the brilliant, (and in my opinion), the finest wine in the world, Mahua, made of the small white Mahua flowers found in West Bengal, drunk freshly distilled, warm from the distillery, sitting in the open mud courtyard in the Adivasi forest at midnight.And then there are the exotic local flavours such as Tequila, Vodka and of course the Britney Spears and the Paris Hilton of alcohol, for the current generation, Bacardi. Not to speak of the fabulous medical wines of India, like Drakasav ("Drak"=grapes, "asav"=wine), the famous fermented rice beer of West Bengal, of which I have partaken so often, sitting in the warm afternoon, with my friend, a matka-full (matka= a large clay water storage vessel, about 10 litres in volume), 3/4 full of freshly extracted rice beer, a couple of snacks, partaken by the very poor santhals (tribal folks). We sit in the cool shade of a tree, on a charpoy, and spend a leisurely 3 hours sipping away 7 litres of rice beer from mud cups, occasionally decanting from the matka. Time passes slowly. Very slowly, and as the sun sets, it's time to head back home on our bicycles. Night arrives, with her purple legion, heh. We roll back to civilisation, with the bright lights, and the constant clamour which surrounds occupied areas. Oh yes. Where was I? Yes. Alcohol is like music. hic. See and hear the equivalent of Indian country liquor. A brash, harsh, 100 proof stomach lining remover. The Pioneers of Punk.
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