by DICE Media
Kavya saw the look on Dhruv’s face and felt sorry for him.
‘One second.’ She opened the door and started walking towards a small group of people huddled under a tree. Dhruv too got out of the car, locked it and followed her.
Kavya spoke to them in Hindi, but switched to Marathi because that was all that they understood. Dhruv stood alone, unable to understand a word. He waited with bated breath for Kavya to tell him what was going on.
She returned with information.
‘She has been gone for four days, and they don’t know when she’ll be back. Her son had a daughter and she has gone back to her village to see them.’
‘Hmm . . . that’s something I can’t even be angry about.’
‘It’s okay, Momo. We’ll come back for them another day.’ She held his hand and tried to comfort him, but it didn’t work.
‘Let’s just go back. I am done for today.’
‘Go back? Are you crazy, Dhruv? We’ve come all the way here and you just want to go back? Just look around you!’
Kavya’s sweatshirt and hair fluttered in the breeze. All around them was breathtaking greenery, with a lake in the backdrop. In the distance, the hills stood tall and proud, occasionally disappearing behind passing clouds.
‘I don’t understand. How can you just want to go back? Are you allergic to pure oxygen or something?’ Kavya was flabbergasted.
Dhruv was so fixated on the bhajis that he couldn’t understand any of this. He was too busy feeling bad for himself. With arms flailing about, he pretended to take deep breaths, guiding the air up his nostrils with his hands.
‘Oxygen! Oxygen! I am parcelling some to take home. Would you also like to pack some for yourself?’
Kavya gave him a pained look and shook her head. She knew it had been a disappointing trip for Dhruv. But it didn’t have to be. Hell, this didn’t even need to be the end of their trip. They could still try to make the most of it. And who knew, they could even end up enjoying it more than the bhajis.
‘Come on, let’s just go back home.’ Dhruv sounded defeated.
But Kavya didn’t want to head back yet. It was a gorgeous day and they were at a pristine location. She was looking around when something caught her eye. She had spotted a small vineyard.
‘Hey, is that a vineyard?’ The excitement in her voice was palpable.
Dhruv turned his gaze to where she was pointing.
‘Yes, so?’
‘So? What do you mean “so”? Let’s go!’
She caught Dhruv’s hand and pulled him towards the vineyard.
Dhruv just wanted to go home. But seeing Kavya’s enthusiasm, he couldn’t refuse. Dragging his feet, he followed her reluctantly. At the edge of the vineyard was a small fence. Kavya stepped over it and waited for Dhruv to join her.
‘Kavvu, come on, let’s go. We’ll get into trouble, I’m telling you. I am sure this qualifies as trespassing.’ But Kavya was adamant and way too excited to let anything deter her. Of course, he was not going to let her do this alone no matter how irritated and restless he may be. He jumped across and joined her on the other side of the fence.
They walked through grapevines curled around wooden frames. They could see grapes hanging from the vines.
‘Just relax, Momo. This is thrilling!’ The excitement in Kavya’s voice had doubled.
‘I still think we should go back. I sure would be pissed off if I caught some kids breaking into my vineyard.’ Dhruv remained reluctant.
‘But it’s not like we are touching the grapes. Why should we be scared?’
Dhruv gave up trying to reason with her. As Kavya hopped, skipped and frolicked in the vineyard, the beauty of the surroundings was lost on Dhruv. He was unable to get over his disappointment.
‘Hey, look!’ Kavya pointed to a bunch of grapes. She moved closer, picked one out and bit into it.
‘No, don’t do that!’ Dhruv smacked his forehead. ‘What is this, Kavvu? You need to wash them at least. God knows how much pesticide you must have consumed with that one bite.’
But Kavya couldn’t care less. She was having an awesome time and was not going to let Dhruv bring her down.
‘Ummm . . . interesting . . .’ She kept chewing on the grape. Then, looking into the distance, she said, ‘I think they make Chardonnay out of these.’
And just like that Kavya was an expert on grapes and wine! Her only qualification—she was standing in a vineyard, tasting a grape.
‘Really? If you say so.’ Dhruv was disinterested.
‘Do you want to try one?’
‘No.’
Dhruv began walking ahead, looking into his phone. Kavya picked up pebbles and, with an impish smile, began throwing them at Dhruv. He ignored it for some time but finally lost patience.
‘Stop it, Kavvu!’
‘Then you stop being on your phone, loser!’
‘I’m just checking to see if Sturridge is fit for today’s game.’
Even all these miles away from the bustle of the city, in a vast green expanse, Dhruv couldn’t help but think about the Liverpool football player—that too in the middle of a vineyard. He couldn’t appreciate the beauty around him, while Kavya was thoroughly enjoying it.
‘Okay, but at least don’t do it here. Look around, take things in, feel the wind, the greenery of this vineyard . . . the smell of the earth. What you’re doing is criminal. Such a waste!’
Dhruv, however, was very practical in his approach.
‘Kavya, you know this place is only two hours from Mumbai, right? We can come here any time of the week. But you are a sloth bear. So, things like these . . .’
‘Shut up!’ Kavya cut him off playfully. ‘It’s very difficult to be in my shoes, okay? I love my sleep. You couldn’t fathom my love for it even if you wanted to . . .’
‘Excuse me, Sir!’ someone cut into their conversation. Both Dhruv and Kavya turned to find a man dressed formally in black with an apron on. On his apron was the name of the vineyard.
‘Have you come from Mumbai?’
Dhruv realized that they had been caught and wanted to avoid any kind of trouble or conflict. ‘I am so sorry . . . we were just . . .’
‘Er . . . your group’s wine tasting session is about to begin. You can join them at the wine cellar in the basement, Sir.’
This was an interesting turn of events, and Kavya’s interest was immediately piqued.
‘We’re not with the group. But how much is it for?’
‘It’s for just Rs 250.’
‘That’s it? Let’s go!’
With this, Kavya started marching towards the man without even consulting Dhruv. She knew he’d complain initially, but would ultimately enjoy himself and be thankful that he’d done it—just like it had happened at Shifa’s party.
Dhruv looked at her smile and the skip in her step. He knew she really wanted to do this. As he followed her to the cellar, he started feeling better. The disappointment was wearing off. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t as bad a day as he’d made it out to be.
3
‘Wine tasting is all about the three S’s: smell, swirl and sip.’
This was the same guy Dhruv and Kavya had met in the vineyard.
They were in the cellar with more than eighty people who had come all the way to learn about wine-making and tasting. Dhruv had lightened up—the thought of alcohol had put him in a surprisingly good mood! Both of them stood in the centre of the room, ready to drink and have a great time. But they weren’t very serious about the tasting. For them, it was just an interesting thing to do.
‘Hi! My name is Suresh, and I’ll be your guide in the art of wine tasting today. For the first step, please put your nose to the glass and try smelling the wine.’
Dhruv and Kavya looked awkwardly at each other. They didn’t know if they were actually up for this. They just wanted to get to the part where you drink the wine.
‘Go on,’ Suresh urged. It smelt like any other wine. Dhruv was in an exceptionally play
ful mood by now. He held Kavya’s glass against her nose and did not let go till she smacked him on the back of his head.
Meanwhile, Suresh continued . . .
‘Now, this particular wine is called the rosé. Its salmon-pink colour is because of the pressure we put on the seed, the juice and the skin . . .’
Everyone, except Kavya and Dhruv, was extremely serious about the wine tasting and hung on to each of Suresh’s words.
‘In the second step, swirl. Move your glass like this.’ Suresh demonstrated by rotating his glass, ensuring it was parallel to the ground at all times. Dhruv, however, got too enthusiastic about the swirling and managed to disturb the elderly gentleman in front of him. He was rewarded with a dirty look. Kavya and Dhruv sniggered, least bothered about what was being said . . .
‘By swirling the wine, we’re giving it more oxygen to open up. Now, smell it again. You might notice some difference; it starts to smell a bit different.’
Both of them put their noses into their glasses—it smelt the same to them. But they pretended like they noticed a difference.
‘It smells sweeter!’ someone declared.
‘Yes, it does, Sir.’
‘It surely does!’ Kavya shouted.
Dhruv nudged her, asking her to keep it down. The wine seemed to be hitting her already.
‘In the third step—the sip—take a sip and then gargle with it. In doing so, we provide the wine with some more oxygen.’
Kavya didn’t care about gargling or sipping, she downed the whole glass. Dhruv showed a little more restraint. He emptied the glass in his mouth and began gargling noisily. The elderly gentleman once again turned to scowl at them. Dhruv came really close to Kavya’s face and started gargling in her ear.
‘I wish I could use wine as mouthwash every day,’ Kavya said. Dhruv found this so funny that he laughed and spilled the wine on the scowling gentleman’s shirt.
‘What is this? This is no way to behave! Be serious!’
Suresh tried to calm him down.
‘No problem, Sir. I will get you napkins.’ He tried to pacify the gentleman while glancing at Kavya and Dhruv with a mixed expression on his face.
Dhruv apologized, but Kavya continued to snigger.
With the gentleman now placated, Suresh continued. ‘Wine tasting is an art to be savoured drop by drop, sip by sip, bit by bit . . .’
Suresh then took the group around the cellar and the brewery, showing them the process of making a good bottle of wine. All this while, there were trays of wine samples going around. By the time they were done with the tour, Kavya had had several glasses.
When the tour finally ended, Suresh bid them goodbye. But even then, Kavya kept finding more samples and gulping them down. Finally, one of the servers came up to them, asked them to move on and escorted them to the restaurant.
Once they were there, Kavya went up to the bar, grabbed a bottle of wine and drank straight from it. Dhruv was a little taken aback, but then he simply shrugged and laughed. Who was he to stop her from having a good time on a hard-earned weekend?
‘Kavvu, I’ll stop drinking now and sober up. I need to drive back. You can continue.’
And continue she did, swigging the wine through their lavish brunch. Just as they finished eating, Kavya looked at Dhruv. ‘I can’t believe we came here to have bloody bhajis!’
Both of them burst out laughing. It really was strange how they had come to do one thing and ended up doing something totally different!
There was silence for a while as both of them looked through a huge window that overlooked the vineyard. Dhruv got up and asked Kavya, ‘Are you done? Let’s go for a walk? The vineyard looks gorgeous right now.’
‘Wait a second! You’re enjoying this now? Didn’t you want to just go home? You always make a big fuss about new experiences and then end up enjoying yourself once you are actually there.’
She wasn’t complaining, just making an observation. She loved him exactly the way he was.
‘Haan, haan. Sorry, Baba. I don’t know, but it’s very difficult for me to get over disappointment so quickly and look at the bright side. Thank you for being you, Kavvu. I would not have had half the experiences that I have if it wasn’t for you.’
‘Okay, okay. There’s no reason to get so emotional, Momo . . .’ Kavya had started slurring and swaying a little.
‘Race you till the vineyard!’ She began running towards the exit.
‘Be careful, don’t fall down the stairs!’ Dhruv ran after her.
Kavya stopped right there, not because she paid heed to Dhruv’s advice but because she had forgotten the bottle of wine at the table. She ran back, picked it up and once again rushed towards the door.
Both of them reached the vineyard almost at the same time, laughing. They were once again reminded that as long as they were together, they would always have a good time.
* * *
Dhruv and Kavya walked together in silence, going over the day so far in their minds. Kavya took a huge swig from the bottle. That morning had taught her something, and she wanted to share it with Dhruv.
‘Dhruv, I have been thinking . . . Should I quit my job?’
‘What!’
‘It’s just that I have not been enjoying it for a while now.’ They were now walking between the vines. Kavya was still holding the bottle.
Dhruv gave her a knowing smile. ‘I know, I could see that. I could see your frustration building.’
‘Then why did you not say anything?’
‘Because I wanted you to say it yourself, which you did! So it’s all good. In consumer studies, this theory is known as “revealed preferences”. It basically means that your actions reveal what you want. How cool is that?’
‘I guess it is . . .’ Kavya was deep in thought. ‘But it’s so scary, no? What if I quit my job and never figure out what I want to do?’
Dhruv took the bottle from Kavya for a gulp.
‘Okay, let’s assume you quit your job. And let’s say there is a 50 per cent chance that when you quit . . .’
‘Stop right there, Dhruv. Please for once don’t talk in terms of probability. Talk simply, talk like a normal person.’
Dhruv understood. Not everything could be broken down into statistics and probability. And even if it could, it wasn’t necessarily the best way to explain everything.
‘Let me put it simply then. If you quit your job to figure out what you want to do, then it is not a waste of time. Simple.’
Kavya gave him a wry look that indicated he wasn’t taking her seriously. Dhruv thought for a moment and looked at Kavya.
‘Pros and cons—let’s do pros and cons and take a call.’
They walked out of the vineyard and found a nice patch of grass that faced the lake and the hills.
‘Okay, pros first or cons?’
Kavya wanted to save the best for the last, so she went with cons.
Dhruv placed the bottle of wine down and collected a few pebbles. The idea was that for every pro, he’d place a stone to the right of the bottle, and for a con to the left. He then began listing the cons.
‘So, you won’t be earning anything.’ He placed a pebble to the left of the bottle. ‘You may run out of savings. Your parents may not understand your decision at first. Everybody around you will be getting richer, and that’s bound to make you jealous.’
Kavya was getting sadder by the minute.
‘Some lifestyle changes will have to be made. Even though I’m here to support you, you know you’ll have to cut back on some things. It may not look good on your CV, and it could be a while before you find another job. Honestly, there is a possibility that you could just be more confused after this . . .’
This was more than what Kavya could handle.
‘No, no more. That’s enough. Pros now.’ They hadn’t started with the pros yet and the pebbles on the left side were filling her with dread.
‘Hmm . . . pros . . . pros . . .’ Dhruv thought hard, but for the longest ti
me he could not come up with anything.
‘What the hell!’ Kavya was getting really disheartened.
‘Wait a second, it takes time, Kavya . . . I am thinking.’
Finally, Dhruv spoke. ‘Yes! The break may help you understand whether you want to continue working in sales or not. You might want to explore a completely different career path.’
Kavya felt a little better.
‘You can become one of those dog babysitters!’
‘Dog-sitter, you mean?’ A smile lit up Kavya’s face. ‘Yes, that is a pretty cool job. And it’s a thing these days.’
Dhruv was on a roll. ‘All right! So you could travel, read more, paint more, draw more. Ummm . . . you can just explore yourself. Just do new things—basically, grow!’ he said with his arms spread wide.
‘Stop. You are just repeating yourself now.’ Kavya smiled at his attempts to come up with more pros.
‘You figured it out. Anyway, there are more cons than pros.’
‘Yeah. But I like the pros more than the cons, no matter how few they are. I’m seriously going to think about it.’ There was relief and sombreness on her face.
Dhruv knew he had to lighten the mood as the conversation was getting too intense.
‘So, it’s true, huh? When you come to a good, clean place like this, with pure oxygen, it does cleanse your mind. Helps you get more clarity. By the way, I’m taking full credit for this.’ He leaned into Kavya, who was smiling widely.
‘Really? You wanted to go back hours ago, the moment you saw that the bhaji stall was shut. I spotted this place, I decided to take the tour . . .’
‘Yes, but we came here because of me, because of my quest for bhajis. So, you see, it all comes down to me.’
Kavya had turned philosophical again.
‘It’s not about the place anyway. I was fine till you posted that video on Facebook.’
‘Which one . . .’
‘The Bangalore girl.’
‘Oh, the poem?’
‘Yes, the one who talks about what it feels like to be an introvert . . .’