In my defense, it was FREEZING!
During my second wedding ceremony – on a freezing night in January – my brother-in-law had been entrusted with a flask of Jack Daniels. He was supposed to pass it to me each time I reached out to him. To keep me warm of course. While B got to wear inner warm layers under his wedding suit, I was wearing just a tiny blouse and lehenga. Even around the “havan” fire, it was freezing.
Yes, I sipped from that flask even during the time the panditji was reciting his shlokas. Those shlokas were not going to make a marriage work – it’s the two people who are getting married who make a marriage work. I’ve never been delusional enough to believe otherwise.
Since then, it’s been this unwritten rule that my BIL will be the plier of alcohol.
Trips to Ranikhet are no different. If he is not making the alcohol happen, I will definitely have a glum face. Especially beer. Army establishments do have beer but it’s mostly the super strong local kind, which my body does not agree with AT ALL. This trip, thanks to the BIL, there was a bit of Estrella! Didn’t think I’d ever drink Estrella in such a remote part of India. Chilled to boot.
The BIL taught me how to drink beer.
The first drink of alcohol I ever had as an adult was beer with my Dad. And I HATED it. It was smart of him to get me started on something that has an acquired taste LOL. Smart Dad. But, eventually, I met my brother-in-law and he made me try super-chilled beer and suddenly… I LOVED it!
During this trip, we also drank a bit of Carlsberg.
The main image right at the beginning of this page is a Kumaon Regiment beer glass, with Kingfisher beer, at the Kumaon Villas in Ranikhet. The staple stuff that we drank for the rest of the vacation. The Estrella and Carlsberg did not last long of course.
All three photographs in the blog posts are combinations of multiple frames. All shot on a DSLR.
ABOUT THIS PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT
I shot multiple frames to construct this square, large-format plate. The final image file for each set is easily larger than 4 GB in size.
My parents and I have been going on an annual vacation to Ranikhet for about a decade now. I always carry my DSLR but wasn’t feeling too inspired this time around. Of course, that triggered an idea and I decided to focus on a few subjects that personify and / or represent Ranikhet for me and the family.
I ended up calling this series “Vacation Objects” and turned it into a personal project.
All images are shot in the same format and I’m writing brief descriptions to explain why the subject is significant.
This is the sixth image series from this personal project series that I’m writing about. To see all, as they are published, #NAINAxRANIKHET #VacationObjects can be visited.
For all Ranikhet photo features on this blog, #NAINAxRANIKHET link can be visited.
