National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore

Brain Yoga

Time for some exercise and yoga for the brain. What is then better than going to a museum of modern art, were the paintings and art work might not be that straight forward and you need to use you brain to try to understand what it actually is or what the artist have had in mind when he did the rendering.

National Gallery of Modern Art

National Gallery of Modern Art in Bangalore is located on Palace Road, close to Bangalore palace, so it is easy to do them both in the same day (which I did, see later blog post). When I arrive I was the only one there, even if the museum had been open for some time.

Ticket

First obstacle was to get the entry ticket. India has a system with two ticket prices, one for Indian nationality, and one for foreigners. The ratio is about 1:5 were the foreigner ticket is 500 rupees, five time more expensive that the native price. Turns out the museum only takes cash, no card or paytm or similar, and with only a 2000 rupees bill we got some problem, not enough change. In order to solve the difference I started looking for museum shop stuff to by. A poster was suggested, excellent, but only 35 rupees, 765 rupees left that needs to be spent.... 

Telangana Festival

Found a book, "Indian Life and Landscape by Western Artists, 1790 - 1927". This will give me some learning that I would never ever think of I would be having in my entire life. That is big!

Book of a lifetime

Museum

So with a ticket, a poster and a book it was time to make the actual visit and tour of the museum. A lot of rooms, a lot of guards checking no picture not to be taken, and a lot of paintings and art works. Only picture is on the outside.

Museum backyard

Overall a good experience, and I had the whole museum for myself.

KIIO  (Kenneth “In India” Olsson)

Sunday Morning Jogging

“Time to get into shape!”  A silent voice told me when I woke up. What better to do than to head to Cubbon Park just a couple of cricket batting away.

Nice morning with a perfect temperature and clear air. For being in Bangalore the air was good and the early morning is the best time. And in the park it is feeling much better.

Time to start running.

I was not alone. More people than I had the same idea, maybe not all into running, but to enjoy the morning in the park in various ways. Some walking, some running, some playing, and some just hanging around.

After about 15 minutes I passed the area were you “walk the dog”. So many dogs at the same time, at the same place. It is not that Bangalore is short of dogs, but here they were all at one. And each had a owner.

At the band stand there was dance performance by girls.

And some yoga by the older girls.

After this the legs were not obeying at all and there was a need for rest and recovery.

What better place than by a deep blue pool.

KIIO  (Kenneth “In India” Olsson)

Wine Review – Kinvah 2016 Red Wine (Cabernet – Shiraz)

Wine Review

What do you get when you rely on the shop-keeper in an over-the-counter wine store? To answer that question I conducted this first test. I would call it a type of system test or user acceptance test. Simple enough it only had two test cases.

1. Buy the wine.
2. Drink the wine.

So simple it can almost be outsourced. But as this is a new domain, we need to get it right from the beginning, and its core business, I argue it needs to be done “in-house”. So lets get started with the reviewand see how it goes.

Buy the Wine

As the wine shop (as most in Bangalore) is just a hole in the wall and you can’t browse to make a selection it is somewhat hard to choose. So I choose to go for something that should exist and take it from there. To my slim knowledge of India wine I assumed there should be a Sula red wine of the Shiraz grape. That is not a too bad guess. In asking for the wine in question, acknowledge it existed, the behind the counter person left to get it. On coming back he had a completely different wine. A Kinvah 2016 red wine which is a mix of Cabernet and Shiraz grapes. The Sula was not available, but this would be a good substitution. OK, let’s have it, 595 Rupees later I was done and walking with a wine bottle wrapped in a news paper.

Kinvah and Almonds

Taste the Wine

With a screw cork it was easy enough to be opened. Pouring up went well. Checking the color it was a dark red, as to expect from a Shiraz, but maybe not this dark as this was a 2016 vintage. For the smell the Kinvah was OK but with a sour touch, bring back memories from a blackberries and an old oak after a long rain in a autumn day, with birds just waking up as the sky clears and the sun is starting to dry up the wet soaked trees. The core part of the test is to do the actual tasting and drinking. Here the sour smell come through in full. The wine has a good taste for the first 0.5 seconds, but the rest is a colorful symphony of sour music, playing on all instruments all over the tongue.

So let’s try it with a quickly, simple and improvised chicken masala, short brown rice, sliced tomato and diced carrots.

Chicken Masala in its making. Note the wine glass.

Well…. At least the food is helping to some bit and with water on the side it is possible to drink at least one glass of the Kinvah before I gave up and relayed on water for the rest.

Verdict

So answering the question “What do you get when you rely on the shop-keeper in an over-the-counter wine store?” I have to say - not much. It feels more that he wanted to get rid of the wine than to be a good wine lover suggesting a nice wine to a Chicken Masala. As I see it the wine failed on all points and disappointingly enough I can only give it ½ of 5 overall.

Here is the summary rating:

Purchase: 2

• quick and swift, no discussion, but also no question on hat I was to eat to get better precision in the recommendation

Open: 1

• Screw cork that come off easy, but so did the whole upper part

Color: 1

• Not a nice sight

Smell: 1

• Not nice

Taste: 1

• Not nice, I said it all

Next I will assess a Kingfisher beer. That can not fail.


KIIO (Kenneth "In India" Olsson)

On the Way

Back

So after the initial six weeks in India and few weeks back in US, it's now time to go back.  

Hick-up

With the new flight connection from San Jose via Frankfurt to Bangalore, I thought the flights would be the easy. However it was not at all like that. The flight from San Jose had a 15 min late arrival, and with a 1 hour layover this was enough to miss the connection to Bangalore. And this with about 1 minute, I could see them closing the door when running towards the gate. Bottom marks to Lufthansa not to keep the gate open 5 minutes longer, but instead strand eight passengers for 24 hours. And on the plane to Frankfurt we were assured a secured connection.....

Frankfurt

I like Germany, and I been visiting and travelling a lot in the country. But Frankfurt a Sunday afternoon with a misty and grey weather and just below zero is not the perfect "take a stroll in the city" setting. Also that Germany virtually closes on Sundays do not add to the tourist value. Good heaven for Starbucks and a warm coffee in a warm and nice cafe.

River walk ended the visit and rest of the day spent on the airport hotel to work, eat and rest. Overall a nice stay in Germany and Frankfurt. Next time a little longer and on a day when the Goethe House is open.

Second Try

Now in the airport lounge waiting to take off for Bangalore. Now I am two hours ahead of departure and the lounge is direct access to the plane boarding. Now nothing can go wrong....