Wine or Champagne?

Wine or Champagne?

The brilliant Alaskan sun set lingered on late into the night as the ship sailed gently on calm waters.

As Ritu gazed at the horizon, her eyes sparkled, like the Dom Perignon she was sipping. Ravi couldn’t stop gazing at her, the love of his life for half a century now. Sure, they had their differences, their spats and fights, but they couldn’t do without each other at the end of the day. 

It was thrilling to be cruising in Alaska, stuff from her bucket list. The elegant cabin, with its understated décor, the fine dining juxtaposed with comfort food, the unending glorious views, all were much better than they had anticipated. Catching his eye, she smiled as her dimple deepened and bliss enveloped them.

They had just been through the Glacier bay National Park, trekked to Margerie glacier and were humbled by the Divine artist who had conjured up gigantic icebergs, glaciers and myriad brightly hued wildflowers that carpeted the occasional green patches along the fjords and the hillsides.

‘Thanks, Darling, for this lovely Golden anniversary!’ she said. ‘ I feel blessed to have you by my side,’ he declared. As they continued to look into each other’s eyes, they noticed something that distracted them. Turning to get a better view, they saw it was the fluke of a whale. Their attention was on it completely now. Ravi turned to pick up a pair of binoculars and whistled, ‘Oh my God! It is a humpback whale! Look!’ he said as he passed on the binoculars. As excited as ever Ritu scanned the horizon and squealed with delight. ‘There are quite a few, not just one!’ ‘ I can see a calf too!’ ‘Oh!’  ‘Ah!’ ‘Oooh!’ and the cabin was flooded with sounds of great joy, surprise, excitement, and childlike pleasure. Watching the fins and flukes of the humpback whales as they lazily swam, closer and closer, diving and leaping, unperturbed by humans encroaching their waters. It was the reward of a lifetime. How long the show went on they neither knew nor cared for as they were transported in time to their honeymoon.

They had been young and madly in love. They had saved every penny and planned a trip to Goa. They had booked themselves into the most affordable room. From dawn to dusk, they were happy roaming around the beaches, hand in hand, drinking coconut water and eating sea food cooked fresh in some shack. Just being by the brilliant blue Arabian Sea on the white beaches, frolicking in and out of the waves was rewarding enough. The last night they decided to celebrate. They walked down to their favourite shack on the beach, dressed in their best, a pair of jeans and clean cotton shirts. They picked out the fish they wanted to be grilled. By the soft light of the candle, under a star-studded sky, they proclaimed their love once more. ‘I love you!’ ‘No, I love you more!’ and as they burst into peals of laughter he said, ‘Let’s have wine tonight.’

The waiter brought them the menu card, and he chose ,’Red wine’. The waiter too was a die hard romantic. He brought the bottle with much fanfare and opened it in style. They clinked their glasses and sipped. She waited for the bubbles of joy to hit her, but there was nothing! He too waited to be enraptured…. And kept waiting. In the long moment pregnant with silence, he said ‘Hmmm not bad!’ And then she started laughing, looking at the horrible expression on his face. She laughed and laughed, and he did too till they had tears running down their cheeks.

‘Waste of money!’ she declared.

Over the years they worked hard, learnt a lot, changed their lifestyle and began to relish wines and delectable cuisines. They could regularly afford the full-bodied wines, with notes of dark berries, cedar, earth and spices. For celebrations they would open bottles of Champagne, nothing other than Dom Perignon, enjoying its yellow colour with green highlights, admiring its bouquet of citrus fruits and nuances of white flowers, as the bubbles slowly burst swirling in their mouths.

Ritu reminisced their journey of 50 years. She remembered the first time they became intimate, it was more a symphony orchestrated by their raging hormones, when they were quite clueless and let Nature take its course. They both felt a little let down, as their experience was so much like their first tryst with wine…. Not bad. But not good either!

Here after five decades, they were skilled and ardent lovers, ‘Like Champagne!’ she said. ‘What Dear?’ he asked. “Oh nothing! Just rejoicing at our journey. We have come a long way!’ ‘That’s true!’ “ In fact we have matured like wine, become better with age, in everything!’ she said with mischief gurgling in her throat. ‘ Ah! Is it a compliment to my skills of keeping you happy?’ he carried on.

‘From wine to champagne my love!’ and they both giggled like the kids on a Goan beach 50 years ago.

Picture courtesy : Google (The Lonely Planet) for representation purpose only