Knights in white satin

One person’s freedom of expression may well be another person’s captivity of thought. I prefer the good old fashioned word ‘manners’.
​  Abhilash and Adarsh Narahari  ​
​ Abhilash and Adarsh Narahari ​

BENGALURU: Since my whole family is together again, family discussions, varied opinions, banter and arguments are a natural progression! I often hear myself rue the day when I ‘allowed’ them (the children) this quantum of freedom of speech! Of course, that leads to other discussions and war-of-words on issues like ‘control-freaking’ dominance and even bigotry! Sometimes it’s way simpler to give up!

Topics that seem to dominate our conversations seemed to centre on ‘political correctness’ in one’s speech. The dichotomy is that the term, ‘freedom of expression,’ ‘having opinions’ and the correctness in one’s speech gets their wires crossed sometimes. One person’s freedom of expression may well be another person’s captivity of thought. I prefer the good old-fashioned word ‘manners’. I do admit that sometimes the very virtue of being mannered seems to allow the brutes to get away with murder, but at the end of the day…one has to like one’s own reflection in the mirror!

My family is all together at home and hearth after a couple of years. We meet up in batches and for short spurts of time. After years my home is full again with our newest munchkin, barking dog, nanny et al. Now this type of configuration definitely demands a day out in the country-side. So behaving like real city slickers, we bundled ourselves into two cars, (one car had baby seat, pram and other baby sundry), and drove for a solid two hours (with the car radio blaring Country Roads) to a pristine location called ReWild to indulge in a little fête champêtre.

Rolling hills, with big trees and the crisp clean air was simply delicious! Two young co-founders Abhilash and Adarsh Narahari made sure there wasn’t a stone left unturned for their guests to do a reconnaissance of the place while enjoying a live band, delicious barbeques, cocktails and beers and plenty of activities for all ages. Periodically rough-track jeeps would give us a tour and I am told that many lifestyle living plots were sold that day. I was deliriously happy just singing along and swigging beer with my family. We spent quality time enjoying the gorgeous sunset and each other.

It was a particularly hectic week socially, and I must admit that long drives and wearing heels wasn’t particularly good for my twisted back. But as singer Sia crooned I’m Unstoppable, I went forth without giving my aching back a second thought. It was The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs induction week and I was terribly excited to belong to this prestigious International Association of Gastronomy, headed by the Bailli Délégué, Rishad Minocher, in India. In association with La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, Bailliage de l’Inde, The Leela Palace hosted a chef’s table with Chef Frédéric Deshayes in collaboration with Cordon Bleu, and followed it up with a grand induction gala ‘dinner theatre’ the next day.

The induction was a solemn affair with all the inductees (bigwigs from the world of hospitality and industry) being knighted by the ‘Bailli Délégué’ and the oath and ceremonies that followed. It may sound like an out-dated protocol but there is something to be said about tradition, protocol and respect. This brings me back to the debate on graciousness, politeness, courtesy and etiquette.

Words are like a sword. Even the blunt edge can cause deep wounds.

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