I find it not so surprising that the word ‘vow' rhymes with ‘wow'. The minute you use the first one, others exclaim the second, and that is mostly because the word vow, by construct, seems wired to fail. In fact so linked are the two words that in both in the Indian and Iberian sub-continent and peninsula, even the pronunciation is almost the same and unless you were aware of the context the word was used in, you would never know which one it was. Luckily then, in these parts, you can interchange the two in usage and yet avoid quite the faux pas.
Nevertheless we all like to make vows, I don't know out of which more: hope or just redundant recurring cyclic stupidity. And without any further defence then, here is what I vow to do in this era, begun 2010, the year of our Lord.
1. Less Alcohol: For one, and a major one, I plan to absorb a lot less alcohol this year. While my health is holding up I do not see that as an excuse to abuse it, or push it to its tipping point. I have other pending activities to take their toll on my longevity. Also - and here is the only serious bit in this blog - with the number of drunk-driving cases rising and becoming more serious and unfortunately fatal, I think a more positive stance needs to be taken to draw attention to this problem.
2. More Indian Wine: I think 2009, in many ways, has opened my eyes, even if only one of them and even if only just a mere slit wide more open than shut. But I did find some interesting wines in the lot that I tasted over this year (notes on our blog at the Wi-Not site) and I think that a revolution is well under way. It may save me some money while drinking fairly standard wine and it might also be good a idea to be able to walk in the vineyards of my own country and not be spat at from all directions, just so for a mild change.
3. More Consumer Events: I think it is time to start empowering the consumer. Statistics I was forwarded on email by someone who told me that he had got them from an important-sounding person suggest that by 2020, the middle class would rise to account for 20% of our population. Perhaps they meant urban population, I don't know. Either ways, I think that a figure like that is huge and the voice of the consumer would then become an important echo, one that the corrupt officials in our offices may not be able to ignore, as the so successfully have so far. Setting up IWBS (which is getting more formed with each day) could certainly assist in my endeavour. Taxes may then eventually stand to come down. On the whole I realise that it might be simpler to dream of turning into Superman but I don't think I can quite afford the taxes to be flight-worthy in this country.
4. More Fun: After a decade of wine tastings and writing I am beginning to bore myself. So I intend to explore new vistas, new avenues, all in the name of making wine tastings more varied and interesting. Wacky even, if I can find within me genius enough to plan it so. As for all those people who have attended my sessions in the last ten years, this is me here apologising for every yawn I induced and every second of your youth I left squandered discussing tannins and phenolic maturation. (Actually, wait. I take that last one back. I couldn't have possibly bored you discussing things even I don't know anything about.
5. No more Vows: In the end vows to me are just a way of measuring just how detached from reality we really all are and how, more importantly, we should all avow to not make any vows under the excruciatingly shake-the-ground-under-your-feet heavy influence of excessive-beyond-limitless amounts of alcohol.
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