Sunday, July 27, 2008

Good Morning!


Certain mornings begin in the most perfect way. Let me talk about one such morning. It was a morning when ‘Little Martha’ got stirred with ‘Darjeeling Tea’ along with the mild morning breeze.

‘Little Martha’ is a 2 minutes 7 seconds beauty from the 1972 album, Eat a Peach by The Allman Brothers Band. It’s also the last composition by the legendary Duanne Allman, the bandleader who died shortly after recording the track, because of a motorcycle accident. He was all of 24. Extremely unfortunate as the world would have got so many more beauties from him. Rolling Stone magazine names Duanne as number two on their list of the greatest guitarists of all time. Number one is anybody’s guess.

The song is an instrumental duet composed in the minimalist finger picking style, played on acoustic guitars by Duanne and band mate Dicky Betts. Its simple melody and fullness has always made me happy and craving for more. This morning was no different.

Leo Kottke, the famous acoustic guitarist rightly called it "the most perfect guitar song ever written."

To my extreme displeasure, Darjeeling Tea is not available in Colombo. Perhaps it’s on account of the country’s very own Ceylon Tea. Which is better is a subject suitable for another post.

So, my recent business trip to Delhi saw me carrying back packs of ‘First Flush’ Darjeeling Tea or ‘The Champagne of Teas’, which is its other name. And, this morning I woke up to the gentle pleasures of light color, aroma and taste of one of the finest creations of man. I cultivated my taste for tea because of my parents, specially my father’s deep interest in the subject.

The art and science of Darjeeling Tea is exquisite. Like single malts vary from each region of Scotland, Teas from each estate of Darjeeling has a unique taste, flavor and aroma to it. When properly brewed, any Darjeeling yields thin-bodied, light-colored liquor with a floral aroma. ‘First Flush’ is the first produce harvested in mid-March following spring rains. Then you have ‘In Between’, ‘Second Flush’, ‘Monsoon’ and ‘Autumnal Flush’. For me, First Flush works the best, especially as the first tea in the morning. To know more on the subject you can go go here.

The mild morning breeze is always beautiful.

So, this morning, the three element came together to create that perfect start.

ps: above is a painting called 'Morning Tea' by Margaret Olley, Australias finest still life painter


15 comments:

Brown Weed said...

hey hey
a very good morning to you too!

Brown Weed said...

(seems there's a tiger in the teapot!!)

Bhaskar Khaund said...

Welcome back , Tangled ! Nice post - Little Martha was my ringtone for a long while (2-3 months) last year ..you know what that does to a song in yr mind ! By a coincidence , i was listening to the tune over this weekend after a long break ..dug it - its such a beautiful piece ! Allman have a great repertoire of memorable guitar instrumentals - Jessica , Elizabeth Reed , et al - though one major weakness is recurring 'phrases' that become cliched through repetitiveness - you'll find them in all the electric instrumentals , in fact , in the solos of many songs too - Martha avoids that by keeping it simple and effective....no Darjeeling anywhere in Colombo ? am sure you'll find it somewhere...

Gaurav Sethi said...

m - eat a peach was my first allman bros, and like duanne it just vanished one day. just heard martha and now am going to the fillmore east. you have a good time south!

Gaurav Sethi said...

Grt mood there, rave on li'l m

thecorporatehippy said...

Wah! Aghaaz ka intezaar kiya to jazeere ki hawaon tak guzarish pohaunchi.. Khayalon ki sifaarish pohaunchi..

Welcome back!

ghaza said...

ok, if you know this song, sing along .........

Where had all the blog-posts gone?
Long time passing
Where had all the blog-posts gone?
Long time ago
Where had all the blog-posts gone?
When the bloggers moved off, else somewhere
Thank god for their return
Thank god for their return :)

Pooja Nair said...

Ghaza good one! ha ha ha

I find Ceylon tea delightfull too!

Anonymous said...

Naah.. even if Ceylon tea is the most premium whiskey available, say Johnny Walker Blue Label, it cant compete with a Single Malt, can it?? :)

And on top of that first flush is like the purest unadulterated form, with that hint of astringency, that makes you smack till long after.. Lovely.. I now wait for my evening tryst with my remnants of last years 2nd Flush.. One of the day's high points..

Pooja Nair said...

I expected that comment to come from meraj himself. if you didn't say it he would have.

I don't know about single malt, i am talking purely based on what my taste buds tell me.

i like ceylon tea. a thousand apologies! :)

meraj said...

thanks for the warm welcome guys!

Bhaskar, how true about the repititive phrases of Allman...but i end up enjoying them :)

Pooja, i know where your 'thousand apologies' are coming from.

Shamik, thats a great analogy

cheers, guys...its good to be back.

Smiling Dolphin said...

oh dear, must you listen to graveyard songs first thing in the morning! ok, leg pulling aside, a splendid post with splendid sounds, smells and imagery. i think we need some monsoon flush here in wet mumbai, but i guess this pleb is equally happy with masala cutting:-)

meraj said...

dolphin, am i impressed or what...your awareness on the origins of 'Little Martha'.

and, me too likes masala cutting in the drizzle on the streets of Mumbai :)

phish said...

tea, yes that's what i need. its close to five in the morning and i have lost all desire for sleep.

but tea, yes what an idea.

meraj said...

hope you had that tea...did you?