Bangalore

Wednesday 20 January: Mid-morning when voluptuous French Fanny opened-up a fine ruby-red I knew I was in for a treat . . . and I got it in the form of the berry-fruit flavours of Grover Wine's Cabernet Shiraz.
India's IT capital - there is no need to dwell in Bengaluru (Bangalore's official name) - give the Hard Rock Cafe a miss, throw away your guide book and simply take the 285M bus from platform 23A of the City Bus Stand to Doddaballapur for a short rickshaw ride to Raghunathapura village and Grover Vineyard. But, e-mail Fanny Olivier in advance to visit the vineyard and tasting room.
Bought a Grover La Reserve at Spencer's supermarket in MG Road (Mahatma Gandhi Rd) in Bangalore. Established in 1992, incredibly, Grover's don't yet have a license to sell alcohol!
Photos of Bangalore area.
After dinner and few beers - a mad dash with Kaveh to just catch the 9:40pm Kanyakumari Express sleeper down south to Varkala in sleepy Kerala.