04 January 2006

Kanta's Feni.

So i spent New Years on a little, secret beach in goa. There were a lot of people, but not enough to disqualify the 'secret' tag.It was mostly a get back-back-with-old-buddies-new-year. There were some drunken women, but this post is not about that.

It's about Feni.

The national drink of goa, as you may all know. What's funny is that few of the locals I met seem to like it. Strange, because it's good stuff.
There are two kinds of Feni. `Branded' stuff, that comes in packaged bottles, with names like 'Big Boss', `Beach Bonanza' and `Mogambo'. Ok, the last two i made up, but Big Boss is famous. The bottles are made of plastic, and that is what seperates the men from the boys.We men drink `Local Feni'. It comes in glass bottles, and they have labels like, Royal Challenge, Real Whisky and Vat 69. What i mean is, its packed in old bottles by the local seller.

So, me and Horseyboy spent an hour looking for one such famous retailer. Near Baga Beach, while other, lesser men, were siping vodka or whiskey or some such lesser drink, we found this man.Kanta.

He was lean and wiry, and you could tell that in his day, he'd lifted his share of weights and beaten up random white people.

Well, anyway, we chatted with him and his drunk customers in the little country bar.

Us : ``What percent alcohol does Feni have?''
Kanta ``Very High degree. Ay patrao, what degree? "(to a drunk)
Old man, with broken teeth, as he gets his glass filled with a 200 ml shot of the stuff : ``180 degree''
Kanta : ``Pheh. Whatchasayin men? Nai nai... yeh 20 degree hai.''

When we asked him what was the difference between the local stuff and the properly bottles stuff, he poured some on a table, and lit it. Bright blue flame.


Anyway. we drank. A lot.

Happy new year all. Hic.

3 comments:

KM said...

its obviously harder hitting on people u know, because theres alot more at stake...

i read ur reply to my comment on shivangees.i got the same reply another blogger.and i suppose ill give pune the benefit of the doubt!
:P

Ron said...

Feni huh?? Ive never been to Goa. and my only experience with Feni was when this friend of mine brought some back with him because I begged him to. I didnt like it much though. I dont remember what kind of Feni it was though.

The Marauder's Map said...

Feni is truly awful. Yuck yuck puke puke. How did you like it dude? I think local haria made in Jamshedpur tastes better. AT least, it used to smell alright.