Blending is a fine art

I remember when I was in college, one fine morning gone for a picnic with some classmates of mine to a place Girjia close to Ramnanagr (now in Utranchal).
After taking bath in pure and cold water of Ramganga river, and visiting Girjia Devi Temple on a small island admist the river, picnickers thought of some macho things brought a bottle of 'sharab', any nondescripive kind of rumor whisky I do not remeber now , asked me also to sip a glass of that macho drink. i refused to oblige, my first question was which brand it is , they were not sure, for them it is sharab so a macho drink that is good enough.
My case was silghtly different. My Dad was very fond of quality drinks and used to keep good stock of foreign brands and in fact he was the one who offered me my first glass of beer and painstakingly explained on that day about finer difference among whisky, rum, gin, beer, wine, brandy, highland blends, lowland potions of Scotland. So as an arrogant young spirit expert refused to consume non descript rum!
Lot of water flown in Ramganga since then. I remained teatotller for a long time in between, but my quest for finer drinks remained intact.
Probably this quest recently taken to The Club. the occasion was a Workshop by renowned Cocktail expert Eric Lobo. Now Cocktail Experts are called Mixologits like the hairdressers are now known as hair designers (no pun intended). Eric mesmerised me with his skills, he is capable of converting an ordinary spirit into a wonderful drink. For example with a scoop of choclate icecream he can convert whisky into Koluha. I can talk hours together about his mixing skills.
At the end of workshop there was a open cometition for the workshop participants.
I made Gin with Tonic, surprise surprise I won a prize for a drink which was concocted by Britishers in their early days in India for their Mems who were not used to Inanddian summers, Indian Mosquitos and India's Malaria. Gin with tonic is a potent guard against malaria. Reason very simple the tonic water was prepared by disolving Quinin tablet in water!
By the way I got an award for my drink!