Coffee & Me
As a kid, I loved watching those Nescafe coffee commercials. No matter what I would be busy doing, I use to run to the TV room to soak in the tune.
Starry-eyed, I watched a beautiful girl wake up on a cozy bed and grab her coffee in a red Nescafe cup; Other times a gorgeous couple sitting at the edge of a mountain cliff, watching the sunrise and sipping a hot cuppa.
But, there was a climax. My family satisfied their early morning caffeine craving with tea. Those long-brewed black tea which had sugar, so little that one would feel there was none; and a few drops of milk, just enough to label it as ‘milk tea’.
This was my ‘social media vs reality’ sort of situation. Perhaps one of the early instances, when the romantic in me was hit hard every time I saw them drink tea instead of coffee.
I grew up. College took me to a different city altogether. Since I was living with my friends, I was no more under pressure for carrying forth the legacy of drinking morning tea. All I needed was to buy that red cup and realize my dream.
I was successful.
To an extent.
There were days when my amazing friends would wake me up with coffee. I would smile, sit up, stretch, take the red cup, smell it and sip! But in all honesty, the taste wasn’t really doing any wonder. It just didn’t give me the kick I had dreamt of.
However, I wasn’t willing to let go of the dreams I had woven around that red cup, cozy mornings and the smell of coffee.
My major was in English Literature and being surrounded by the works of Romantics like Wordsworth, Keats, Byron, Blake and others only added to my dreamy approach. These dudes could turn even a dead falling tree into a source of beauty. And there I was just trying to stir up some coffee romance. Unsuccessfully.
Overtime I explored the varieties in coffee – from filtered to the desi version of dalgona. However, waking up to that red cup and the perfect coffee just wouldn’t be as dramatic as the way I had always wanted it to.
Life went on. I couldn’t hang on to that dream forever. I had other romantic ventures to focus on.
After our final undergrad paper, we decided to give ourselves some breather by taking a small trip. Absolutely unplanned, we reached Pushkar, a small but beautiful town in Rajasthan (still on my list of favourite places).
The morning was chilly, fresh and everything beautiful. We sat at the small road-side stall to have breakfast overlooking the vibrant and gorgeous city waking up, getting started and creating magic.
And then something happened. I took that sip of coffee. Breathed out. Saw twirls of smoke fly away. My heart skipped a beat. I smiled. Gradually laughed. And heard the Nescafe commercial tune fill up my head – “ho shuru har din aise…”
What was the big deal about that coffee? Nothing. In fact, it was one of the worst coffee I’d ever had. The shop we were sitting in was far from being a cozy coffee shop. Yet it stirred up those emotions.
It was the company. It was the situation. It was my relaxed frame of mind. It was me being away from the routine. It was about being free. I was suddenly weaving a story like never before.
