Tryst with coffee

I don’t recall when the frothing cup of aromatic java had become an imperative part of customary mornings; but I do reminiscence the times as a child, when I would be refused the coffee stating it as a grown-up’s cup of tea! However, beyond disceptations of “coffee will turn u coffee-skinned”, I had turned myself into one among the gazillion lovers of the brown beverage and places that brew it.

My first encounter with coffee places was the rustic ‘Madras coffee house’ in Trivandrum. The much habitual pale steel dawara pedestal to the brimming tumbler of incense kapi was sipped amidst sultry ambiance and raucous ceiling fans above. As the commercial value of this vestigial drink gave way to Barista, Coffee day, Starbucks and a whole lot more I am unaware of, I too took to the much unanticipated coffee cupping of the sundry flavors that darn ‘hang-out’ with java.

Conversely, over the years, coffee places had woven pieces of a lifetime together, midst the warm cups. Going back to the appositely located coffee-day in Ispahani center at numgambakam, I am but traveling to rudimentary days of college life and how the mundane conversations over the obscenely priced cold coffee had shaped friendships that have come a long way. It makes me wonder why being the ever-broke student, sharing one cold coffee among a group of five and digging out crumpled notes and coins to share the brunt of the fat bills; had always made these little coffee-sojourns so very special.

Last evening I had spent a good hour, hiding from rains and sharing some laughter with friends at the regular Starbucks around the corner. It was not just the balmy ambience and the vagary of friend circle that made the experience different; I was ironically at a loss, though, each of us had grown beyond sharing one cup among us, to be able to afford a cup each. It made me realize that the only time one enjoys being bankrupt is the unmatched student life.

As I walked out, tarrying the smooth tang of cappuccino, letting the rainy weather take over the gripping nostalgia, I couldn’t but understand the uncanny relationship the brown beans and ever-lasting friendships shared; yet, in everyway my tryst with both of them is one of unparalleled joy.