COFFEE-ness

 

I write this in my vain attempt to refrain from the one thing that I love in this world(apart from the love of my life). Its like in AA ,about when you are a recovering addict you have you emotionalize and channel all your feelings(..ugghh!!. I know ! who does that anyways ?). I would rather muse over the non-existent feelings in the dark corner of my heart with a cup of espresso…pondering over the coffee stains like how one would look at Rorschach ink blot test.

All my problems are usually solved with a cup of coffee( again it’s not my problem that the problem to be solved doesn’t get solved up until the 17th cup). I was just reading an article on how people can be categorized into two groups, coffee and tea drinkers and the lost crowd of hot cocoa drinkers. I must say this, the world would be much happier place with such simple classifications, who needs caste, race, ethnicity, etc. Sadly the world doesn’t appreciate the beauty of such simplicity , they  complicate it further and further, and who am I kidding, I am the person who is judgmental about another depending on how they take their coffee. It is a serious character flaw if they don’t know how. Especially if they are south Indians! before I digress…I’m going to pour my feelings into the fond memory of a coffee estate..

We all have our dream vacation destinations, that little place in our mind where we wander off  ,while your boss is ranting off about yet another boring project or when your friend is giving you unasked details of his love life …well until a couple of months ago I used to take a trip into any and every possible beaches but that all changed until I landed in “The Coffee Estate”. Now three months later it’s the only place my mind goes to, every time anything remotely bad happens and lately I wander off a LOT in my mind’s eye. There is a trippyness about going to estate in mid October, when the rains are incessant which makes you huddle into the balcony, bring your softest blanket out and then just sip on endless cups of coffee while pretending to read a book.Here’s the thing about book reading and coffee drinking ritual,when executed properly , nobody , and I mean nobody wants to ruin into that perfect setting you have created.I have occasionally tried it in a few cafe’s and trust me, unless you want to invite somebody into your perfect cocoon or the other person is a tea drinker or a complete moron! People appreciate the sight of a good coffee lover(although they do get judgmental with your choice of book.)

THE COFFEE ESTATE is a holistic vacation destination , why? because its one of the few places that sticks to what the name on the board says. So when you are not drinking coffee ,there are a few other options that such a place would offer – like  smelling the beans roast,looking over the lush green layers of coffee plantations and well while walking through these plantations, letting an occasional bloodsucking leech latch onto you – so that you may excuse yourself for some pathetic over indulgence of Pity coffee.Bliss right?

My romance with coffee started even before I knew what it was, I was the kid raised with a steady dosage of coffee when I was three, and not some pansy hot chocolate drinks that kids my age used to drink. Then in my teenage angst years, it supported me through all the nerdy nights and early morning study groups, homework and good grades. By the time I landed into an Architecture School ,Coffee became the cool thing ,that architects swore by.I internally scoffed and told myself that the profession chose me. Like I was the next Roark or something. But then in all those glorious years never did I imagine giving up on it. I mean we had a steady strong relationship that went on for so many years, why would I give up on something that I obviously adored maybe even unabashedly loved?

Here is the thing about challenging oneself, You take the thing you definitely cannot start your day without , shift gears and do things alternatively. Why because the rule book of coffee lovers says so. Yes! its beautiful to start your day with caffeine , to pour that first mug of coffee..have your own little conversation with it and then perhaps share a smile , a thought and maybe flippantly talk about the future. It’s also one of the few romances we probably have a vision of happily ever after by driving away into the sunset with, but like every romance ,it forms a pattern. True love always is unpredictable , its the pattern of conformity that we do not conform to that makes us love it more. So here I am three weeks after no coffee days, still smelling coffee beans like a pathetic girlfriend who has been dumped but still sleeps with that one old T-shirt and thinking of the one last romantic vacation I had with the dearest Coffee.