BRAToSPHERE

Tag: coffee

  • Writing in a cafe

    There is something about writing at home that makes it plain jane boring and the creative juices just do not flow to get the thoughts out of my mind into this digital odyssey. So what do i do?

    Jump into the coffee shop close to my home to get the creative juices flowing and the fingers tapping away to glory. Coffee Shops, or cafes, are the best place to write.

    Coffee sure is a wonderful stimulant for the brain cells, but it is about the cafe and not so much about the coffee. The vibe there is what i personally find more stimulating.

    If you have to write stuff that people would eventually read, you better be in the midst of people. Not that i eavesdrop into others conversation but the whole feel of a coffee shop is that much more livelier and happening, filled with energy. There are a gamut of emotions around to observe and learn from and set our minds free. You just need to look up to find your muse. It is sitting right across your table weeping away into her boyfriends shoulders. Keep guessing. Be innovative.

    Coffee and writing sure have a strong connection. how else would one explain the phenomena of a cafe in a book store that is all the rage across cities globally. The oxford bookstore in CP, Delhi is brimming with people all the times of the day. All kinds of people chatting, browsing books, sipping coffee with tidbits and exploring away. That place is one of the most happening places in Delhi to experience a wide array of diverse people engaged in different moods.

    In the end, it all Probably is a marketing genius (Horward Schultz anyone?) at work, and in the pursuit of being cool we end up patronising writing in a cafe culture. But what the heck! it works!

    p.s.: Writing this sipping on my favourite Kenya estate blend pour over in my neighbourhood starbucks. Writing in a cafe indeed!

  • Intimidating Choices

    What do you do on a lazy sunday morning? Read the newspapers? Generally chill around? Go for a run? Play Badminton? Work out?

    So many options right?

    And still most of us are confused and bored and don’t understand what to do. We just while away our time, watching TV on mute (yes, that is what i do!), looking at the garden repeatedly deciding if it needs watering, aimless walking through the house looking if something needs repair and mentally making a note that some things really do, opening up amazon.in looking if you need something or just aimless lounging in the sofa. Not content, still.

    This is the trouble of choices. I was recently having this conversation with a colleague on how we Indians do not really appreciate choices, or probably we feel intimidated with them. Like in a restaurant, a typical middle class man would be baffled with the choices on offer.

    “Can you please get me a coffee?”, the man would ask rather thoughtless.

    “Sure Sir. Cappuccino, latte or Expresso?”, the over enthusiastic waiter would question.

    “Ah! Ahem.. the first one should do”, replied the man totally zapped and feeling like an engineering student being grilled during his VIVA.

    “Cappucino is a wonderful choice sir. So, would you like some cream on top”, the enthu cutlet pops again.

    The man is now completely intimidated and just replies, “Ah.. ah.. yes. cream. yes..”

    “And how many spoons of sugar do you like in your cup of whipped cream layered Cappuccino sir?”

    Whip.. what? I ordered for coffee. The man thinks. But with an ego filled mind and not wanting to look like an ignorant bumpkin just mutters, “Ah! one spoon.. one spoon sugar”

    “And would you like some cookies to go along with it sir. Or may be some grilled sandwich?”

    Done. The man blows his mental fuse. “COFFEEEEEE. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT ORDER JUST A CUP OF PLAIN COFFEE?”, the man thunders out of the restaurant with everyone staring at the outburst.

    But well, that is the predicament we live in. Being brought in up a pre liberalised era, we are not aware of choices. It was the era of rationing and we would be happy with the little something that would be doled out in terms of food, oil, whatever..

    We were content with the single white modern bread that we religiously ate every weekend for years and years. We didn’t know about the plethora of Brown, multii grain, oats, rye filled and the other seeming innocuous loafs sitting in the bread aisle. No!

    A news article reminded me again of this “i don’t like choices” attitude. Parents are apparently confused which nursery school to put their child in, as there are so many options around. Each with varied facility and different board affiliations – CBSE, ICSE, IB,etc. and different age groups for eligibility – three, three and a half, three years 4 months 6 days.. Options! Options again lead to intimidation and confusion.

    What was the choice during our times? The sole English medium school near our house which fit our budget. Choices bring in confusion for the normal indian and it would be a generation to be comfortable with all the chaos!

    So yes, till then it is going to be difficult to order a coffee, unless of course you are in the good old India Coffee House.

  • Allure of a Coffee Shop

    14th February, Valentine’s day. Here I am sitting at the Starbucks coffee shop waiting for a friend. We planned to go out for dinner tonight.

    By the looks of it, it does not seem to be happening. All restaurants seem to be completely sold out to the romantically inclined! So, I guess, we would have to do with the coffee alone today.

    Coming back to the main topic – Coffee shops.

    I have always liked whiling away time in a coffee shop. As far as I remember, this fixation with coffee shops started with that unaffordable espresso shot at barista on MG road in Bangalore. This was way back in 2005, when I was in third year engineering. That barista has now become a CCD, and my tastes have changed from espresso shots to a hot chocolate (yes!).

    It has been a long on going journey since that espresso shot at the barista. Right from the “4 seasons” cafe in Vizag for the inexpensive cup of black coffee after CAT classes, to the present day Starbucks, every cup has for sure been totally worth every penny.

    Coffee shops are so energetic and full of life, and at the same time calm and inspiring. No wonder many bestsellers have been written in coffee shops.

    Whenever I am in a new city, I always make it a point to spend some time in a coffee shop. Just looking, and if possible, eavesdropping, at people and their conversations is a complete course in human psychology. You get to know the talk of the town? What is the current favorite? Which movie you should be watching the coming weekend!

    One week later.. 21st February..

    Am again at this Starbucks, and it seems that it is just where I left.

    It is as if time has frozen in this part of the world, inside this hideous place and everyone is still having fun. Of course, the people have changed (but I don’t remember their faces!), and the talks have changed. But the energy still remains the same. The same infectious energy.

    See, this is the joy of going to a coffee shop. It feels like returning back to a familiar place. It is not without design that most Starbucks outlets across the world are designed in the same fashion. Or CCD, or Barista, or at other coffee chain. They intend to give you the same familiar look and feel to bring back the warm memories and freeze time for the couple of hours you are here.

    I can keep singing hours and hours about this wonderful modern day creation, and am sure I would in many more posts.

    Am off now to get my hot chocolate, and to spend some time eavesdropping.. Er! solitude. See you soon at the next cafe.