For the love of a coffee!

While I was riding my decade old Royal Enfield through the woods near my abode, I chanced upon a little cafe buried in the middle of nowhere behind a little Bharat Petroleum station. As always I was in no evident rush that could make me skip it and that really is a happy trait of weekend jolly rides on the wheels of joy. The name of the cafe meant coffee coffee-bean in Amharic and Oromo, which are official languages of the birthplace of coffee ‘Ethiopia’. I didn’t know a local coffee shop would go for such a thoughtful name and it did surprise me. 

Bistro welcomed me with a melodious jingle of the hanging wind chimes with few hundred threads up above the ceiling almost touching the glass door effortlessly. A smiling face of the barista made my entry grand and making me feel as if they were all waiting for me to arrive for few days. I looked for a corner seat with no one to make eye contact so I can’t continue my selfish business of thinking, reading and writing. But I was forced to take the middle seat as all other seats were taken by people who reached ahead of time.

Some tables looked like a war had just gotten over while others reminded me of poor souls waiting for a food drop from sky seeing the eagerness in their eyes. I made my order of a Sulaimani chai and nothing to go along with it. The chai struck a chord with my taste buds and music began inside my mouth while my tongue struggling to match his toes to the tunes. Something told me this is the cafe I should have started and maybe am too late to act on the thoughts. 

The first trip on a lonely Saturday evening was not enough for my mind. It said there was unfinished business back in the cafe and need to go back tomorrow. I couldn’t sleep well as the excitement about the next visit tingled me and kept me awake as a new love. Sunday came and I was there by the time they opened at 10am. I had gone with a large appetite and was sure to make big foodies back home proud by my performance. Started with an Americano and went for a three course meal with antipasti, main course and a dessert. I ended up spending a good couple of hours all alone eating and reading my book. 

Next week was all about taking my dear and neat ones there and making grand introductions as if I had discovered something rare and unique. Almost everyone appreciated the find to my liking. Now I started waiting for weekends to take my motorbikes for a ride to the cafe and use the me time in it than roaming around in currents of nature arriving from the sky beyond my liking. My habit of writing thrived with the unique ideas that could come to mind while observing the world through the large glass panels of the cafe which boasted of one side completely glass wall. The owner started making friends with me and he mentioned the way we look at vehicles passing through the road nearby through this glass mimicked the therapy humans would do watching fishes on aquarium which improves our focus and concentration.

During my visits, I chanced upon meeting various solo visitors who were in varying fields and learn from their wisdom. Somewhere in IT who shared my similar worries and jokes about the job. Slowly but steadily I got acquainted with the owners of the cafe and the guy who was running the cafe who seems to be from Nagaland. He had worked all around South India and finally was proud to call Bangalore his home. The only mistake he claims to have done is introduce his brother to the owners who joined as a driver but a lazy one at the job which questioned the reference and its credibility.

The more I visited alone, with family and friends, I made it my mission to try everything that I can eat from the menu and later act as an expert for other visitors. The flew and I made close friendships with many people around the place and working near the cafe. The heart of my bikes got more fitter with the regular weekend runs to the cafe and once lazy and rusting vintage bikes now started breathing and burning the fuel while developing their muscles to impress the world around. I was there when it rained, when it didn’t rain, when sun was fuming and when moon was shining, months passed and it became part of my life. I even closed real estate deals all while sitting there, and yes, it was taking me on an upward trajectory while catapulting my thoughts and creativity to all time highs. 

The trips because so much part of my life that I even named the street dogs in the area whom the cafe and staff were feeding, was part of in-numerous celebrations of random strangers who even mistook me to be the cafe owner as I was always spotted there. Family and friends got upset with me few times due to the lower availability and all the attention the coffee beans were getting from me. Guess what, I was always a tea lover but this love affair with the cafe made me a coffee connoisseur by chance and developed better taste buds leading myself to identify the bean, blend, mix with smell and taste. 

Life as we know doesn’t stay same always, and one fine day the cafe was found to be closed which led to a heartbreak for sure. I tried to ride around the area for next few weekends thinking it could be a temporary closure as initially I figured the chef absconded and left the city. I assumed that the owner might be in the look out for new chef to continue his business. However as everything, this too had to end. I witnessed a new board coming up at the same place, with no information on the opening dates. I can only wish that it went back to olden days. Now my only thought is that the owner is playing with my mind and will start the same cafe with new name but I don’t even know who the new owner.

For the love of a coffee, we sometimes find ourselves and learn more about us. Rejoice the alone time which is as healthy as the family and friends time. It adds a different dimension to your thoughts and encourages you to get richer with ideas and mindset.