One Great Cuppa Coffee

Once upon a time there was a woman who believed one great cup of coffee could sort out most things. That's me. And "Once upon a time" is used here purely with reference to the fact that I have slipped up on this most basic belief of mine several times. Actually it also refers to the fact that I am now prehistoric enough to be referred to in this manner. You can also interpret it as a lame attempt at trying to bring in a fairy tale-ish flavor back to my oh-so-bland existence. Uh... guess I deviated from the point.

I started this blog as a sob story station for me a few months back only to realize... that is so NOT me. I am the more "har fikr ko dhuein mein udaati chali gayi" type who didn't really need a sob station- figuratively speaking my friends. I still do not smoke. Bad for throat. But... back to my blog. I decided to put an end to it, deleted the two miserable posts I had managed in six months or so and decided to... well... just blabber on. 

Most of you who know me, also know that I recently moved to the coffee capital of India. Politics and Finance be damned. For the uninitiated, I mean Delhi and Bombay I left behind! Coffee-land it is for me now, for let's see how long. And why this reference to Bombay one would ask. Ask! Ask! Bombay has been home too with Bhai living there till last year. Bombay has also been beckoning me for years, sort of a game of hide and seek. There have been several professional opportunities there that I let go. You see, I love to hate the place and also hate to love it. But this is not about me and Bombay (I refuse to call it Mumbai.. NO, NO, NO WAY!). This is the about me and Bangalore. :)

Most of my family and friends have believed, with good reason, that I would be a complete disaster if I were left to fend for myself, pampered brat that I am! OK... I shall make the correction. ALL of my family and ALL my friends have believed it. So who am I to contradict them. But I guess I wanted to surprise myself more than anyone else. So here I am. Single in the coffee city. Shamelessly borrowed from Sushmita Bose.  

From the 'morning bed tea served by grumbling mom' days to my new routine of 'wake up - shut the damn alarm - trudge along to the coffee maker - go out to pick up TOI - avoid looking at pics of southie moustached heros splashed on  front page of Bangalore Times (who the hell wants to start her day like THAT!)'... it's been one hell of a change! 

My maid of honor is honorable enough to call every other day with a new excuse for why she can't put up an appearance. Sample a few - "Didi, Aadhaar card banwana hai", "Didi, bete ke school ki fees deni hai (hindi picture Nirupa Roy type mom!)", "Didi, bohot high bukhaar hai", "Didi, meri saas beemar hai". I caught her on the last one. Which self respecting bahu in India would take leave to care for her ailing mother in law. All of Ekta Kapoor's excellent work on Star TV collectively flushed down the drain! I told her just as much when she resumed work after two days of 'informed' absence. The poor girl was actually in tears and with almost genuine hurt in her eyes she told me,"Saas abhi bhi hospital mein hai"... Boy! Did I miss something here?!! How did I, in a split second, become the monster for keeping her away from her hospital-bed ridden saasu ma? There is something about women and tears, I tell you! Very dangerous!!!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I did give her another day off the very next day to get the old lady discharged. During my customary morning phone conversation with mom that day, I told her about it, feeling smug about the "you are such a kind-hearted little gem I was lucky enough to give birth to" comment I was sure ma would make. She gave me the "You've been conned stupid girl" with a lot of feeling in her voice. She said with years of accumulated helplessness and anger at the randomly chhutti-taking maids, "How can you be so naive?"... and on and on it went. Sis-in-law was a little more kind. "Some things don't change no matter which city you live in! But you've gotta be more careful girl or you shall get fleeced by the likes of her. How many days has she taken off already? You do maintain attendance records, right? That's why they still publish calendars in this country darling!" 

Hmmm... Life has come full circle. I can no longer smirk at the dhobi-hisaab-keeping, grocery-shopping, doing-dishes, washing-clothes routine any more. But what the hell... I still get time to savor a great cup of brazilian coffee while I read Single In The City. Long live Sushmita (Bose)!!! 

Life is sorted.