Evenings and coffees

Thanks to my dad, I know a bit about coffee. Presently with the market facing a gross short supply and investors pumping in billions into the commodities market a kg of clean coffee beans cost around 180 rupees. A bit of help, and fifteen minutes later adding up the cost of the milk, the sugar, the cream and even a small rent on the mug, my king sized mug of coffee doesn’t cost any more than Rs 13.55(cant help it ,the figure on my calculator screen). Add the services, the cushioned chairs and whatever, my mug served steaming hot will now at most be Rs 20.
After spending a month of my summer vacations in front of the modest ‘paan dukkan’, sipping in ‘garam chai’ at not more than Rs 3.00 I, for once tried to explore the reasons that made me visit the up market ‘café coffee days’ and the ‘baristas’ where a cup of cappuccino cost me no less that rupees forty only. As idiotic as you may find me I did find half a dozen reasons.

1. The pain in the ass: Sitting on a wooden plank or the seat of a bike is no way as comfortable as the plush chairs of a CCD. I now have to stand up every fifteen minutes to relieve my ass of the pain. I simply loved those chairs. A definite and valid reason to pay the extra 20 rupees on every cup!!

2. The incentive: In a group of six you didn’t always have to order a mug. You could take your day off and enjoy a sip from every other mug, only to face the awful eyes of the waiter who keeps on asking “anything else sir?” until you lose all your shame and say it loud and clear “nothing for me!”
3. Hassle free smoking: Every time I go smoking, the fear of being caught is more than the fear of dying from cancer. So often it has to be behind a bush or behind the paan dukkan itself. CCD did give me a quiet corner to have a smoke with my friends’ and no, smoking wasn’t banned in public places before 2nd October 2008.
4. Walk in, find a friend: No calls made or received, its 5:30 in the evening and I walk straight into a CCD. No surprises I find a group of friends and the evening was gone. Paan dukkan and the chai have definitely contributed to my increasing phone bills.
5. The dude thing: “Hey mate! Where are you?” this is probably the first line in every call I receive after 5 in the evening and buoy CCD sounded great for an answer, now it’s the paan dukkan behind some big hotel.
6. The treat: Okay I cant miss this. Sizzling hot coffee and a sizzling hot chick (on the other table of course)!! That was a deadly combo. CCD’s do give my dried up eyes (study where I do , and you’ll imagine the Bedouin’s are better off) the biggest treat.

The coffee joints in town have definitely given me their best for years but this summer I suppose it was time for a change. May be I was bored watching the same ladies who took the same table in the corner every evening, or the monotony of the identical taste of the cappuccino. Good bye CCD, bbbyee Barista.