Coffee - A Door to Another World

She was looking hesitantly at me. I smiled and she quickly asked – Do we have a coffee shop nearby? I realized something common between us – The Love of Coffee. I introduced her to my favorite coffee shop, and she offered me to join in. She was in India for the first time on a six-month project. The coffee became a means to discuss our culture, art, language, and philosophy -finally something beyond the irritating girly gossips. Gradually over our discussions, a lot of myths were cleared and the differences admired. She became my door to another world, and I was her guide to a new country - India. Though she had one of those thick 'A Visit to India' sort of book with maps and details of the places to visit, still there were lot many things she was struggling with -e.g. catching the local transport or dealing with the hawkers. 

She shared with me the experiences of her most difficult journeys. Her photographs were vibrant. Over our coffee, I visited most of the world through her eyes. She was living the life I always craved for. Mountaineering, bungee jumping, scuba diving, paragliding, and traveling around the world were a few of the lot many thrilling activities she was great in. Coffee meant cappuccino until I met her; but with her, from espresso to latte, everything tasted great. Slowly, we grew into good friends from the mere acquaintances and our coffee became a ritual. 

We eagerly waited for each other to spend our evenings together. We enjoyed the sunsets with our decorated cups of coffee and soothing background music; we went for cycling in the countryside and danced like crazy on our favorite numbers. The chats started shifting to our personal life experiences, the worst fears, the families, and siblings. Though we had similar likings, our personalities were different. I believe the parenting styles and sociocultural conditions played an important role in it. She had already traveled half of the world alone in her early twenties while I was convincing my parents for staying at a friend's house overnight in the same city. She was independent and confident enough to take any important decision of her life and there I was totally confused among my career, future, and passion. She was living while I was just dreaming to live.

Once she asked me to share some top Bollywood songs with her and I still remember the weird facial expressions she had while listening to them. However, she was very accepting, exploring and rarely complaining - the perfect person to fit into any culture. She could gulp anything from spicy masala dosa to plain chapati or rice happily. Only the days when she ate boiled potatoes or plain curd I could speculate -something must be wrong with her stomach. She knew to respect other's culture and emotions.

One day, she suddenly decided to leave for the India tour. I found a note on my door when returned home in the evening. Such a moody she was! I engrossed in my boring world again. Months later, I received a parcel that had a musical hand-made card, a coffee scented letter and a beautiful Rajasthani skirt in it. The last lines of the letter were - Hope you are doing well. Keep visiting our favorite coffee shop. You do great with a refreshing sip. I glowed gaily and rushed to the coffee shop in my favorite attire. I treated myself to a wonderful cup of cappuccino and some yummy cupcakes in the memory of our friendship.