Coffee and I have been best buddies for as long as I can remember. During my childhood in India, there was only coffee of the instant kind. Mix with milk and drink. I got exposed to the real coffee or the taste of freshly brewed coffee only when I came to live in the US. Starbucks was the place for my daily Java. Cappuccinos, lattes or espressos — I liked them all. The cookies especially the dark chocolate with chocolate chips was sinful and just perfect. But what made the experience extraordinary was the ambience of Starbucks. It just makes you feel warm and welcome. Long drawn conversations over a piping hot or cold cuppa was among the most satisfactory experiences of life. I thought I had left that behind when I relocated to India many years back.
But, I had a pleasant surprise when Starbucks opened their doors in India. A couple of years back, I planned to meet up a few of my college batchmates from my MBA days. I was traveling to Mumbai and was on a short vacation. Married and with our own families now, the close buddies that we were, we all had drifted apart. This was a meetup I was really looking forward to. And we decided to refresh the memories of those college days at a much-loved haunt. We gathered at Starbucks at an upscale mall in suburban Mumbai. The warm and squishy sofas were inviting. The pleasant chatter of people engrossed in conversations was the perfect setting for a long-delayed get together. I had arrived a little ahead of time and took up my place on one of the sofas. As I waited for the old gang to turn up, I soaked in the ambience. The music playing was soft, keeping the mind alive yet not overpowering enough to drown out the conversation.
The friendly staff is always on their toes to help out with a friendly smile and a warm suggestion but never intrusive. I took out my smartphone and used the free wi-fi to login and connect. While I browsed the net, a couple of friends turned up. We ordered our coffees along with some savories to eat. Then time took another dimension, and we were teleported back to our college canteen, a bunch of boisterous youngsters, sharing in the fun. As we pulled each other’s legs, laughed and went crazy, we were not a gang of grownups but youngsters once more.
The conversations flowed. The delicious coffee kept us company, and we hung around till the gray of the evening transformed into an inky black sky. No one came and bothered us though the last orders had long ago been placed. We hung around till the dinner time was well past us. Then with heavy hearts, we bid goodbye to each other, promising to stay in touch, of calling more often though we all know that life somehow just takes another direction.
With a warm glow of memories past and fresh, I headed home. Starbucks providing the perfect place where for once we met over coffee instead of a social media poke or status update. Nothing beats the happiness that surrounds a face-to-face meeting. Nothing beats the time spent with old friends. This is #HowWeMet, a bunch of middle-aged friends from college.
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