The storm in a coffee cup. Mornings don't start without it, evenings seem incomplete without one. 330 calories of it at times (that's what I read about the white chocolate mocha that Starbucks makes) will even fill my stomach for a couple of hours. My poison, my nectar.
Ok, that's overdramatic, but I do love my coffee. I was brought up with a family of coffee-holics. My Dad cut down to single digit cups of coffee a day after great effort, so I guess there was never going to be much restriction on me. I have gone from 2 cups to 5 cups and back to 2 cups a day. Oh, how I remember cup and saucer rather than fancy mugs, those 'cuttings' at the lorries, the plastic cups in which they served it in trains!!
Of course, before I left for the US, the 'cafe culture' was alien and you'd be treated to coffee or tea at people's places or spend three rupees at a stall. Spending 50 rupees in a place to chill out while sipping coffee laden with cream and having exotic tastes was beyond us at the time. I didn't know any South Indians too at the time, so filter coffee was a rare even t for me. Instant coffee was the way to go. Even today, I religiously go to the Indian store to get my favorite Nescafe'. Now that I am settled in the coffee capital of the world, the choice outside are varied. There's the usual Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's best coffee etc. There is much more than the usual coffee too. There's mocha, latte and the like. Hmm, the many choices life gives us!
I used to joke at Texas A&M that 'Coffee and Rafi' are the best combination one can hope for during the evenings. Some things don't change. Even as I am typing this, I am listening to Jagjit croon 'Apne Haathon ki Lakeeron Mein' and sipping my third cup for the day. Anyway, kaafi ho gaya!
Its past 5 pm on Friday and I have almost cleared my plate to leave a mostly work-free weekend. Time to go fly some kites this Sankraant. Whom am I kidding? The FAA might actually have regulations for that too.
I have seen some people put up a section on the blog mentioning what they are reading and/or watching. I think it is a cool exercise and I shall post the info periodically. I haven't explored putting it in the sidebar yet, so am just appending it to the end of this post. In fact, if you ever have suggestions on movies/books etc. to offer, please feel free to do so.
Currently reading
Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
The Poet by Michael Connelly
How Would You Move Mount Fuji? : Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers -- by William Poundstone
Watched recently
Kashmir Ki Kali
21 grams
The sum of all fears
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8 comments:
mmmm White Chocolate Mochas...I miss them. I hope they have Starbucks on Long Island! When I used to be in Seattle, I used to frequent the Zeitgeist coffee shop - this is right by the Train station in downtown. Then there was the Bauhaus? or was it BlauHaus? The one on Capitol Hill. Used to visit that place a little too. It was great to sit there on the steeply sloping sidewalk and sip coffee as the sunsets in your eyes. Ah Seattle is a beautiful city! Question Parth - what Indian restaurant do u visit the most? I used to go one called A Taste of India in the university district. They had the best Tikka Masala, and Garlic Naan too. Shame we never bumped into each other while I was there! Any suggestions to cheer up somebody who's just been rejected by ISB (again)? :-(
I think coffee is to your body what Microsoft is to today's world - a necessary evil :)
*I love it - I took a potshot (!!) at two of your necessary evils at once!!*
And I do think it's a good idea to let us know what you're reading/watching, and also listening to..so long as u don't share what u're eating..I don't think I could stand being envious in life AND online!
Hi,
Mine is an interesting metamorphosis. In India, I never drank tea or coffee. Now, I practically live on black coffee or Americano. I don’t like the chains too much though. Prefer a stand alone coffee shops with their own peculiarities, may be some live jazz in the evening....aaah! I believe Seattle doesn’t have much of that kind…mostly the chains…and that’s kind bad!
Tarun: Oh, they have starbucks everywhere. If you have caught Shrek II, let me tell you that the Farbucks joke about having one across the street is 100% accurate. The deal is that I stay in Redmond and am more of a suburbanite than a hard-core Seattleite. Most of my activities centre around our campus here. I don't like most of the Indian restaurants here, and being vegetarian rules out ones that are good at the non-vegetarian stuff :-) I think Chutney's is good on the Eastside, Kabab Palace (they do make veggie dishes) is a great pickup place, and in U-district, Cedars is pretty good. I know its not my place to tell you, but ISB isn't the be all and end all on this earth. I am sure there are other avenues that you are perfectly capable of taking and excelling at. So, cheer up. Your fellow bloggers are as well-up or screwed-up as you are :-)
RTD2: The analogy is very striking and very true as well. See the Austin Powers movie. They have based the character of Dr. Evil on the Starbucks founder (some statement he issued about ruling the earth)
SD: No tea or coffee in India? You are among the select few people I know who have done that. I really don't know about coffee shops that have jazz music, must go to one!
I like small coffee joints the best. Check out Victors Cafe on Redmond Way. Typical study crowd and with a book store next to it, lots of sip-and-read junta hanging around. They also have music playing on some days and reportedly have killer soups in the mornings (which I have yet to try).
About kites, did know that we have a dummy uttrayan right in our backyard? Check out this link. The strong winds off the pacific coasts mean a lot of
aching hands at the end of the affair.
Although, Nothing meets our manja and 'kaipo-che', this might be worth checking out.
Apparently great minds do think alike!!!!
Coffeeeeeeeeee - mom still won't let me have too much coffee at home, but when I'm out i gizzle as much as I can. All those flavours are fun...but I know what you mean about drinking coffee out of a Nescafe machine at a station from plastic cups! Oddly enough the coffees at Mocha aren't half as good as their desserts or the ambience! Still to try out Starbucks...some day...
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