The cloying Sip- a blissful memory

“TA TARUPTUP TA-AN RA RA 

TA TARUPTUP TA-AN RA RA 

NESCAFE…”

 I remember when I first saw the add, I loved it; coz the model it showed looked independent and free-spirited. And immediately I had imagined myself to be living in my own flat with a coffee-machine in the kitchen. It gave me that sense of independence. So, I started loving coffee, not just because of the advertisement, but also because of its life-like taste; bitter, yet to be consumed, where you can add a little sweetness to it in just a right amount.

And then god bestowed us (coffee lovers) with CCD(Cafe coffee day) and Barista Lavazza. I used to go the outlets of CCD in metro walk (the most visited place during my college days!) where I usually had ‘kaapi-nirvana’ or ‘tropical ice-berg’.

So one day, I went to metro-walk with my best friend; both of us being coffee lovers, decided to go to then hallowed CCD. Also I wanted to have a ‘garden sandwich’ which is served grilled with mayonnaise in between, there in CCD.

So we went to the CCD and somehow got an ill feeling. It was a bad omen. We should have understood it. But, we didn’t…..!!!!!

 We sat there and soon we found out that the air conditioner was not working(max temp:40̊C) and so I felt suffocated and found it hard to maintain my composure in that nauseating hall,  overcrowded with families with air stuffed with loud noises made by blabbering customers. We felt as if we were seated in McDonald’s rather than in CCD. That was just not our usual CCD….!! So we dropped the idea of the ‘garden salad’ and ordered just the ‘kaapi nirvana’… It felt like hell sitting in there but I hoped gallantly that I would soon feel better once the coffee arrives. But it was seriously suffocating so we decided to change our seats and occupied the ones where apparently the air conditioner was stronger (our observation as regular customers!!). But the coffee didn’t arrive. We ordered once again. We waited with my hope diminishing in direct proportion to the time elapsing.

The coffee finally arrived.

We first decided to have the whipped cream but couldn’t have much of it as it was saccharinely sweet. We mixed it with the rest of the coffee. We then had the first sip of the coffee and it reminded us of a sugar syrup. We realized that something was terribly wrong with the coffee. This is not how our coffee tastes like!! And it wasn’t worth some 93 rupees!! I then complained saying, “I told you I can have coffee from McDonald's and that too for just Re 30 and it’s not bad…!!”.  We couldn’t have it and wondered if one of us could complain them regarding the ‘sugar-syrup’. We couldn’t complain. So to relieve our frustration we decided to write a note on the napkin. But none of us had a pen or a marker and were again realized of our bad luck. But we had to write a note and could not have given up that easily and so we did write,

                                  :(

                       BAD COFFEE
                                  :(

                                  

                                        , with coffee using a straw on the napkin and kept it on the coffee mug and went to the counter for the payment. But then with an askance I saw the waiter crumpling the note carelessly indifferently without reading it, above of which we had to pay the service charges which further escalated my saturation level and made me furious and so I blurted out our complaints….!!!

We were then given another mug of coffee and were asked to taste it. It tasted the same but we didn’t complain. Instead we went out and threw it in a dustbin… We could simply not have it; it tasted awful………………..!!

We then decided to have ‘aloo-tikki’ from the food–court there as we wanted to have something spicy(edible) and sit in an air-conditioned place. We got the coupon for it from inside the food-court and were asked to go out of the court, to the stalls situated outside it. We realized it was one of our bad days as we stood helplessly in the hot stream of air coming from the hot pan of ‘aloo tikkis’ and even they tasted unusually vapid……. It was indeed our bad day…!!...I then decided to get cold coffee from McDonald's which brought me some respite and he got noodles’ box from Bercos (a Chinese restaurant)takeaway in which noodles were rare. They were bad.

So we couldn’t get either a good coffee or a good air conditioned place.

But what had really disappointed us was the ‘BAD COFFEE’!!!...which of course did distort the musical image of the NESCAFE ad in my mind for sometime…!!!!

Albeit, I still love coffee and the likes of Barista Lavazza as most of the coffee lovers would…

And yes...................HAVE A NICE COFFEE…!!!