Coffee time

                                                                                Coffee time

 

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I usually have my afternoon coffee at around 3 p.m., that is, if I don’t have a session to handle. Today when I went to have my afternoon cup of coffee, I found a few of my colleagues and one of them was having a clutch of newspapers. When I asked him why he was carrying so many papers (I know that he was not planning on a collage – that is an exercise only for the students to relieve them from the ennui that we induce through our ‘knowledge imparting’ sessions). He said that he had not read the papers the last few days and was catching up on them. So I said ‘outstanding’ paper work!  This prompted another colleague to say ‘that is the best part of coffee time; you see how you get new ideas’  I would have perhaps used ‘fresh ideas’ but then those who are used to American lingo may feel offended, you see. And also quote ‘Coffee Day – a lot can happen over coffee’. True indeed!

Time was when intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals used to haunt ‘Koshys’ in St. Marks’ Road for coffee/tea. It did not matter whether it was coffee or tea. Neither of them tasted well at Koshys! The carpet which must be 500 years old (!), the musty smell, the bored waiters- none of them have changed over the years. I have not been there recently but friends tell me that it is the very same Koshys still – I wonder if it is the very same coffee that they serve! But to be seen at Koshys was the in thing those days and perhaps still is! The British Council library used to be housed above Koshys and so one could see a number of knowledge seeking folk walk in to the library and then come down for a cuppa!

I had a friend who was keen on [or should I say madly in love (though one sided) with] a particular lady colleague and used to seek my help to get them united. One of my suggestions (how half-baked were my ideas?) was that we meet at ‘Koshys’ for a cup of coffee – you see I had conjured up ‘a lot can happen over coffee’ much before Coffee Day chose it as their tag line – I must perhaps claim royalty from them!  Well, my efforts did help and they are in matrimonial bliss now and hope that they don’t curse me and the coffee – they asked for it! That was in jest – they are a happily married couple with two adorable children and are enjoying the evening of their lives shuttling between Australia and America where the two children live!

While talking of coffee, how can one forget ‘India Coffee House” in M.G. Road? It had its ‘regulars’. The ‘fare’ was not very wide. You can get vegetable cutlet, masala dosa and of course good coffee. The waiters with their turbans were an attraction.  I learn that when this restaurant had to close thanks to Metro construction on M.G. Road, many shed tears.  Again one of my colleagues in the bank used to frequent this ICH largely because sitting there, sipping coffee, you can have a good view of those on the platform and as old Bangaloreans (or perhaps even the present generation Bangaloreans) will tell you, the most fashionable people are seen on M.G. Road. [May be like Coleridge in his ‘Christabel’, I can exclaim ‘a sight to dream of, not to tell’.] Of course, he always had attractive company, endowed as he himself was with good looks! Yours truly also used to be a regular at ICH and miss it!

And of course, the one by two coffee that you can get in any of the hotels in Bangalore! It was the Kamath hotels that started this concept of one by two and Bangaloreans are known for one by two of anything!

But the simple and uncomplicated coffee can be confusing if you go to the West where they will asks you hundred questions on the composition of coffee and you start wondering whether what you have asked for is coffee or some other concoction.  See how Sridevi was confused in English Vinglish!

And when you order coffee in Starbucks, what is served to you, to my mind was not coffee and for once my wife agreed with me! After our first trial at Starbucks, we decided against ordering coffee there and played safe ordering Hot Chocolate!

And coffee, as South Indians will tell you, is almost the elixir of life. The day does not begin if you don’t have filter coffee. For most, newspaper in one hand and coffee in the other is the way to start the day. And let us be beholden to Coffee Board who have done their bit to promote coffee. Again the coffee in the Coffee Board canteen on Ambedkar Veedhi is something that one cannot forget. And I have had the privilege of coffee in the offices of Coffee Board and have found that the quality of coffee served to visitors like me kept on increasing with the designation of the person you were meeting – Accounts Officer, Finance manager, Finance Director and  Chairman – the best of course being the one served in the Chairman’s office!

And the TVs these days, not to be left behind, have shows ‘Kofi with…’ where generally the discussions are inane but occasionally stuff befitting the grand status of coffee are also discussed. I chanced to see one such program.

Recently my son had been to Chickmagalur and brought some pure coffee (that is, one without a bit of chicory – you see the chicory adds strength to the coffee). And the coffee I have these days prepared out of this stuff is great!

And then you see hoardings advertising you of Kumbakonam/Mayavaram (now known as Myladuthurai – the place where peacocks dance!)) coffee or degree coffee! I do not know if the inventor of coffee as a drink is a distant cousin of folks from Kumbakonam but the coffee that is available at Kumbakonam hotels , I understand, is delicious and so others have used it as a brand name (of course, detractors of Kumbakonam will tell you that this means something else!).

Strangely, my son and daughter-in-law do not like coffee. For that matter, when I married my wife was used to Bournvita and became a coffee addict only on seeing me; see, I have been able to bring about changes!

I recall here a story that I received on my e-mail today about coffee. It goes like this…

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversations soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. The cups are merely for letting the others know you are having a good coffee. The rest depends on how you enjoy and feel the taste of the coffee!”

MORAL OF THE STORY:

If Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. By concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it. Let us start enjoying “real” coffee!

And on that note, I shall leave you to have your coffee in peace!

                             COMMITMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The newspapers of the last two days are full of points/counterpoints on the Italian government’s decision not to send back the two marines who were to be tried in India for killing two Indian fishermen off our Kerala coast last year.

 Strange as it was, the two accused were granted some kind of parole to visit their home country and exercise their franchise. This leniency was predicated upon the act of commitment of the Italian government returning them to India after their sojourn in Italy for Christmas (as          promised to the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala). (That raises a big question – do we allow our accused to celebrate festivals with their kith and kin?).

 But this time, the Italian government chose to question the sovereignty of India and have refused to return them in spite of a solemn assurance to the Hon’ble Supreme Court Of India that the accused will be sent back to face trial in Indian courts.

 Hue and cry have been raised and one of the opponents of the government has gone so far as to hint at conspiracy between the Indian government and the Italian government. We seem to be a notion smelling rat in everything Italian. Let us concede it – it was a simple matter of accepting the solemn assurance, nay commitment, of a sovereign State through its Ambassador in India that thee accused will come back. And like professionals and gentlemen we accepted it. Why doubt the sincerity of our government?

Commitment is a pledge or an undertaking. And here we have the representative of a sovereign government taking full responsibility of ensuring the marines’ return. The delicacy and magnitude of this trust deeply concerns the political reputation and the intent of sovereign governments. Have we not seen dictators usurping powers through military coup state in their first declaration that all the international treaties will be honoured? How then are we to suspect that a change in government will result in change in policy like this?  

 This led me to reflect on commitments in life.

Most of us, in our lives, commit to do certain things and what is our rate of default? To commit is to pledge yourself to a certain purpose or line of conduct. It also means practicing your beliefs consistently.  I shall slim down, I shall not smoke, I shall do this, I shall do this are commitments that we make to ourselves only to breach them!

Then there is the sacred institution of matrimony. In India marriage is generally considered to be a life time commitment. But are not divorces on the rise these days?

 

We shake hands on business deals and are there no breaches of the contract?

But when you look at success stories of matrimony or business, you will find that a significant factor for success is commitment. Commitment is not something abstract. It is a commitment to a set of values and beliefs, results and to people. A combination of these is a sure recipe for success in any endeavour.

How do we demonstrate commitment in matrimony? It is through our words and actions, mostly actions. When you tell your wife that you love her, it is not enough to utter these words. You have to back it up with deeds – showing concern for her, helping her with household chores, appreciating, if not in so many word at least through gestures, what she does for you. Otherwise, the marriage vow, ‘till death us do part’ will mean nothing. Both will be waiting for that ‘apart’ and of course an ‘apartment’ as alimony!

The marriage vows have to be taken seriously and I believe that breaking of the solemn vow made at the altar means an invitation to divine punishment. Marriage is still equated with commitment in our country. May be in the Western world, it is treated as a contract from which one can walk out after ‘due notice’.

Commitment is not easily practised as hardships in life test our endurance. It is the tenacity of purpose a la the one shown by the captain of ‘The Titanic” – ensure that every passenger of the ship is sent to the rescue boats before he can think of saving himself.

From childhood we have been taught the importance of integrity, honour and the need to keep up our promises.

Back to our Italian marines!  Are we to believe, as some opposition parties would want us to, that the Indian government was naïve and the Hon’ble Supreme Court did not apply its mind before allowing them to go to Italy. Certainly not, is my view.  That a sovereign government would renege on its promise is something that would not have crossed the minds of even those that find fault with the government and now say ‘I said so” – in fact they never ‘said so’!

True we have been caught napping; that does not mean that we have been cahoots with the present ‘Italian’ regime that chose to repudiate international treaties. Let us wait and watch. Let us not prejudge our government’s capabilities to handle the situation.

 

 

 

 

 A Gentleman's game!

 

When Pujara and Murali Vijay reached their centuries in the recent Test match at Hyderabad, what impressed me most was the manner in which they reacted after reaching the milestone. A sheepish, self-effacing grin, raising of the bat in acknowledgement of the cheer from the crowd – that was all the celebration.

I had also seen a New Zealand batsman – I think the name is Williamson – who looked almost apologetic for scoring a hundred and gracefully accepted the cheer from the crowd and recently Ingram of South Africa impressed me with his very pleasant demeanour on reaching a hundred. All these achievements looked bigger because they made them look like it is routine business! And no histrionics - show of anger, jumping up etc.,

I was impressed because I have seen some Indian batsmen showing anger on attaining this – what are they angry about and at whom is the anger directed? Is it not a moment to be happy and be proud of? I remember the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, commenting on these lines when some Indian batsman (safer for me not to name him!) reached his hundred runs.

This led me to reflect on the game of cricket as was played say about three decades back and now – yes, I admit those days it was a leisurely game and nowadays it is a fierce game – because there is more ‘moolah’ in the game than before and you have to be consistently performing to be in the reckoning. But does it licence you to gnash your teeth in anger? How many of you will believe it when I say that there was a rest day after three days of Test cricket and the play resumed on the fourth day! Really a game of leisure for pleasure!

Cricket was (please note the past tense) a gentleman’s game – if a bowler bowled a very good ball and the batsman had difficulty in playing it, there was a slight nod of the head from the batsman  in appreciation  and acknowledgement of the bowler’s effort; if a batsman score a hundred, even the opposition applauded it; if a batsman played a caressing  cover drive or elegantly glanced the ball off his legs or deliciously square cut a ball, it was appreciated by the fielding side. Do you see such things these days? I am afraid not!

Neville Cardus, that great critic of the game, would turn in his grave if he ever had to watch the matches these days. He wrote about cricket as a gentleman's game. It was sheer poetry to read his reviews on the game and every good effort of the players on the field came in for rightful applause from his pen.

How did this change happen? The Australians were the first to reject the idea of appreciating the opponents’ prowess and achievements? The youngsters in the team were actively encouraged not to admire the technique, exquisiteness of batsman-ship or the guiles of the bowlers. For them opponents meant just that and no applause please!

Of course there have been some legends of cricket like Dr. W.G.Grace who carried their charisma to levels unthinkable today. I recollect a story – rather two stories.

The first is – WCG came to open the innings and was bowled first ball; he promptly said ‘that was a good trial ball’, now let’s get on with the game!’. And everybody obeyed!

The second story goes like this. WCG was given out lbw ( to the uninitiated, this means ‘leg before the wicket’); When an umpire gave him out lbw before he had scored any run, he told the umpire, ‘young man, the crowd has come to see me bat, not how you umpire’ and continued to bat. Such was his personality that the opposition could not rebut him.

I also recall the quote a by a Japanese General during the World War II in the film ‘The Bridge on the river Kwai” starring Sir Alec Guinesse. In one scene, the Japanese General slaps the British General Sir Alec and says ‘ This is war not a game of cricket’, clearly defining the game as that of gentlemen.

Can we consider today’s cricket as gentlemen’s game – you see ugly scenes of one up-man-ship, heckling and what not!  

Can such things happen these days (I admit WCG was not right). But that was the spirit of the game. A game played for pleasure and not for public demonstration of one’s anger etc.!

Can we get back to those days? I wonder!