Fresh coffee, old memories and new starts

It is one thing to remember the past fondly, and quite another to be stuck in it. And I do have a habit of the latter. 

I remember, when I finished school, I didn't think I could live without my best friends. But when I left home town to study engineering in another city, I met new people and made my next set of best friends. I was sure I would lose them when we finished college. And for a while I did. And for that period I was heart broken. 

But I was yet to be introduced to some more people, who would play a big role in my life, especially to make me feel at home in a foreign country. For a good part of the next three years these new people became my family in the UK. Needless to say, when the time came for each of us to part ways, it was not easy. 

And then the other day (just happened to be the day when Indian media celebrates friendship day), while I was sitting in a cafe in Soho (Flat White), with yet another set of friends, who I have grown quite close to in recent times, I could not help being a bit overwhelmed by a warm fuzzy feeling. 

And all those friends, who I left behind at many different crossroads of my life, I realised I haven't really lost them. I may not see most of them over long periods, or speak to them even, but the strong invisible connection with them never goes away. When I meet them after years, time seems to automatically rewind and the cracks start filling up quite quickly.

All of them (including those who will become one of them in future) enrich my life constantly. I may not pick up the phone and tell you all this in fact it is very unlikely I will ever say a single mushy sentence to your face - but you know me, and you know how I feel.

And speaking of friends of the future, I have recently started an endeavour with a couple of my new found friends. Each of us love to write but needed a bit of motivation to do so more often. 

For a while I had stopped publishing my fictional works to the public domain, but have decided to post the new ones here. All three of us have a very different writing style, and I am hoping that will make it more interesting for the readers. Go take a look here, if you are interested and let us know what you think.

And with that, I shall get out of my cave (bed) and give Sunday a chance :) See you all soon.

Sell Coffee, not your soul

A summery summer

There is a lot going on inside my head at the moment. Though on the outside the focus most definitely is on the absolutely and unbelievably gorgeous weather!
The summer has been very unlike the summers that I had gotten used to for the past few years. I am almost getting used to this new idea of dry, warm days and not having to layer up each time I step out of the house. The long and sunny days seem to be lifting every-ones spirits and even some of the perpetually grumpy individuals around me are breaking out into uncharacteristic smiles and laughter!
In fact the hot and humid afternoons and the burning sun reminds me of either being on a holiday or being back in Pune.

Speaking of holiday, our last one was in the city of Prague. And my first evening there walking around the old city blending into the crowd of wanderers felt so good. It was sparkling, colourful and lively without me having to take the added effort of keeping it alive. And I love that feeling.

Once you are done seeing a city through the eyes of a tourist, you start noticing the locals. Personally for me that is what I am looking for when I go to a new place. I love watching the local people busy in their daily lives. I love peeking into a new culture, watching their dressing style, the way they meet and greet their friends, the cafes they go to, the emotions on their face... you get the drift.

There is so much more to travelling that words or pictures can never tell. There are those chance discoveries, the little nothings, the post cards not bought, the feeling of not knowing what is around the next corner. When I sit down to digitise my thoughts its too late already to capture them completely. They are fleeting and disappear as soon as I get back into my own daily life.

And then out of nowhere, one hot summer afternoon like this, over the desire for a cup of coffee and while staring blankly at the ceiling, some of those transient thoughts come back to me in a few words, and I try to bring the memories back to life by putting them here.


P.S Have been drinking a lot of cold coffee shakes this summer! Think I should make myself one right now.


Sell Coffee, not your soul