Legacy

When I think about the future, oddly enough, my mind also always goes back to the past. At all times I tend to make sure that the plan for my tomorrow is consistent with the path that I have taken so far and that my core aspirations are not being forgotten or left behind in a crack somewhere while I am busy rushing to meet daily deadlines and solve pseudo crisis.

The other important thing about the past is that every present moment will eventually get there, and that is a fact. There is no escaping it. And as such, I always feel that very special moments in the present need to somehow be tagged in memory and remembered occasionally just so that it reminds me of that 'special' feeling time and again when I need it.

Some people do that by celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. For me, my special memories are created more on personal and slightly more subtle corners of my mind. Like the feel of mum's cotton sari drying on a washing line and the scent of cool freshness. Even today it reminds me of my mother, the way she loved me, picked me up and cared for me when I was an infant. This memory was created when I was barely three or four years old, but it is such a special and powerful one. It was also the first time that I was conscious of how much I loved her and missed her when she was not at home.

I think such memories come in very handy as we grow up and disconnect more and more with this distant past. After all, these stories are the only things that will be left behind even after we are long gone.

Sell Coffee, not your soul

Reflections at Porto

The rooftops of Porto stood out for me. I did not feel for once that I was in Europe. Instead I felt like I was transported much closer to home.

The green doors and windows, some dilapidated old ruins happily coexisting against multicoloured pretty buildings in the historic city with the river Duoro passing lazily through it just made me feel so nostalgic about my birth city Kolkata. Not that I have lived there for too long, but a certain snapshot of memory from my childhood (age 2 or 3 perhaps) comes to mind. Sitting on the edge of the terrace wall of my grandparent's (rather old) four storied apartment building, looking down at other rooftops, I think I felt very much like I was at the top of the world.

It is fascinating how the mind makes connections. How we draw parallels between something old and new in a single breath. How we see the world around us, the way we want to see it. The way it makes sense to us. And the fact that each of us are seeing a different world through the filtered lens of our individual experiences.

There is always a lot to sit and reflect about, and the many cafes of Porto make it quite easy to pause every now and then and take that very required life changing sip of coffee.

I was amazed at the variety of savoury and sweet snacks that was available at any local confeitaria as well. Casually walking into any local bakery was a delightful experience in itself. I will most certainly want to go back to Porto again some time, if just to eat great food, and experience a strange sense of familiarity in a city I am most definitely a stranger.

Sell Coffee, not your soul

Peter's own borough - 101

It has taken me a while to get to this post. I have been going through a sinusoidal wave of high and low and before I could put one thought down, it virtually evaporated into a feeling which was exactly opposite of the first one. Making it very hard indeed to put something coherent down.

Anyways, I had previously promised to bring you a few glimpses of Peter's own borough and today I am finally ready to share these local stories with you.

November last year, while searching for ingredients for our first house warming, we came across this Turkish place called Bodrum. This little cafe+take-away joint is situated on Lincoln Road, a road which has a lot of diverse food places. ( I have tried the Afghan place called Kabul, which I absolutely love, and have the Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian restaurant next on my list of places to try).

But coming back to Bodrum, we really liked this little place. We reached there all tired and exhausted, and were instantly rejuvenated by their warm smiles and service. The best part about this place is that they serve Lahmachun (thin crispy Turkish Pizza) which is one of my favourite. They also serve you Turkish tea for free with your food. And to top it all the prices are very reasonable.

Unfortunately although Lincoln Road has a lot of potential, I don't think it is marketed very well. Even the look and feel of the road is not really maintained. As such not many people seem to want to go there. In general the attitude of people in this city is to order take away and so there are loads of take-away options. But some of these take away joints are actually good or at least quite different places to visit as well. And I would recommend giving it a shot once in a while!

My hunt for cafes got interrupted since December owing to my whirlwind tour across India, and then coming back and rejoining work. The last few weeks have been frantic at work, and the weekends were pretty much spent recuperating.

But there is this place that I pass by every day while walking to and from work, and their inviting black board which reads 'Homemade soup and Cheese scones for £2.75' always made me want to go in and take a look. The problem is that I walk so fast, that I had never really looked in properly, because if I had, I would have gone back to it sooner than waiting until yesterday.

But yesterday morning, the first thing that I wanted to do when I woke up was to walk down to this place. It is called MD's Coffee and is situated on New Road very close to the Market way. The cafe has a Mediterranean feel to it, and has a variety of sandwiches and breakfast options to choose from. They also do Turkish coffee, bubble tea, Iced chai, Matcha tea, fresh orange or carrot juice and a good cappuccino as well.

I stuck to my initial reason to go in, and had the soup of the day with bread filled with Feta cheese (they had run out of scones). The food was good and filling. And the ambience inside the coffee shop is quite nice as well. There are plenty of scarves, lamps, embroidered cushion covers etc. on sale which to me looked like have been brought over from Turkey perhaps.
It is a nice place to catch up with a friend on a winter morning or perhaps to slow down for a few minutes on the way to work.

Speaking of my walk to work, that in itself is a separate story to tell one day. But for now I will leave you all with my 'current' nomination of one-stop Peterborough:

Sunday Roast                       - Fox and Hounds, Longthorpe
Catching up with girlfriend    - The Boathouse
First Pub of a night out          - Charters
Last Pub of a night out          - North Street Bar
Comfort food                         - Kabul (Afghan place)
Junk food cravings                - Pizza Santino


Have a wonderful Sunday!

Sell Coffee, not your soul

A slow connection

When I first thought about starting a cafe, the thought was inspired more by the feeling around a cafe - a meeting place for people. For them to sit together, spend a few hours talking, connecting, relaxing and being themselves. And the more places I visit, and more I observe people, it only reaffirms this feeling.

Juhu Beach, Mumbai 2013

For me none of the virtual social platforms can come anywhere close to meeting people physically. 

And the biggest reason for this is the fact that as humans we all have layers. And not just that, we also have images, complexes, presumptions and very little attention span.It takes time to be ourselves. It takes courage to have a meaningless conversation which may eventually lead to something deep and true.What we think we may not say explicitly, what we say, does not necessarily mean exactly that.140 characters really cannot begin to contain our personality.The pictures of our surroundings don't necessarily reflect our true emotions. And I guess this attempt of over-simplification and extreme acceleration of 'connectivity' between humans to some extent puts me off popular social media as a means of really connecting with people.

Popular 'chaat' places on Juhu Chowpatty

Nevertheless, I cannot deny the obvious benefits of the medium and it's best feature being a global online address book. (I am told, one should always let the computer do, what it is good at.)

Left on my own, it is far too easy for me to just drift away. In fact after a while, the drifting is so automatic, that I don't even realize it. But every so often, sitting around people, some of whom I only see once a year, some far less frequently, some with whom I may have shared a cup of coffee or a 'cutting' chai in the past, (with the addition of a relatively slow internet connection), I feel suddenly grounded and in a not so scary way.

Sell Coffee, not your soul

New and Shiny

I am back after months of procrastination. I have been at the brink of 'to post or not to post' all this while - and each time stopped myself from making a half hearted attempt. You see writing for me should flow automatically and not have me trying to strangle the words out of my head. While this means I am truer to my passion, yet it also means I fall prey to my worst enemy/quality i.e. laziness.

And as a result I missed out on updating you guys on a few interesting stories from my life.

Primary of which is my move to Peterborough from Cambridge. No, it is not a very big move, yet it is a move and it does mark a new beginning of sorts. I have already been to several different restaurants and nearby cafes.

Affogato - The Boathouse

I will post more in my coming blogs. In fact watch this space to know 'what is positive about this borough'. I assure you, you will find loads and loads of negative stuff if you look for it and some of which unfortunately is true. But as with everything else I do like the underdog. And at the end of the day it is the people you meet who make a place a home and I have to say I have met some cool people here.

Another big change is my laptop + operating system. I have converted from Windows to Mac OS and it took me some time to get used to this shift in thinking/storing/operating. I call her 'Aether'. In Greek this means pure fresh 'Air' that the gods breathe.

And because I am in a new city I decided I need a new hobby. And what better hobby can I pursue than that of Latte Art? And so peeps, here I introduce the little red coffee machine with milk steamer et al - a brand new addition to my kitchen, which has already produced some 16 odd cups of awesome espresso for me and my friends! Latte art is only a few steps (and loads of practice) away!

I know the holiday season is coming up and I am personally looking forward to December (my favourite - the month of adventures) but I hope I can post a few more stories this year before I go on holidays.

See you soon!

Sell Coffee, not your soul

The stop - start conundrum

Is there a good finishing line? Or are we just fools to believe that 'happily ever after' is a single permanent moment after which time freezes, and with it our thoughts and lives?

The world around us encourages us to believe in this notion, and in a way, I think it makes sense. Walking one milestone to another, and all the time thinking that the final reward is just around the corner, keeps us going. 

The problem I believe comes when we can no longer maintain the enthusiasm, and the disappointment of every corner grows bigger than our zeal and belief to keep the spirits high and march bravely forward.

There are so many self help articles, tweets, trends on google plus, books, seminars, therapists, priests etc. A whole business has been established for something as basic yet critical as 'keeping the faith'. Bon Jovi sang it, religions preach it and fairy tales sell it. All set to keep us humans going, down the same loop a million times, with the promise of an unique adventure each time. 

And believe it or not it is an unique adventure each time. It may look repetitive, and very same as an observer, but when you are inside this blue green whirlwind, it is a whole new world every day. And in a way there is merit in unlearning our past, re-discovering a lesson and re-inventing the wheel. It keeps us rooted.

And with this in mind, I prepare for the road that I have travelled so often - Another house, another city, another set of good byes to be said. The search for a home continues. And with that the search for cafes, friends, my thoughts and feelings about random things and places will continue too. This virtual address will stay the same, but I know my views, opinions and ideas will change. With time.

P.S: There are still so many places that I have not visited in Cambridge - but that is fine, I can always come back here when I want. 

P.P.S: I have started posting my verses in public again. You can read All roads lead to... here!

Sell Coffee, not your soul

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

Inside Out?

A lot of time in life we spend juggling between the 'there's so much to do in life' and 'there is only so much you can do in this life time'!

I find myself lost many times just trying to keep up with the shortened version of  the short-listed things that I want to be able to do this life time. Often, I look at myself from the outside, hoping to find the answers standing right there.

But it is difficult to decide which dreams to follow and which ones to let go. And never having mastered the virtue of letting go makes it even more difficult. I have been told to listen to my heart and act with my brains. And like all good advice, these are mere words until that one moment, when the words, their meaning and I become the same.

Maybe the secret lies in getting up close and personal.

"And with these words I can see, 

Clear through the clouds that covered me. 

Just give it time, then speak my name 

Now we can hear ourselves again..." Pink Floyd

Sell Coffee, not your soul

A short trip

A a lot has been happening in the last few weeks. But the one thing that has definitely not been happening is writing. I have been pushing most of my thoughts to the background and hoping that the time will come when I simply have to put a pen to paper and get it all out of me.

I spent the first three months of this year craving wide blue open skies, and then finally my wish was granted. Against all odds, we managed a short trip to the US and Mexico. Met up with friends, tried loads of new and tasty food, soaked in some Caribbean sun and sea, attempted conversing in massively broken and limited Spanish language, had a glimpse of a civilization I had no idea about, 'cooked' ourselves completely in the 35 Deg hot sun while paying our respect to one of the seven wonders of the world and of course tried out a few new cafes.

I have moved quite a bit as a child. But every new place that I have moved to, there have been people, who I instantly connected with and eventually we became friends. These people are partly responsible for transforming a new unknown world to something close to a home for me. And as such a lot of our journeys one way or the other revolve around catching up with these friends who we love and miss. And this trip was no different in that aspect. We spent a few days in Austin, doing the old style catching up, lazing around and just being ourselves. 

One afternoon we found ourselves chilling in Mozart, a cafe by the lake, well known among the students who greatly contribute in giving this place a feel of a college canteen.

Considering the warm weather, I ended up taking an Iced Mochaccino, which I do recommend if you ever visit Austin!

Speaking of coffee, one of the most remarkable and dramatic coffee that I tried during this trip was on our very last night in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. This was the Cafe Maya (of the Mayan civilization) at the Yaxche resturant. I had read some rave reviews about this coffee, and I just had to taste it. Cafe Maya turned out to be far more than just a coffee!

It started with our waiter turning into a magician and appearing with a table full of instruments and ingredients to create this experience for us. The ritual he then performed in front of us, with alcohol, sugar, fire and blue flames left us speechless. We could not help clapping like children at the end of the show.

It's not easy to capture such moment's in one frame. Especially when you don't want to take your eyes off what is going on. 

The end product was quite unique as well, but as I said, this was not about the coffee, but really about the experience. The drama, the excitement and the thrill was what made it special. 

In fact, if you think about it, it's a bit like our lives. Sometimes I feel like we all have the same destination, but the path to getting there is what makes all the difference. It is up to us what we make of our journey. Some of us can take the a simple experience of sipping a hot drink and transform it into a magical experience for a few minutes.

Sell Coffee, not your soul