Did You Ever Love Me? by Rithvik Singh is a tender contemporary poetry collection about love, heartbreak, longing, self worth and learning to let go. Its greatest strength is emotional accessibility: Singh writes directly to readers who feel intensely and care deeply. The collection offers comfort without pretending heartbreak is simple, though its simplicity may occasionally feel familiar to seasoned poetry readers. Did you Ever Love Me? Have you ever loved someone so completely that, after they left, you were left wondering whether they had ever understood what they had been given? Not merely whether they loved you, but whether they ever noticed how much you loved them, how much patience you offered, how many small things you remembered, or how often you chose to stay when leaving might have been easier. There is a particular loneliness in that question because it rarely arrives at a dramatic moment. More often, it finds you while you are doing something completely ordinary. Yo...
Coffee Musings
Musing about my morning coffee the other day, I realized, the right balance of flavors, companionship & conversations can make the simple coffee taste great. I mean we all know that, but still the thought struck me the other day as I had a delightful cup of coffee.
I like morning coffee for its fuel like effect. My typical workday starts with a cup of coffee. I was discussing this with my cousin, some years ago who was on a trip to India. We were discussing our work over coffee and he remarked how he likes to have a cup of coffee before starting his work day. Ditto, I remarked. A cup of good coffee just sets the right mood.
In my present workplace, we have this nice Coffee Machine, way better than the powder mix coffee machines so prevalent these days. It uses real coffee beans and milk, making the coffee actually taste like one. Unlike the premix ones. All those who have had it at some point of their lives, know what I mean.
In the past year or so, from the same machine, I have consumed like 80-90 cups. But the other day, a colleague, M, prepared coffee for me in a different way. It was an odd thing for me. To request a co-worker for a cup of coffee from a machine, is an odd request. At least for me.
But M's coffee was getting famous and I just insisted one day to pour me a cup. It's a machine right? You just press some buttons and voila, a cuppa of caffeine, right in your hands. But M really had her way with the machine. After some persuasion she agreed and the coffee was way way better than the 90 odd cups I have had made. Same machine made coffee. Same buttons.
Which led me to wonder, how fixated we get at times in our comfort zones. In a make believe world, that whatever we are doing must be right. When the fact is, their is always a better way of doing things. Their is always a scope to move a notch above. Grandpa always taught me, to improvise the processes,whatsoever our work is. He says, their is always an innovative way to do the same thing.
You have to do that. I think a lot of that can be achieved by learning and building a sense of curiosity. If their is no zeal to learn, how will I do, what Grandpa wants me to do?
True, M wont let me know the secret (I was told to wait at the desk, and will be beckoned when the coffee is ready, I was not allowed to watch), but at least I now know their is a better way. A better cup of coffee.
Lets move out of our comfort zones once in a while or just let other people in. For the fresh thoughts and a whiff of positive change. The same hairstyle, the same clothing sense, the same layout of furniture. How easily we get used to everything. How easily we believe that complacency is chill and to think of things is so uncool.
As for the right balance of flavors, companionship & conversations. In M's coffee, somehow the coffee was just the right amount of bitter, sweet and frothy. I had an insightful conversation with her over coffee that day and wonders of wonders, she is not a coffee fan. She just makes a good brew. Like the sculptor who has no need for his sculptors, she just does it for her friends and family.
Maybe that thought is the secret ingredient which spikes up the taste in her coffee.
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