Secret Tastes of India

Theos, thank you for serving the most elegant cold coffee. Every sip held hope of a better tomorrow. As twilight gave way to evening stars, the soothing therapy in the form of this frothy classic cold, coffee drink partook in our conversation and the shared philosophies. The past and the present mingled in earthy brown in the glass. The bitterness of the coffee rules this drink with a hint of sweetness playing the second fiddle. If you have a sweet tooth like I do, then ask for sugar syrup. Memories, resilience and promises, things that keep us going.  These are tough times, yes. Loss, pain, fear and uncertainty grips us and refuses to leave anytime soon. Yet, we have begun piecing our lives back. We have million follies, yet one virtue, our zeal to stay alive.  My coffee was perfectly balanced and as I twirled the straw, one last time, the autumn breeze whispered, 'Balance shall be restored'.  Yes, I drank poetry...

Once upon a time, when I was a child, I staged a coup against rose. Yes, the flower. I thought it received inordinate footage in all love stories, beauty tales, day to day choices, often at the cost of its prettier colleagues, say a lily or a jasmine. Time went by, I was forced to give up my rose-tinted view of life and become pragmatic. That is when rose re-entered my life to rub some romance and magic on me.  Only with a matured sense of taste could I appreciate the subtle sweetness of rose flavour and aroma. The trick is to get the addition right, just like the right moves in pursuit of romance. So when I sipped the rose-infused tea, the unfulfilled promise of love smiled from behind a curtain like the elusive dream. After a tiring day, the tea calmed the frazzled nerves and I fondly remembered the incomplete love story. A few friendly hugs, some unbroken eye-to-eye moments and then that short ride in a cab. The little brush of shoulders evoked a long-lost feeling an...