It got me six years to realise the importance of a cup of 'filter kaapi'!!! Yes. My definition of 'filter kaapi' is not about its taste. Its underlying significance lies in the perception. Till when I was in school, a cup of coffee mom gives me was just another energy drink. The importance I gave to coffee was minimal, considering it was the only drink I had known and held monopoly for many years. I am pretty sure it is the same in many of the 'Tam Brahm' families. I have even seen people who welcome their guests with a cup pf 'kaapi' even if they bang the door at midnight. Thats how it was. It was a life saver and mandatory elixir more than water.
And when I descended to hostel, where only twenty minutes is left between your wake-up and startup (I meant the classes start time), the last thing you do is your breakfast. Still, kaapi remained my soul saver. But it lay somewhere between the truth of hot water and lies of milk, biased towards the former. This also marked the sad demise of the beverage's existence in my taste buds. Though it resurfaced whenever I go home, the delicacy was short-lived and I had to live with it. Nothing much changed after college for one and half years. Until I packed my Mom with me to Bengaluru. The place she lived for sometime before getting married.
True. I am a Day Scholar(???) now. After six years. After years of unorganised lifestyle and filthy clothing. Mellifluous tunes of the milk cooker coupled with my mom's wise trick of luring me with the same old 'filter kaapi' wakes me up as early as 6.30 in the morning. And then on, the day starts real soon where you have everything ready from hot water to well pressed clothes. And importantly, I reach office in time. Many people in my team believe that the magic is because of my mom.. In a way, thats true. The secret behind that is the filter coffee with its tempting aroma and undying taste made by her. It has rehabilitated and recharged my senses. I realize its importance now after these years of ignorance.
I still have no idea on how long this revitalized lifestyle would stay. But, last two weeks felt good than the past few years in many aspects. And one of them is 'filter kaapi'. And I now believe Cafe coffee day's slogan "A Lot can happen over a coffee".
P.S: I hope that 'kaapi' lovers can relate well to this blog..
