Aroma of coffee - coffee stories

Aroma of coffee - coffee stories


On a visit to her friend's hometown
Three steaming cups of fragrant tea
On a pretty flowered tray
Carried by her roommate's smiling mother
Came towards her tantalizingly

But Ma, she likes coffee better
Blurted out her tactless friend
That's what she drinks every morning

Oh ! No I prefer tea in the afternoons
She said emphatically
Quickly breaching the awkward moment

She was particularly fond of neither
Coffee or tea
But how could she explain to her friend
What the aroma of morning coffee
Meant to her

How it seemed to waft in her childhood
The presence of Appa
Her earliest memories
Of standing in the early morning's pleasant chill
In the balcony with her dad
Before he left for office

The rustle of newspaper
Clearing of his throat
His voice,warm as the milk
She used to drink
His laugh , as sweet
The clink of his rings
Against the stainless steel tumbler
As he rolled it between his fingers
The smell, of his coffee

How could she explain
That her morning ritual
Of making, drinking coffee
Was a bridge to her Appa
As he labored overseas,
Many years now, alone
While her mother held fort here
To keep her brother, her
In the choicest schools
Afford them the best education
Pay medical expenses of her ailing grandparents

That the aroma of morning coffee
Wrapped in itself so many memories
A whiff of her parent's sacrifices


--shubha