Chai, Cold brew and Louis Litt ka chamcha

I see a red door 

And I want it painted black
No colours anymore
I want them to turn black.

Oh right, let me explain [ Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai Fans, are you proud?]

One evening, in the monsoons..
I was watching an Al Pacino movie
and it was a banger movie.
"The Devil's Advocate"
AMAZING MOVIE.
Everyone should watch it.

And found that the movie had given credits to a band named "The Rolling Stones"
The movie had one of their songs.

So, I checked out the song.
And oh my stars.. I fell in love with that song.
One of the lines goes like

"No more will my Green Sea
Go turn a deeper blue"

Regrets, Loss, Pain, Dukh, Daard, Tanhaai, udas, nirasha, pida, Maut ka khauf such words were instantly related with this song. 

I felt sad and broken hearted over the love and the heartbreak I didn't even face.

My good friend, advisor and Maa's domestic assistant Shilpa Didi said and I quote
"Are didi, yeh sabh kuch nahi hota.. sabh juuth muuth ka hota hai.. Pyaar ke chakkar mein aap capitalism ke lafde mein padjaoge.."

[ Translation : Oh Didi, none of this is real... it's all just made up. If you get caught up in love, you'll end up tangled in capitalism's mess. ]

Wise words Shilpa Didi.. very wise words..
Right that reminds me, I have to buy matcha powder for her.
It is our ritual these days.
We sit and drink matcha and listen to heart breaking songs and Didi consoles me over the heartbreak I haven't faced yet. 

Alright.. 

These days, we've moved ahead

We said a warm goodbye to Miss Kuthunurkar and the boards years ago and we moved on in life. 

So Kal Ho na Ho became 'Kal ah gaya yaaaar' 

It has been a journey since then.

Quick news break;
- The world faced a pandemic.
- Aparajita gave her 12th HSC boards.

- Aparajita got her driving license
- Aparajita, Baba and Maa were adopted by 1 Cat, her name was Peanut and her 4 kittens

- Aparajita gave a bunch of competitive exams for a whole bunch of universities. 
- Aparajita got in a Liberal Arts School. It is difficult to explain to elder people how she studies Maritime History, Intellectual Property Rights and Cinematography in one single day. 

We come to an end of the news flash. 

Oh the story of how I found out my result was insane. 

Mid may, scorching heat.

temperatures touching 44 degrees Celsius. 

Middle of somewhere north in Maharashtra. 

At the foothills of a big ghaat. 

Aparajita gets a text - RESULT IS OUT!! CHECK KAR

And Aparajita panics.

For the result? no no no no no.. no 

She is panicked because her phone is on 3% and her laptop on 1%

And she is more concerned that maa and baba are going to yell at her for keeping her devices at such a sorry state in sense of the battery scene. Rather than the goddamn RESULT. 

Eventually, a tapri is found, where after a good half an hour and like 5-7 cups of tea amongst the three musketeers, the result is checked.

And yes, it was good. Win. 

Oh yeah, we met Ketan Parikh too!
He is doing Law. 

Tells everyone that he was the reason Harvey Specter is Harvey Specter. 

When asked how, he has no answer. Hmphs and strolls away. 

You will understand it ahead.
Keep reading.
"Yo buoy about to drop some TEA on ya"

I immediately apologise. It has been a long week for me.

Anyways...

We now are in an institute and a program that requires doing research, like a lot. 

And an aid to that is [ ChatGpt ]

Very frowned upon. Very. 

But telling people that you write research papers makes you look so cool. Mark my words kids. 

One of incidents that happened in this School of mine was..

My friend Sara introduced me to her friend who's name I don't know [ is what i thought ]

Lemme be clear, my friend Sara introduced me to her friend.

This suit dude, who was carrying a brief case, his hair slicked back. Looking like the guy who would worship Harvey Specter. 

He got my respect. Instantly.

Mind you, I was standing by the coffee kiosk in my campus. Waiting for my coffee. 

Sara pulls me by my arm and whispers "YOU ARE GONNA LOVE THIS GUY" which I am pretty sure that the guy heard as well.

 "Arre ek baar chill karle na, koi shaadi-vaadi thodi karni hai! Bata rahi hoon, aisa banda tujhko pehle kabhi nahi mila hoga. Baad mein tu bolegi, 'bhai, kya banda dhoonda hai!' "

[ Translation : Arre, just chill and meet him once, it's not like you're getting married! I'm telling you, you've never met a guy like this before. Later, you'll be like, 'Damn, what a find! ]

A typical Delhi best friend as Sara is, there was a point.
Where was I rushing for marriage.

These days, I don't even rush. 
Heck, I don't even Rrr..

With this silly thought in my mind I shrug and say -  "fair. Hang out karne me kya issue hai"

So like a sneakish devil, Sara bids her friend a goodbye, and like an ideal best friend goes and hides somewhere from where she could monitor our interaction.

So anyways I was at the kiosk getting myself a cold brew. 
Yes I am a fancy Pants McGee okay?
Judge me all you want.
I am just lacking of a MacBook and a really expensive drinking cup, to complete my "Fancy girl, Bougie" suite.

Basically, Cold brew is the coffee that is seeped for 12-24hrs, and it is very bourgeois, very fancy. People drink it in variations with water or milk base, vanilla, chocolate, mint, caramel, ice cream.. crazy weird variations.

I, myself consider miles away from this craziness and drink my cold brew in plain Schweppes Tonic Water.

Gives a very nice bubbly taste. Half and half it tastes heaven. 

So, I'm standing there ordering my tonic water and cold brew. 

My usual order since I've gained some knowledge of coffee. Shit, focus.

So me and this dude that Sara presumed we would click, we are at the kiosk right. 

Small talk here and there.

Sara staring at us from faraway like a little gremlin.

Small talk about how law school is cool and how he can be one fifth part of Harvey specter and how me telling him that Cold Brew Tonic is the god's drink and all.

And we are at a kiosk. The barista is a friend. She comes up and asks
"Hey Aj, same order? Cold Brew with Tonic Water half and half?" 
I nod and smile "yeah friend barista! thanks"

And I turn to our lawyer friend. [ You all are way invested in this story so yes, he's your friend now too ]
I ask "what would you like?"
And then.. he spoke..
"I.. would.. like.. a Short Iced Two Pump Cinnamon Chai Tea shaken with extra whipped cream, no white sugar, no brown sugar, little stevia and some caramel drizzling on the top, please"

He said that in one breath, man.."

Barista friend nods and gets prepping. 

I nod "Interesting choice" 

He smirks "well.. that's how we lawyers are.."

So our conversations go on..

One cold brew and one of his concoctions finish.

I realise he genuinely is a cool person and Sara was right, he was fun to hangout with. 

I make him try a kadak chai. Its too sweet for his taste. He says.

And orders another one to drink.

Goof ball.

We get in conversations about the past. About how I write poems. And how he also writes poems. Then I tell him about my Liberal Arts degree and how I am learning Copyrights and Patent laws and how he tells me he got in law for the same reason. I ask him more "why? what happened?" he responds by telling me that a big company stole a tagline he had created when he was a school boy. Strange right?

There is a Hindi dialogue that goes like "Aila, yeh toh sunna sunna sa lagta hai.."

[ Translation: "Oh wow, this sounds kind of familiar...]

With proud nods I ask and a chuckle on my lips I ask 

"Shayad yeh OnePlus toh nahi?"

[ Translation: Are you talking about the Company OnePlus?]

Dude goes berserk and jumps proudly

"Main itna famous hu?"

I roll my eyes, sigh and facepalm myself

"Abe duffer Ketan Parikh tu abhi tak nahi sudhra..."

[ Translation: Ketan Parikh, how are you still the same?] 

And Sara, yeah.. she never tried to introduce me to any the guys or even her friends after that..

As I was telling this story to Shilpa Di, she loved it. She is my true audience..

Maa? Not so much..

Baba? He was busy with his rival, an adorable 4 legged rival that sits on his car's bonnet and leaves muddy footprints everywhere.. 

Well, that is exactly what is happening in Casa El Deswandikar..

Oh you wondering about aaji?

Last I checked, she was touristing in Japan or was it Bhutan?

I am not remembering it well.

Anyways..

I am getting late with a session of Matcha aur Dard Dukh ki kahanaiya with my all-time fav Shilp Di. Love her honestly.

After one tuta huaaaaa heart break that I didn't have, one cold brew that I WILL always stand by, and one cat who has declared it's rivalry with Baba and his gaadi [ Car ], we are here..

I am in my room, rewriting my paper on Piracy, Pirates and the Indian Ocean [ Maritime History thingies, don't worry ]

Life is funny in that way..

One day, you are sitting and reading random replies of one "Solitude Seeker" off Quora and the next day, Shilpa di is telling you about the Kardashians and how they are secretly aliens or how they drink tea without the tea powder in it and how I should follow them too...

And amidst this chaos, you meet an old friend who hasn't changed a bit.. Who is still telling he gave OnePlus their motto

 [ Never change, Ketan..]

Maa, well she is... still unimpressed. Because I misspelled Bourgeois somewhere.

Baba? he has bigger problems- with his muddy windshield and a smug little cat

I have an awesome plan of adopting the lil furry guy.

 So that, maa, baba and shilpa di will throw me out of the house, and like the cat, I shall too sleep on the bonnet as well.

Moral of the story is that..?

There is none.

Go drink Chai.

Godbless beta.

-Aparajitaaa_ 🌠

The Madman. 

[ sounds cool. shush. ]