"Are you a coffee person or..." ☕

Coffee Habits | From Novice to Aficionado😊

#memoriesfromdiaries ❤️

8th August 1994

#HSC Days | MCC School Days

This particular day’s diary entry, [that dates back to almost 30 years now], has a lovely ponderable, for quite a few reasons.

Firstly, hostel days taught us the importance of cultivating good habits, like - 

rising up early, 

having our bath quite early into the morning, 

cleaning up our cubicles, 

making our bed, 

arranging all our notebooks and textbooks in our book shelves, in a neat order, 

stacking our socks and our shoes etc, 

and only then were we ‘permitted’ to leave our cubicles for our classes. 😊

When I look back on these glorious hostel days, I really feel that, these good habits have shaped me to the core, teaching me self-discipline in the process!

In this context, me thought of sharing from a lovely book I’m reading at present. 

It’s titled, Discipline is Destiny, and it’s by Ryan Holiday.

And I quote –

Aristotle described virtue as a kind of craft, something to pursue just as one pursues the mastery of any profession or skill.

“We become builders by building and we become harpists by playing the harp,” he wrote.

Virtue is something we do. It’s something we choose.

It’s a daily challenge, one we face not once but constantly, repeatedly.

Will we cultivate a good habit or a bad one?

Stay the same . . . or grow?

The easy way or the right way?

Self-discipline - the virtue of temperance - is even more important.

Discipline, then makes it more likely you’ll be successful.

The converse is also true: a lack of discipline puts you in danger; it also colors who and what you are.

“When a man can control his life, his physical needs, his lower self,” Muhammad Ali would later say, “he elevates himself.”

Quotes Ryan in this lovely inspirational read.

Coming back,

But well… er… um… the most important good habit is, to have my cup of coffee as early as I possibly could, into the morning! 😊

During our hostel days, right from 5 am, the dining hall would be beautifully lined up with lots of kettles – kettles filled with piping hot tea and coffee! A hostelite was given the liberty to have as many cups as they wish to!

We made use of this lovely opportunity, to sip our cuppas and simultaneously talk our hearts out over cups and cups of the nectar of the gods! 😊

Interestingly, this particular habit, has continued to cling on to me even today. 

Yup! Even today, the only thing I ask, when I get introduced to someone, is,

‘Are you a coffee person or a tea person?’ 😊

If they say, ‘Coffeeeee’ with such happiness and excitement writ large on them, the next instant, my heart pops out and dances that lovely happiness gig you see! 😊

Even this morning at 5.36 am, I was happily sipping my cuppa at my favourite bistro in this part of Chennai – Shri Gowri Krishnaa, known for their yummy filter coffee!

Yes! between 5.30 and 6 am, on any given day, chances are, you can find me here at GK, connecting with the sun, the moon and the stars above, via the brew! 😊

To conclude, kaapi or coffee is an emotion and a nectar only when you have it early into the morning. Anytime after that, it becomes a mere beverage or a pavapetta drink!

As simple as that! 😉