Coffee, sweet or bitter, is still the first cup in the morning to get out of the daze of a long night. Just like a good morning kiss from a loved one.
In the cafeteria, I pour a mug of aromatic latte and sit down in a quiet corner near a window. The view outside is beautiful. I can see the metro circling around cyber city at a distance, high-rises and the bright sun. I think about the conversation I had with a friend about how our lives have got stuck in a loop of materialistic desires and in rectangles, trying to find love and passion, peace and success, all at the same time.
I again try to focus on the view in front of me. A thought swooshes through my mind.
We still have and will come across lots of the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, but sadly, we will never be surrounded by Romeos and Juliets anymore. Now we are too modern or practical to be in love that way.
Love then was secret letters written in hand, it was the sweet-smelling flowers hidden in the pages of journals, passed through the balcony. Love now is the heart sent on a WhatsApp message, and it does not take much time to delete the entire chat history.
Love, a decade back, was very different. Then, it was a feeling felt for a person, the way you feel for that first cup of latte in the morning. It’s important for you. You add a little milk and sugar if it tastes bitter, and you add a little coffee if it’s too sweet.
A decade back, love was a pricey Starbucks mocha. It was valued.
Nowadays it’s a cup of latte that you get in the office cafeteria. You need it for a wake-up call, but if not well-brewed you prefer to have another cup.
Now we no more fall in love with a person but fall in love with the idea of a person that we have created in an attempt to run away from our day-to-day, passive routine.
When that idea fades away, so does the love. Love now is a function of convenience. We are in love as long as everything is convenient for us; when it’s not, we try running away into these concrete towers.
harsha.mishra1@gmail.com
