A Cup of Coffee with Life

Zindagi

What is life and in the end, what do we wish for?

I don't know if anyone thinks about such things, but I do. I've asked this question myself many times before, and probably will ask again too, despite not being able to find an answer.

I sat in a corner of this seemingly old café, which my friend has suggested. Filled with the aroma of freshly crushed coffee beans, the café gave me a pleasant feeling. In a couple of minutes, my order, a smoking mocha was placed in front. At normal times, I would've lost myself in its rich taste, but today I'm not feeling so. The question inside me is not letting me be so.

My name is Mayank. I'm a writer. I shifted to Hyderabad recently, looking for an inspiration to write my next novel. Like all the metropolitan cities, Hyderabad is also filled with crowd and traffic, hustle and bustle. Yet something in this city attracted me to write about life.

The city introduced me many people, but of those, three people became closely connected to my daily life. Dhruv, a software employee, and my roommate. We go along parallel lines in our thoughts in most of the cases.

The second person is a panipuri seller, whose name I don't know, neither I bothered to ask ever before. He works as a clerk in the government post office for the day, and after the duty, he sells panipuri in the evening.

And the third one is an elderly man from our neighborhood, who always keep smiling, no matter what. It earned him a name 'the smiling buddha'.

I was waiting in the café for Dhruv. We planned for a movie. It was 5 30 PM, fifteen minutes past what we've scheduled, but he still didn't show up. That was enough for me to lost in my own thoughts. I looked around. It was crowded and noisy; I felt it a bit more lively though - a child serving in the café, a cobbler under an umbrella, a couple arguing on a seemingly trivial issue, a woman engrossed in her office project, an old man in turmoil, school children rounding the panipuri stall. Various colors of life were before me.

So many lives. So many stories.  'Do I get a common answer for all? What does everyone wish for in their lives?'

Long before, when I asked an elderly man about this, he simply replied that money is the most important thing.

He said, "Mayank, you know what, the greatest problem in this life is money. If you've money,  you can do anything. People say that money doesn't buy you health, but surely you've better chances of affording good health care than without money. It solely rules all our lives. Fact, it is". Surely, I disagreed with him on many aspects, but I didn't want to press on that topic.

"Hi Mayank", said Dhruv, bringing me back to this world from my thoughts.

"How's your day? You seem worried", I asked him.

"Oh man...This software job sucks! Today my boss bashed me severely for not being able to complete a project file in a week which was supposed to be done in a month. I hate this job", he replied, loosening his tie.

"I never wanted to become an engineer.I shouldn't have accepted this job in the first place. I surely make some money, but money is not everything, right? I don't have any bloody satisfaction. I regret that decision now". He seemed badly frustrated.

Dhruv's thoughts just stirred up more confusion to my bewildering question.

His phone buzzed suddenly. "Sorry buddy, the movie for later", he glibbed. Cursing his boss, he left from there immediately.