Once Upon a University Campus

Damn! That clown was not wrong

The hiss of the coffee maker and the aroma of the coffee brought about the welcome break Mr Outsider needed to let out his steam. It was one of the very rare occasions where he lost control of himself and he seemed to regret it.

"Hazelnut Cappuccino, I don't have vanilla. It is just me here so I only have americano or espresso pods, just a matter of chance that I found this Cappuccino. Must be one of the new staff." He said as he placed a coaster and left the coffee mug on it right in front of Annika. He also placed a paper napkin next to it. He placed a coaster and paper napkin in front of him as well. Annika could not help noticing the precision of his placement. Her coaster and napkin looked like mirror image of the coaster and napkin in front of him.

She tried to lift her coffee mug, but found her hand unsteady. She had not realised that she was actually shaken to the core. But before she lost grip and dropped the coffee mug, Mr Outside propped the mug from below and gently pried it from her unstead grip to leave it on the coaster again.

"It is very hot, got to be careful" he awkwardly smiled, looking at the coffee as he placed it back on the table. He pick up his coffee mug, the white of his kurta, the white of his mug made his well kept beard appear darker and his eyes lighter. He rose from his seat and walked over to the french window at a distance behind him. Annika noticed that the curtain was drawn.

"Delhi is weird. From here the night looks perfect. Crescent moon is presiding over a clear sky, stars are twinkling bright. It just looks like any regular night but it so deceptive. It must be freezing cold outside. Heaters indoor makes us oblivious to it" he continued.

Something inside Annika lightened up. She knew that when people did not have anything much to say except the desire for a conversation they generally start talking about weather. She still dare not reach out to the mug, lest her spills it again.

"Mumbai is not deceptive. It is what it looks like from a window. If it is sunny, it is warm, when it is cloudy it is not warm, when it rains it pours, no deception. But, then there is no winter in Mumbai."

"No winter? What does he do with all his suits if there are no winters in Mumbai..awful lot of money to be wasting on clothing if it cannot be used." Annika wondered that he got so many suits for the sake of his short stint in Delhi. After all she had seen her father wear his suit only during winters. Who in their right mind would wear those suits during summers? Mumbai must be turning into a hot skillet during summers just like Delhi, she reasoned.

He continued his reminiscence, "But Mumbai has sea, beaches and that makes up for everything. Its therapeutic, the salty sea breeze while jogging early morning, the waves breaking during long silent nights and then there are the quiet sunsets, everything becomes golden and pauses for the sun to finally go sleep in the bowels of the seas. Moon throws its magic spell on the seas and the tides grow bigger. Sun calms the seas and moon incites her. Between them sunshine and moonlight surprisingly, harmony is maintained. A harmony which breeds peace..... Not that it is always peaceful and beautiful, stormy nights are scary. The tides can grow high enough, sometime it looks like the sea is angry enough to raise up and consume the whole of the city including the high raise, everything in its way..but then they calm down..." Mr Outsider's voice trailed.

"Do you live on a beach?" Annika finally had composed herself, her hands no longer wobbly, held her coffee cup. The general banter had helped her calm down.

It seemed like Mr Outsider's reverie were broken by Annika's question. He inhaled a long one and exhaled noisily as if he was relieved that things were back to normal.

"No, But we have a beach very close by."

"Close enough to hear the waves crashing?"

"Close enough to hear the waves crashing on silent nights"