It was over twenty minutes the scheduled end time and Web conference cum Dial in meeting was still on. I had to hang on to this mandatory meeting as ‘instructed’. Monday mornings can’t get better (or worse?)
“Dude! Move it.” mimed my friend who was couple of seats away. I knew it was well past our Coffee time and I was just waiting to slam the phone down and teleport myself to the pantry. That did happen after a few minutes, and when it happened, It was a moment of relief. Freedom at its best. I rushed to the pantry and the ‘Gang’ was already in, brewing a fresh pot of 50 grams Caffeine. Oh! The aroma was at its ‘intoxicating’ best. I was ‘flying without wings’. Almost.
The ‘Gang’ was made of four hard working blokes, way too responsible at work (Yeah! People say that ;) at the same time never miss a chance to break loose. I was in the gang.
The 10 to 10:20 AM slot, every working day was ‘blocked’ for coffee breaks. Typically, this coffee break sets the tone for rest of the day. The morning routine starts with checking those countless official mails and respond to them (call it to flush out of your inbox! ). Once you are done with this, invariably, you would look to get out of your work space for a break. This is why the 10 to 10:20 AM slot is so critical as the urge to take a break and refresh oneself is at its peak.
The brewer beeped. The pot was brimming with hot espresso Americano. Carefully measured scoops of sugar and one tenth pint of fresh milk, in exciting proportions, added with THE liquid, Viola…I found the Elixir!!
Each one of us took our share from the pot. The first sip I took went into the mouth gracefully. I didn’t swallow it immediately. I allowed my tongue to get soaked into the hot sip. The warmth in that sip slowly transferred onto the interiors of my mouth, perfectly obeying the science of heat flow. The liquid went in , leaving behind the strong taste of caffeine, after transferring its warmth completely. God bless ‘Coffee plant’ ! It makes sense why every commercial on Coffee is so refreshing and rejuvenating.
The next 15 minutes of discussion in the ‘Gang’, with a cup of Café latte each, would always be of top quality and on issues that really mattered to the world at large ( See!..That’s what a cup of madness can do!) From why Chennai super kings lost in the semifinals, why the project manager’s dressing sense was so bad to counting the number of ‘thank you’s Obama would utter in his presidential campaign speeches!
With each sip, the rationality and the quality of our discussion would only go up! And up! Until the cup drains when things come back to normal and we regain our foolishness.
Needless to say, many such ‘gangs’ enjoy the coffee breaks and the reasons seemed to be quite obvious. Apart from the usual characteristics of caffeine, coffee breaks give time to keep work aside and discuss with buddies, think beyond work and free up your mind. A free mind is any day better to work with than a confused one. The best part is, you get to just sit back and relax until you finish your cup.
“Its 10:40 AM, I have a meeting at 11:00 AM on the migration project”, said my friend. He was indirectly telling , “ Break over fellas, get back to work!” He was right. It was time to justify our pay checks.
The rejuvenation will sustain until the next coffee break at 3 PM!!
Till then, if you feel your mind is not in place, grab a cup of coffee! Trust me, you will be a better person!
5 comments:
Miss those days.. its not so easy to make gangs ..good golden days
Excellent write-up mate...took me back to my Infy days. Good old memories die hard !!!
Dude,
Jus remember-- anything can happen over coffee!
But interesting write up!
Keep up the good work!
oh yes.. i am grabbing my cup of coffee NOW :-)
well written da..
coffee breaks are insane :-)
Now, I am desired to start drinking coffee regularly..
Post a Comment