Monday, September 15, 2008

Ambling along!!



The alarm rings, and out she jumped, no snuggling between the blankets, no turning away from the nagging ringing of the clock.
She finished her chores, and gingerly chose the socks that she was to wear. Would it match the blue stole Manju had bought for her? It didn't matter, after all, it would be hidden inside her long pants...oh yes!! She should check if she had taken her wallet.
Mmmm, it was right there where she had kept it on the side table. She had kept everything ready last night, hadn't she? She got ready and she started out, in the grey of the morning.
It was still and just the sounds of the neighbourhood strays barking, could be heard. She was a wee bit scared. Should she wait for a while more till the sun danced out of those clouds?
She thought otherwise...it would make her change her mind. So out she stepped.

The walk to the garden, one of the very famous ones in her city. Many early morning walkers could be seen huddled inside their warm clothes and walking or taking a stroll. The fervour inside, was a different scene altogether. There was so much activity, one would assume there was a race to be run. But that was the scene every morning.
She entered the huge gates, a small , figure, who could have been camouflaged amidst the many trees. She ambled along to the tree, the one she had seen on her walks everyday and seen many smiling faces under the sprawling branches. She had never stopped untill now, but now she waited.
She looked straight ahead, knowing that , that was the path that would be taken. She looked into her wallet yet again, and counted the coins. There was all of 4 coins.
She smiled, a knowing smile. When she looked up, her smile brightened, one that could light up the entire space. She didn't move, she stood looking with that sparkle in her eyes,while he trudged along, leaning heavily , taking support on the brand new birch John had gifted him. He wanted to walk faster, but he knew he had to take it easy..after all they had a lot of time on their hands. He strolled upto her, and looked down at the cheeky smile. Hands held, they walked up to the cafeteria a few steps away.

" By two coffee, please"
The small helper boy with a toothy grin, handed them the 2 glasses, helped them find a place to sit down.
" Ajji ( grandma), sit here"
and walked inside, a grin on his face. He needn't go back for another hour he knew. After all he had seen the old couple everyday for the last 6 months. He just smiled.




ps. by two coffee, is a very popular way of asking for coffee, when one doesn't want the entire cup of coffee. It has become more of a habit in this city and many just ask for this, by two coffee.






The prompt at Sunday scribblings was 'Coffee', and this was what got into my mind first thing.

28 comments:

Compassion Unlimitted said...

Sharing begins with coffee..nice post
incidentally the coffee cups with foaming coffee..hmm..so lovely
TC
CU

Anonymous said...

wow! So romantic and just amazingly lovely. I enjoyed fully coming here. Thanks!

Keshi said...

that pic had me drooling for another cuppa today :(


By two coffee please Prats! ;-)


Keshi.

Prats said...

@CU Thats so true, lots of things shared between the cup and lip :P

Thank you for the kind words

@neilina Thank you, it feels great having you out here...

@keshi By two kapi coming up madam....when do we meet????

Rambler said...

as I was reading this, I could not keep pics of lalbagh in the morning away from my mind :)

Winnie the poohi said...

So kewt!

Somehow by 2 coffee is more tasty isnt it?

We have even had a by 3 coffee :D :D we wree big time low on cash :)

Preethi said...

lovely story.. but you know what the first picture had me craving for a cuppa again..
Come read my take on this Coffee

Also this one.. I think you might appreciate it Is the world in wrong hands

Jaya said...

Your post reminded me of the couple in Life in Metro. We always look out for friends and beyond, at any age. Nice read.

Prats said...

@rambler You know what, this whole post came about because of Lalbagh...and actually MTR though I didnt put it down here...

@winnie heheh oh yes by 3 too....weve done that in our very low times in college...which was almost everyday lol!!!

@joy Thanks joy, and you said it right, the search is always on, I suppose whatever be the age...

anthonynorth said...

A great feelgood story, that. Enjoyed it!

aMus said...

nice soothing story, prats...friends are always welcome, whatver be teh age...

and i do the by two kapi, too...:D

Vaidegi J said...

wow, that was so beautiful, the entire narration! loved it.
its the first time ive heard this 'by two' coffee thing! :)

Pavi!!!! said...

Reminds me of my ma n pa... On long drives (to chennai or Tirupati) we wld stop for breakfast/evening tiffin and my parents would order a By-Two-Coffee , We sisters wldn't drink coffee..

Salil said...

Hi,
Nice little story there.
By two coffee, indeed.
But the picture had six coffees though.. :-)
Cheers,
Salil

Vinz said...

was bloghopping and came over here...

the story was sweet one..
simple and short..!!
and the background given for the story was good..!!


can i suggest you something..put your words in paragraphs..that can give your story a good presentable look..

ceedy said...

Nice....well written...me going for coffee :)

Pri said...

very nice usage of the prompt :)

cute story!

Keshi said...

haha ur sweet!

Keshi.

Anonymous said...

ooooohhhhh!!!! soooo niceeeeeeeee!

I loved it Prats... sorry, I missed reading it for such a long time...but u knw na... i try and read this blog ;)

y dntyou write on this blog more often :)

Sujata Rajpal said...

You write very well!

Chaggoholic.... said...

Utterly cute....

Arunima said...

I do it all the time 'by two coffee' because I don't like coffees taht much.

Meghna said...

nice post......a very nicely used prompt too :)

WritingsForLife said...

aww..this is so touching :-)
I like it :-)

Eveline said...

That's an absolutely perfect image. I like the way you write. Your words conjure images of what life should be like. :)

Cinderella said...

Nice !!

I have never heard of this 'by 2' concept even when I have stayed in Blore since like a year now...

Hopped in from an old post of mine, thxn for visitng, n sorry for not having been courteous enough to get back.

Have a gr8 diwali !

Sweetstickychewy said...

This post made me smile..:)

Love the phrase..By two coffee pls...hehe..

Cheerios!

dharmabum said...

this sounds very much like bangalore to me...the winter and the chill, the sprawling gardens, the coffee...

i had the good fortune to spend quite sometime there, and i can't remember the number of by-twos that i must have done...