Random Forays| If a cafe could perceive us!

Cafes are, in many ways, the lifeline of today’s world. They prove to be meeting points, discussion places, places to unwind and places to work. Coffee is the elixir that runs through most cafe menus. Though I believe that there are some (questionable) ones which serve only tea!

Cafes are verily the connectors of world and of all sorts of people across humanity’s spectrum. A cafe can actually represent a microcosm of the world itself.

Some are absolutely tiny with just two tables and a coffee person serving customers, but others can be humongous. A cafe could have four stories with tables galore.

And yet, the quality of coffee with an ambience which enables companions to carry out quality conversations, are often the aspects which matter more. True cafe lovers may love ambience actually more than the coffee.

One can work better and listen with more intent if the ambience is in tune with and pleasing to one’s heart.

Does the cafe perceive humans just as we cognise cafes? Maybe not, being non-human. But let’s consider in our imagination the impressions of a cafe about the varied visitors that it hosts.

Those who work at a cafe day in and day out, they too have an impact on the environment, the vibes, the place. They somehow gel with the place. They become the cafe itself!

Visitors can be of enormous varieties.

There could be those who come only for a hustle, a quick visit to talk to someone and they go off in half an hour after having sealed some kind of agreement.

Some people come to spend the whole day carrying their laptops or iPads or iPhones or whatever and they just go on and on typing at the screen or ogling at it, hopefully trying to make some kind of headway in their lives, in the process.

Some may be filing their annual financial statements. Others may just be searching for jobs on LinkedIn and someone may actually receive an offer letter while being seated in a cafe! A little jig or a yelp of delight would certainly be in order in such a scenario, even if the neighbouring tables would look askance at the sudden celebrations!

Still others may be sending emails to reprimand their juniors! Work and cafes go together in this era because working from cafes is part of the culture of life itself.

The romantic visitor is more interesting to the cafe’s imaginary cognisance, though. A cafe definitely detects romance, when it is in the air! It is perhaps more kind to those who are inclined towards love.

Two people trying their utmost to forge a relationship or maybe trying not to fall into such a “trap” are likely to engage in highly interesting conversations. Some may meet as friends yet may succumb either to the other’s designs or to cupid’s efforts, perhaps aided and abetted by the circumstances of being serenaded by lilting music. If they are surrounded by people of good cheer, then even more so. Vibrations or vibes truly matter!

The hustle and bustle, the mellifluous music, the electrifying atmosphere that a cafe can at times provide make it an unparalleled mood uplifter anyway. Regular visitors, twosomes, dates, couples in the making, elderly couples, business partners or simply college students hanging out: they are all welcome in a cafe..

There could also be those who wish to carry out arguments in a cafe. A planned ticking off, so to say. Sometimes loud voices from one table percolate through the air to others and disturb conversations in the neighbourhood as well.

Sometimes a boss has invited his team to simply listen to him. The rest just nod and smile intermittently. They pretend to be listening even though they’re fantasising about freedom from their ordeal!

A cafe perhaps senses the vibe of such bosses and doesn’t want them to stay too long. It surely doesn’t really like uneasy situations.

Soothing, calm, cheerful conversations, banter, laughter and happy memories are probably much preferred by every cafe, secretly. But then we are human. We tend to be moody, banal, boisterous or even bizarre! A cafe is a haven for all. And is even heaven for some!

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