Last Coffee

The streetlights whizzed past as I stared listlessly out of the window. Orko was driving as usual as Rohan gave him company in the front seat. Orko hated to drive sitting alone in the front row. He said that he felt like a chauffeur!

“So where are we headed?” asked Orko. I glanced at the rearview mirror which was our only way of having eye-contact while he was driving.

I shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Let’s go somewhere to eat,” proposed Rohan popping the earphones of his i-pod from his ears. “I’m hungry.”

“You haven’t had your breakfast or lunch, have you?” I asked Rohan coldly. It was a daily routine of Rohan to skip breakfast after getting up at noon, and have second thoughts about lunch a few hours later. As a result he frequently suffered from stomach cramps.

“I woke up late and …,” Rohan started repeating his old hackneyed story.

“Yeah, and so you skipped lunch,” I finished for him with a sigh.

“I had Maggi,” Rohan tried to defend himself.

“Splendid!” Orko congratulated Rohan.

Rohan gave him a sarcastic smile.

“Ok, then let’s grab a bite,” I suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” replied Rohan. “Let’s take something from Monginis and head for…uhh…the classroom.” Rang De Basanti had really influenced us!

It wasn’t really a classroom. Actually it wasn’t even a school. It was just a college building (that’s what we had been able to make out of the building). Located behind the township in between huge fields it looked majestic. Leaning against the parked car we looked up at it, impressed. It towered over the neighbouring trees; its wide stairs seemed to beckon us to our college lives we were soon to enter; its tall walls and metal gate seemed to block out its modernism from the rustic surroundings.

“Man, it’s so…so…,” Rohan desperately tried to find an adjective.

“Awesome?” I recommended.

“Yes, exactly.”

We had been there many times but we never stopped getting amazed. As we munched away at our chicken sandwiches, a crisp wind blew from the field making the trees rustle to its tune.

“Man, it’s beautiful,” I added after a long silence taking in a deep breath.

“Yeah. I got to pee,” Orko said looking fervently around dusting his hands after finishing his sandwich.

I winced as Rohan kept on enjoying his sandwich blissfully. And Orko went on to search for the perfect place. He finally decided to do it in front of a small hut which was once a small tea-shop.

It just started to rain as we entered Café Coffee Day. Rohan surveyed the coffee house intently until he found the perfect place. Two couches by the huge glass wall which looked out at the street. Rohan and Orko sat at one couch as I sat on the opposite couch. Orko and I offered a Café Frappe each and Rohan decided to go for a Black Coffee. Actually Rohan had grown a strong distaste for Café Frappe after an unpleasant incident involving the drink and Rohan’s jeans.

The street outside glistened in the streetlights like a polished mirror as cars plied slowly. The pattering of rain was pleasing to the ear. Very few people were walking around not only because it was raining but also because it was pretty late at night. Our parents were used to us hanging around late at night. At first they had shown irritation but our common gift of persuasion had finally made them yield.

“So you are finally going to that university in Chennai?” Rohan asked sipping his hot coffee.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Its counseling is coming up. Then only I can know. And what about you?”

Rohan smiled, “I thought I would stay in Kolkata. I’m not a terrorist like you.”

I laughed. Orko as usual went on to produce his famous hysterical laughter. Nearly everyone in the coffee house turned to look at us. But we were used to that. We ignored.

“Excuse me,” I called out to a waiter. “Can you give me a napkin?”

The waiter looked at me curiously for sometime before going away. After a while he came back and presented me what I asked for and said politely, “Here is your tissue paper.”

I gave him a cold stare as he smiled wryly at me and left. I turned around to see Rohan and Orko smiling.

“So where have you finally decided to go?” asked Rohan this time addressing Orko.

“I told you about Canada, didn’t I? Well I finally got my passport and have decided to go there,” Orko gave a triumphant smile.

Now I know I should have been happy for Orko. But somehow I felt otherwise. Rohan just stared at him disbelievingly. He leaned back on the couch thinking of God knows what.

“Good. Good for you,” I was finally able to say.

Rohan kept quiet. Orko sensed the tension and went back to his Café Frappe straw.

After a long time, Rohan finally spoke. “Are you sure? I mean it is cold out there.”

Orko and I both laughed incredulously at the joke. Rohan also smiled, though it looked unwilling.

“No, I mean it is damn cold there. You might end up freezing your balls!”

“Come on. He has enough fat to protect him,” I chipped in.

Orko looked offended but let me go.

“And…and you’ll only get frozen fish there,” Rohan tried to protest, mockingly.

We smiled at him.

“Come on, man,” Rohan went on. “What is the only way we can keep in contact? Chatting? Chatting is so damn superficial. What I mean to say is that having coffee in person is more fulfilling than chatting. This is a totally different feeling. You know what I mean?”

“Don’t get so upset,” Orko said. “We can still call up each other.”

“Yeah, but it won’t be like it is now. We…we…you know...I…I don’t know.”

I just listened to the conversation impassively. My mind had already gone for a spin. I had it all planned out. Orko had told us that he would be trying hard to stay in Kolkata. So I had planned to come from Chennai every holiday that I got. Then we could hang out together as usual. But it wasn’t to be. Nothing seemed usual anymore.

The conversation had ended by the time my reverie was over. Rohan had composed himself. The waiter had come to the table to take away our glasses and to place the bill in its leather cover on the table. I thought for a moment of a way to reduce the tension. The tissue paper was still right in front of me. The waiter had intentionally not picked it. So I took it and placed it in the bill’s cover along with the money. This was enough to bring a grin to everyone’s faces.

“Let’s discuss the pros and cons of Orko going to Canada,” Rohan started the conversation again.

“Cut it out man,” Orko protested as he slowly maneuvered the car expertly round wet corners.

“No, no, let’s do it. I’ve already given two points.”

“And I’ve one,” I finally spoke.

Orko gave a quick glance at me, a curious smile stuck to his face.

“You are not going to come back,” I said slowly.

Orko’s smile disappeared immediately. Rohan suddenly seemed to be dead still too. Damn it, I thought. We didn’t talk for a while as the rain kept battering away at the windshield.

“But finally my dream is coming true,” I tried to lighten up the mood. “You remember the plan I made about how we could change India? Well, Orko’s going to Canada and he will return a rich man. Rohan’s going to stay in Kolkata. What better place to become a good politician? And I’m going to become a scientist. I hope. Then we can team up and change India!”

But no one smiled.

I tried again. “Okay. Orko’s going in August. So what say we go to Goa for a few days?”

Rohan gave me an impressed look and Orko finally smiled, “That would be great.” Dil Chahta Hain had really influenced us!