Coffee Omen

Early morning bhajans in a nearby temple wakes up Sundar. This is quite usual in a place like Mylapore in Chennai. Sundar is from a typical Tamil Brahmin household, conditioned to wake up early and start the day with a cup of filter coffee and The Hindu newspaper. Brought up in a family that judges a person’s cooking ability by the coffee making skills of the person, coffee is something that is very close to Sundar. He has become so obsessed with coffee that he started identifying good coffee with good omen. Sundar used be a disciplined Brahmin, who performed morning and evening prayers sincerely, till 8 months ago. The sudden demise of his mother made him lose belief in every spiritual practice. Though Sundar projects himself as a modern corporate person now, he could not resist believing in small things like luck, omen and destiny.

Today being a Sunday, Sundar checks the time and goes back to sleep as his IT job would not allow him to have this liberty of sleeping till 7:30 AM on working days. Sundar’s younger sister Subiksha wakes him with a cup of coffee. Every time he sips this coffee, he finds something missing in that. He is reminded of his mother, who according to him prepares the best filter coffee in the whole world. As the memory of how his mother used to keep the hot tumbler on his shoulder to wake him up slowly crept in, he touched his shoulder and smiled soberly.

As there is a belief that if a bad event occurs in a family, like a death of a person, it is good to have a happy event like marriage happening in the family within a year. Maybe because of this reason or maybe because Sundar is already in his late twenties and he also has a sister who is yet to get married, his father and other relatives are forcing him to get married. According to the Indian way of bride-hunting, Sundar had gone to seven different houses to look for a suitable bride so far. Wherever he goes, he is given a customary cup of coffee. The moment he sips, he would find something missing in that. He would consider that as a bad omen and reject the proposal.

Sundar soon realises that he is woken up early this Sunday because they are going to visit a probable bride’s place today for the eighth time. Sundar had never discussed this ‘coffee drama’ with his family members. He knows this is what is going to happen today also. He has said “No” to seven girls just because of the coffee given during the visits. He felt bad for those families and did not want to hurt anyone further. Sundar tries explaining the issue to his father and begs him not to look for any bride for few years at least. His father finds this reason to be really silly, rejects this idea and drags him to go see the girl according to the plan.

The kolam (rangoli) outside the girl’s house caught Sundar’s attention. It resembled his mother’s kolam. The girl’s parents gave a warm welcome. The kolam was visible from the couch in the drawing room and Sundar was still staring at it, not paying attention to the girl’s parents. The girl, Kamala, came carrying coffee on a tray for everyone. Kamala sat next to Sundar. When everyone started having their coffee, Sundar was just holding the cup. Sundar liked her but he was still hesitant to take a sip. Kamala in her saree, bindi and her deep voice somehow resembled his mother. He decided not to say “No” this time but what if the coffee fails the omen check? Kamala waved her hand, asking him to have the coffee as it was becoming cool. He closed his eyes, took a sip and was shocked. He was astonished and he wanted to check his father’s reaction. He realises that his father was not there in the room. His father came out of the kitchen waving his hand with a sheepish smile on his face.

• Srinivasan