Chhavi Noticed This!

While I was in Germany and the Netherlands, I took a couple of walking tours and the English guides in both Amsterdam and Berlin made the same jokes about how creative the natives were when it came to naming things. The national monument is called “The National Monument,” the concert hall is “The Concert Hall,” etc. etc. etc. Well, we have our Mahatma Gandhi Margs and our Chhatrapati Shivaji everythings to counter it.
Still, some of it was amusing to me. Like this shop. Perfectly named, who could ask for more?

This one is tops in my list of unbelievable kitsch. What you see is a man selling hot coffee, tea, and cocoa from the back of a tempo with a chandelier in it Yes, look again, peer into that interior – it’s a full blown chandelier! I loved it!
This was taken at the Rijksmuseum as I waited in the freezing cold drizzle to buy a ticket around 5pm. I think our well decorated coffee vendor’s sell-rate was close to 100 percent. And which Amsterdammer or tourist wouldn’t want a hot cuppa from a man with such good taste in interior design and a fetchingly homey little ‘coffee shop’ even it’s really the back of a three-wheeler? The warm yellow glow, the aromas – he truly outdid himself, no?

Ok, so this is going to be a shameless shill. Hold on to your coffee. And your mouse. After 7 months of battling the baristas in Barista and Cafe Coffee Day for soy milk and/or decaf coffee, I feel like I’ve finally found Nirvana. No, silly, I mean like heaven!

First, some stories:
1) I’m in Bangalore. They have a vegan shake on the menu, ergo, –> they have soy milk on the premises. I ask them to make me a mocha with soy milk. No can do. It’s impossible.
2) In Bombay, I ask for a half decaf-half calf coffee. The man looks at me like I’m speaking Swahili. He can’t do that. I tell him to freaking brew me a cup of caffeinated coffee and a cup of decaf. Charge me for two. Throw out half of each. Pour remainders in a cup. Barista remains unconvinced.

3) Back in Delhi, I ask for a decaf frappé. It’s not on the menu. The frappé is on the menu, decaf coffee is on the menu but they cannot combine the two.Good thing I didn’t ask for something “exotic”, like a decaf, double espresso soy milk cappuccino …he’d have swooned!

Enter UK chain Costa Coffee. Manna from heaven at this juncture. They substitute soy milk in ANY beverage. And decaf coffee too. And you don’t even have to beg. I’ve even ordered and (this is key) received a half decaf-half caf soy milk mocha. With a smile! This time, I nearly swooned. Costa Coffee, welcome to India. I heart you!