Coffee Shop...

He has been sitting next to the door for over 30 minutes now.
Moderately attractive, smartly dressed with sharp features and a receding hair line.
Hmmm... keeps tapping his index finger on the cover of the book he is reading.
Is he nervous?
Why the heck am I staring at him?
Usually I am quite subtle at these things.

I have been coming to this place every Thursday since I was a kid.
I have my dad to thank for it.
It was our own special time, we talked about each and everything under the sun, and beyond it.
When he was alive I used to come with him,
After he passed away I used to come to remember him,
Now its just a habit.
In this ever changing world, this is the only consistent thing.
I tried bringing my husband here.
He doesn't see the purpose of sitting in cafe for hours, wallowing on the couch and observing people.
He says, "Isn't that why man invented T.V and created soap operas?"
Its interesting how each character on TV is a figment of someone's imagination.
Imaginary people, imaginary worlds, imaginary problems...
I guess he will never understand the fascination of studying human actions, reactions and mannerisms.
Where better to find such an interesting mix of people than a cafe.
You can be sure that on a long enough time scale the same person will make a reappearance.
Sometimes even if I can't recall a face, some idiosyncratic gesture lets me know,
that I have seen this person before.
To escape the monotony of the life I lead, I visit this "Human Zoo" of mine.

Working in a small company as a Recruiter, has its perks,
Short working hours combined with the satisfaction of hunting down people fit
for a particular job at my company,
feeds my hobby as well as my occasional shopping escapades.
Here, unlike the people in cafe I don't have to speculate,
I get most of their info on a printed executive bond sheet.
Not exactly what I prefer..So I just call them up.
Talk to them to create my version of their profile.
If only I could get a dollar for every time I found loads of BS on an application,
I would be able to afford a home on moon or feed half the world population..
OK that's exaggerating, but you get my point.
My husband on the other hand is a Manager of err.. something, in a bank.
I never have been able to understand what he does.
The passion with which he talks about his work makes me happy for him,
at least he didn't end up with job he hates.
I have controlled my self from making him a subject of my study.
I fear if I dig in deep, and figure him out, there will be nothing left to surprise me.

Now I get it.. Its the book, this guy is reading.
I have read it before. It wasn't a best seller, but amazingly written.
Odd, Now I feel like I have seen him somewhere before.
Up til now I haven't seen anything that would remind me of having seen him.
Hmm, Never mind I am done for the day.
I will bother if I see him again.


Sitting by the window, I was engrossed in the view outside.
Rain pouring down like there is no tomorrow.
People running to find some shelter.
At least some 20 people must have entered the cafe today, just to get away from the rain.
Then I heard someone talking.
It took me a while to realize, that "that someone" was talking to me.
I look up to see it was the guy I was wondering about 2 months back.
Shocked and surprised a bit to see him looking right at me.
"Hi, are you expecting someone to join you?"
"Err.. No"
"Mind if I occupy this chair?"
"Sure go ahead"
Damn! I want to be left alone today.

"Would you like to have something sir?"
"A mocha with cream should do fine"
It doesn't seem to bother him that he is completely wet, and dripping water all over his bag.
"Excuse me, but your bag is taking a shower.."
"Pardon!"
"I meant, your bag is getting drenched."
"Crap!!.. Thank you"
He ended up fishing out about 7 books from his bag,
and placed them all on the table which could at the best hold
only 2 cups of coffee with a basket of muffins.
"I am sorry for the mess I am causing.. But some of these books are my life.
No kidding.. I had a tough time getting my hands on some of these."
I just smile, wanting to get back to my view outside, but I guess he was in a chatty mood.
He just wouldn't quit, no matter how hard I tried to politely ignore him.

After a while he took the hint, and stopped pestering me.
Even though he wasn't talking, I was very much aware of his presence right across me.
It seemed like he wanted to talk to me, but didn't know what.
I stole a glance at him, he was busy staring in the direction of a young guy
sitting all by himself, seemingly busy writing something,
at first I didn't understand what was so fascinating about that young man.
Then I saw him ogling at a girl sitting at the table across him in small bursts,
It was only then I realized that the shy looking guy was actually sketching this girl..

I turned around and caught my table mates eyes, He smiled at me.
As if powered by some unknown force, I too smiled back.
Everything else is a blur, but what I remember is, we spoke for close to 2 hours that day..
If you ask me what we talked about, I wont be able to remember anything in particular.
Just that it was kind of a relief to pour my heart out to some stranger, whom I may never meet again.

Since that day we have met in this same cafe on and off for the past 3 years.
Never ever having promised to meet again, never having exchanged names or numbers.
We have talked about our lifes, other people, things big and small, observe people,
laugh at and sympathize with our subjects.
We did try naming this relationship once and figure its implications.
But what do you call this thing that we share, Friendship? Acquaintance? Soul-mate?
I know he has a wife, and a small kid, He knows that I am married.
But still there are things that I can discuss with him that I can't discuss with my husband,
just for the plain and simple reason that my husband will not understand.
The same applies to his wife as well.
Does this mean that we are cheating on our partners?
I mean even sharing at an psychological or emotional level,
giving priority to someone else other than your life partner.
Isn't that wrong? when you have taken a vow to stand by and share your life with someone.
The argument we have had over this topic, over a period of 4 months,
just etched out the futility of naming this relationship and figuring out what it is and what are its limits.
We just fill a void in each others lives.
No matter what, somethings just don't have a name or a face.