My love affair with 'Speciality'

Here I am propped on a chair in a corner of a spacious, warm and friendly 'Speciality', a neighbourhood cafe in Milpitas. It's not exactly neighbourhood in that sense and is surrounded by drab and dull corporate offices, the only saving grace being a glimpse of the hills at a  distance. I discovered the place a couple of months after I moved to Milpitas because my husband's office happens to be in the vicinity.

I loved the place instantly. I somehow felt at home. Again a tale of two cities this. In Calcutta I spent some of my best days in coffee shops with my best friends, ranting away just about anything. Every celebration, heartbreak, gossip, boredom, ebullience was about some coffee shop in some part of the city. From our gossip sessions in Piccadelly Square and Barista, emotional outbursts or lazy afternoons in Mocha, our so called 'office work' in Cafe Coffee Day, chilling out at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, to the zillion 'just like that' sessions in all of the above, it was always about or in a coffee shop. 

Speciality felt like that minus my friends.

Being a homemaker is not about how easy or how grueling the task is. It is more about priorities because when you spend most of your time being at home it's difficult not to lose yourself in the nitty-gritties of a routined life, something you would probably have ignored had you been working. Doing dishes, making bed, cooking, cleaning climbs up your priority list and reading, writing or engaging in some creative endeavour which you may have otherwise enjoyed, is often the last thing on your mind.

I often grant myself the luxury of breaking away from this run-of-the mill affair. It's a date with Speciality where all i get to do is nothing, except maybe read, write, munch on a muffin, sometimes eavesdrop on conversations( bad habit I know but entertaining nevertheless, from the endless business meetings, interviews to crazy inspirational talks) or start a blog like this one! And I almost always feel connected to my city and friends. A large chunk of a tale about my city is about my friends, and Speciality in a strange way bridges the gap between the California and Calcutta.

I always leave the place with a smile on my face.