Coffee Beans Tales: Chapter 3

I am enveloped by the smell of  coffee in its full bloom, it makes me feel like a freshly peeled piece of ginger floating on the surface of warm coffee, in a fancy cup. But as you know, ginger is only one of the ingredients, of course it’s special, not exactly a necessity. So if someone doesn’t like you, they can simply ignore you or just scoop you out.

Ghattu Kakka is one such person. His timing is perfect, always scooping me out of my dream, investing his well groomed nails, deep into my ears and frowning straight into my eyes. Though my ears did hurt, I cannot but giggle at his idiotic attire, trying to imitate uncle John, who comes by every year, to visit our
estate.

When I say, our estate, it doesn’t mean it’s ours, we just work here, and by habit  came to  consider it as ours. If it really was ours, how different would it have been and that takes me on the longest and fanciest dreams I ever had. Since it might be a little boring for you guys, I am not going into it. Moreover, my today’s  dream allowance has been completed successfully, marked by my red ears.

Don’t consider me a rude person, that I did not introduce myself in the beginning. I am Jaan, simply Jaan, no middle name, no surname, no nothing. You already know about me from the two little adventures you read about earlier, I believe. Yet, I think I owe you the courtesy of introducing myself.

I live with my mother, elder sister and two older brothers, in the most serene and complicated construct, situated amidst green fields, tall mountains, singing rivers and nature enthusiasts, which for ease of your comprehension, I would like to refer to as our “hut”. Our hut used to be like all the others in the area, beautifully crafted with large leaves, grass, mud and what not, and vulnerable to fierce wind and rain. Sometimes when I lay, looking at the roof, I feel like it’s waiting to come down and embrace us, any time now. That’s a bit scary, isn’t it? But now, our hut got upgraded, with gorgeous a little red roof and plastered walls. I know that people are bitching behind our back about our sudden riches and the friendship with uncle John. There are so many secrets which even I am not aware of. I promise you, I will find them all out and make it known to all of you.

I almost forgot a teeny tiny detail about my family. I also have my grandmother living with us. She is toothless and silver haired. I left her out on purpose. Describing her odd habits might give you guys a terror. Eavesdropping is not a crime, it just happens sometimes, so on one such occasion I overheard how she used to swing upside down from the arecanut trees when infested by Neeli, the neighbourhood ghost. We have so many ghosts living around us and as per my calculation, Neeli has the closest proximity to our house and so enhances the probability of entering our bodies.

I actually believed in this rubbish, until I was ten. But then I was stricken by a new realisation. If there was something like an afterlife, human beings would be haunted all the time for the countless number of killings of hen, cow, pig etc etc. If the animals do not reincarnate as ghosts, then why does humans do it? An ant dies, and it’s story is over. It lived and it died, so do we. The difference that makes us reborn as ghost is simply our imagination. What a discovery, right? Anyways I don’t have anyone else to share these fabulous ideas, because nobody listens to me. Being youngest in a family of so many members is quite a hardship. Speaking of hardships, reminds me of school, about which I need not worry today.

I have been staying away from Ben, as promised. After all he did help me save Lallu from Somu. So, I sneaked out to my favourite hide-out – the meadow of flowers. When I am bored of the cacophony inside and outside, I come here. The meadow is so beautiful and silent. However, the way up is not exactly easy. But once you reach there, your lungs are overwhelmed by the sweet scent of grass and flowers. So many colours sway their heads in harmony with the wind, that if you sway along, you can hear them talk. So I swayed and swayed and listened to them talk. This piece of my heart here, always gives me peace and pleasure.

You know what flowers talk about the most, they talk about women. They wished to be born as women, but then God decided, it can’t be, because they were not strong enough to endure the challenges. God needed more time to create women, because he had to bolden their hearts and tighten their grips. But the flowers still think that God will have a change of heart and transform them to women, if they sway really well. This is what they talk about all the time. I asked them once, why don’t you wish to be a man, since men always have an upper hand over women. To my surprise, they were disgusted by the very thought of being a man, because they think men are ugly and lack the sophistication of a woman who can create more men or women, whereas men cannot do that. They think women are like coffee, flavoured and strong.

These conversations with them, whether real or in my head, gave me some confidence in my existence. When there are intruders I can’t hear them talk, so when they suddenly stopped talking, I realised that there was someone up there and turned around to face the intruder. It was Benny and Uncle John. I ran towards him, and he tightened me in a warm hug, like always. I noticed a flicker of jealousy in Ben’s eyes.

Uncle John said,

” Why did you leave my boy alone Jaan? Did I not ask you to take good care of him?

“His boy”, I wondered about Ben’s mother and why Uncle John kept coming back here. I thought back about the gossip, that, Uncle John had an affair with a native woman and she died giving birth to his son. Seems like this one had some truth in it. Seeing my baffled look, uncle John shook me and asked me to keep Ben company.

I took Ben by his hand and pulled him towards the flowers. He broke away from my grip and said,

“I don’t want to look around, especially not with her. She is nothing but trouble.”

Insults were not news for me, especially not from him. So I took one step closer to him and said,

“Why don’t you come with me Benny?”

He did not resist anymore and just followed me into the meadow of flowers. Above us, the sky turned different shades of red and gold and around us the flowers swayed in their colourful frocks. We just stood there hand-in-hand, watching the sky and the flowers. If it had been some other boy, there might have been some scope for romantic sweet nothings. But, NO, not with Ben, NEVER EVER..

PC: Pexels (Denis Tuev)