Posted by
Ech Kay
at
9:23 PM
I have been to CCD (Cafe Coffee Day, for slow pokes) umpteen number of times. Right since my days in college (and beyond college too!), CCD has been like a second home. With Bhaskar, Gaurav, Santa and sometimes Sid, Mondal and Swapnil for company, the CCDs in Nagpur at PC, Maitree, Pratap Nagar and VCA (in declining order of our frequenting them) saw many a Bakar sessions take place amongst us!
"Anything can happen over a cup of coffee!"
We re-interpreted the punch-line of CCD according to our convenience and indeed did anything that we could think of! Be it planning strategies for stuff related to Installations, Pratishruti or other SRC events; or preparing theories for Tech Fest, or even studying for exams, CCD was the common venue for all our activities! CCD was indeed like a second home for us!
So, when we (Me, Gaurav and Abhishek) were faced with the ever-confusing question of "Ab kahan jaaye?" after we took our E-litmus test, and were later turned out from Cafe Good Luck (?!) we happily walked to the CCD nearby!
The ambience there was as inviting and comfortable as it has always been. PC or Fergusson College Road, we didn't find much difference. CCD was always going to be our own! The waiter manning the outlet, smiled, kept a menu card in front of us and walked away. We continued with our bakar.. A while later I gestured to the waiter to come over and take our order.
"One Irish Coffee..." I started giving instructions...He gestured back, trying to interrupt me.. I thought he couldn't listen to my instructions over the volume of the songs being played. "One Irish Coffee...", I repeated, louder this time. He gestured again, asking me to point out in the menu card what I wanted. It is then that I realized that the waiter was deaf and mute. My heart immediately went out for him..
It is then that I started thinking... What unbeatable attitude and spirit the young man had! He had indeed overcome all odds in life to be in the position that he was in today. And the way he was going about his task, he seemed to be man at peace with himself, and his work. He was comfortably managing the needs of close to 25 young customers. What was worth appreciating was that he was the only waiter managing things there, at that time. Even the CCD outlet at PC Nagpur, which is spread over an area less than half the area of the CCD outlet we were sitting in, has 4 to 5 waiters working at a time! This young man was doing his job very efficiently, indeed!
I was really impressed with the ease with which the guy went around with his job. In spite of all his shortcomings, he is leading a perfectly normal life! Talk of self-respect, and the man had earned loads of it! He could give a normal person some serious complex!
An hour later, I walked down home, thinking of the waiter at CCD and all that he had taught me. He taught me how to lead life with a smile. He taught me to not crib for every small thing that doesn't go the way you want it to. He taught me how hard work can work wonders. He taught me how one can get on and face life, even when a thousand things are trying to pull you down with all their might. He taught me how to let one's work do the talking. And last but not the least, he taught me how to win someone's respect without uttering a single word! Hats off to you, young man!!
-HK
12:38 am 28th July '08.
|
Labels:
Attitude
,
Bakar
,
CCD
,
Deaf and Mute Waiter
,
FC Road
,
Hearing Impaired
,
Positive
,
Winning over Odds
1 comment:
Yup I was there HK.....
Great Spirit....
I can also recall our debate about NDA Guy....???
Keep Writing.....
Post a Comment