Peach ice tea and a cup of Americano,
we’ve come a long way.
Years from now, you will be
going to your date night ,
stealing glances at the man
that you have come to love so dearly.
He will be looking at you with a strange fascination,
asking himself for the hundredth time,
the same question,
what mysterious creature are you?
You’ll both be hot ,
with the palpable tension between you two,
and in hopes of simmering the flame
burning within you,
you’ll signal to the waiter and order,
A peach ice tea.
Memories,
they’ll hit you like the drug hits the addict
you will reminisce,
remember,
all that we did as stupid college kids ,
who thought they could change the world.
You’ll remember every moment to detail,
faintly smiling and giggling ,
thinking to yourself, I was that vacuous!
You remember me and us and the time we had.
With every sip of that peach ice tea ,
you’ll slip more
into the embrace of the city
which made you who you are.
It’ll strike your mind that peach ice tea
never occurred in isolation,
there was always a companion involved.
You’ll glance around, your eyes fleetingly searching
for everything that can transport
you back to that time.
A table in the corner, an old man is ordering a steaming hot cup of Americano.
You’ll feel at home
because you found that companion.
It’ll strike you, how strange human relations are.
How materialistic things like these
change one fundamentally,
and transport them to times they swore they’ll never think of again.
And they never think of them again.
Years from now ,
I will stumble into another cafe,
with my heart full of pain
and eyes full of tears,
because the one I loved left me ,
again.
Alcohol was never my thing ,
and I am too paranoid for a smoke ,
I need to drown this ache,
Americano should do the job.
I need something that transports me back too,
I will order the usual ,
Extra strong cup of Americano,
and this time, just this time ,
I will dump three sachets of sugar in it ,
hoping that maybe a disease will
ache less than the heartbreak.
The strong concoction will burn my throat ,
its strong flavour giving away,
I shudder and sigh,
I need the embrace of the city that once made me,
I need it like this cup of Americano needs a companion.
Nothing suits it better than the sweet crap of peach ice tea that you used to drink.
I smile and warmth explodes in my heart,
this one drink has brought back everything.
My parents will be asleep,
they shouldn’t be woken up
for something that I can deal with.
I had vowed to myself to leave that wretched capital,
and never look back at it again
but it’s hard to forget a place in which your roots exist.
I might lie to myself and say that I don’t need
To look back again but how do you
forget a place where your soul resides?
No matter where I go
or what I become
I will always be the same.
I stop myself right there,
and never think of it again.
But something makes us both retrace
our way back home.
There’s so much to say,
Peach ice tea and a cup of Americano,
we’ve come a long way.
- Bharavi Yadav
B.A (Hons.) Psychology
(Edited by Debaruna and Pallavi
Art curated by Devangana)
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