A cup of coffee

It is not too often I stop by at a nearby tea stall and asked for a coffee or tea. I once had to walk two - three kms as I had no other choice. I wanted to take a break before I boarded any bus and guess where I stopped? At a coffee stall for a hot coffee. It may not be new for you guys. I always go for energizer or refresher cups only on long rides. Rarely have I had any tea or coffee at a tea stall in Chennai. But needless to say, the coffee that they make is awesome. It is what they call in the American market as cappuccino. It came into the Indian market as such and was sold at a higher price.

I tried coffee at most of the famous places here and I savor each drink. One of the coffee shops here make coffee from purely blended beans that they never taste like coffee. It needs a lot of sugar to compensate its heavy bitterness. I had to buy them to avoid sleepy evening classes and within no time, I got used to that cappuccino taste. I used to buy too often that the woman at the cash counter knew that I would be ordering cappuccino and would be prepared to serve me one as if she is acting on defense.

I tried cappuccino at all the other outlets at my university and I already know which place is better for each type of coffee. For example, the coffee variant mocha somehow tastes wonderful only at one place (I am not advertising any product here; so ping me if you wanna know ;) ). This gave me plenty of options to choose from. In the last semester, I started trying one alternative which tasted much better than cappuccino. I ordered regular coffee; they give pure dark bitter coffee. Some shops give you the privilege of choosing your own flavored coffee. I recommend Hazelnut or Vanilla. Then they have the choice of milk – skimmed milk, milk, half milk & half cream. I go for the half and half as it gives a creamy touch to the coffee.

I once ordered tall hot coffee and the vendor, no idea what he understood, gave me tall iced coffee. So it was one of those days when you just go for it wanting to try the road not taken. I once ordered iced coffee at Indian coffee pub and it was not my cup of tea (oh yes, I mean coffee). It was cold outside and I had no winter coat as well. I thought that the drink is going to give me a difficult time outside but luckily, it didn't. Once, the hot coffee did save me from the cold weather outside but cold coffee for cold weather, kidding?

How simple and easy is to order a cup of coffee at a stall in India? The only question you might probably have to endure is whether you want it strong or light. Today, my roommates and I went for a coffee outing and I began to wonder how much these coffee lovers were ready to try new flavors or types of coffee. The climate was perfect enough to have a cup of coffee at the outside of the shop but I believe it couldn't come close to the feeling of independence or the feeling of bliss when you have a cup of coffee at a tea stall in India.

Cause I told so...

Back when I was a kid, I used to be a hater of sports commentary. Maybe it was because I did not comprehend what they were speaking or maybe I was more interested in the actual sport rather than the expert comments. I don't know how it happened but it underwent a process for me to like the commentary. “Commentary is not for the kids”, I had to tell myself.

To keep it simple, they explain what is going on in the screen. I have to agree that it is useful for someone who is not able to view the match. Remember the times when you were cooking (no? Reading? No again? I leave it to you) when you hear “That was a huge six” and you run over to the screen and see what is happening and, in the process, forget what you were doing. Commentary is more than that, you get expert comments. Half of the people may not be sure of the sports event and they learn by hearing the commentary.

Being a fan of cricket, I am going to bring in cricket. Also, I bring in WWE. (Any WWE fans out there?) Recently, I read from Wikipedia where there are two types of commentators – play-by-play announcer one who speaks a lot asking questions to the other commentator, known as the color commentator, who holds valuable experience in that field.

So, back to the topic, all the WWE fans must have heard about Stone Cold Steve Austin. His success is mostly to the fact that he was shown as the larger than life guy, who could beat up ten people single handed, could save a girl from the clutches of the evil and also rise from the ashes. If 80% - 90% of his success is because of what he did, part of his success should also be credited to Jim Ross, the play-by-play announcer of WWE. His catchphrases were so popular that he would literally scream when Stone Cold enters the arena when the thousands of fans erupt. To keep the TV audience glued to the screen, portraying an ordinary man like a hero is not an easy task. Have a look at one of the popular Stone Cold – Jim Ross combo. For those of you who are not aware of these two people, the bald person in the video is Stone Cold and the guy who screams "There he is!" in the commentary is Jim Ross

A year back, I read a satire in a cricket website about the usage of WWE standards to promote IPL. The article was hilarious. As an addendum to the article and to keep it simple, I would suggest bringing in commentators such as Jim Ross to the cricket commentary. Imagine the batting maestro walking to the crease and Jim Ross shouting, “There he is! There he is! Sachiiiinn Sachiiinnn, this arena has erupted!”

Recently, West Indian Chris Gayle hit a monstrous century knock playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore of IPL. How interesting it would have been to hear Jim Ross saying, “What the hell is this?” or when Sehwag was playing a similar innings, “The Upper Cut!!! My God! It is the upper cut!!!”

The power of Jim Ross's commentary is that he could make anyone a hero with his speech. He could end a simple match by saying, “My God! What a night!