Category: fanBoy

Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames!

Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames. – Rumi

I read this line and the first reaction I had was, “Oh Faaaaaaaakkk!”

The kinds that I often have when I see something exemplary, something out of the world, something that makes me stop in my track and take note. Something that makes me jealous. Something that I wish I had done (or said, or written, or achieved).

And its something that hasn’t happened in a while. Last few days have been really really draining. I cant think of a reason though. Just that I’ve been under the weather couple of times, I have been missing #sgMS, I seem to be on losing spree in my poker home game, work hasn’t been taking me anywhere, the inspiration for book2 seems to have run dry and so on and so forth.

Wait! I digressed!

I am here to talk about Rumi. Coming back.

So, yesterday a couple of days ago a few days ago my sis told me
about Rumi. And told me about some of those million amazing things that
he’s said.

And I was blown (for want of a better word). I was “Oh Faaaaaaaakkk!” and I was more. I was inspired. It was like that awakening! I felt that all the years that have gone when I did not experience Rumi, I have wasted those!

Source: This website

Thing is, I had known about Rumi all along but I had
never given him attention. I had dismissed him as yet another in the Kabir, Bulleh Shah category that I had planned to explore in detail once I
have time. But then my sis told me about him and I was hooked! The calling, if I may, to read Rumi, explore Rumi is so strong, so magnetic, so unidirectional that I have to, have to read about him. And I have been reading things on wikipedia, browsing things on Pinterest and Facebook and all such places.

Each piece that I read takes me further. Each piece makes me think. Each piece makes me smile. Each piece makes me reflect on my life and my decisions and the state of mind I am in. Each piece is a golden nugget of advice. Each piece is apt. Each piece is a university degree in itself. Each piece is illuminating. Each piece makes you better. Each piece is so simple and yet so powerful that its amazing he could say it with such simplicity!

Go read some Rumi. Go get high on his simplicity. Go indulge your senses. Go put yourself at the mercy of the power of words. Go seek. Or may be, he’s seeking you?

One of things he said was,

What you seek is seeking you.

Done with Starbucks

If you follow this blog, or my twitter feed, or my instagram feed, you would know of my love affair with Starbucks India.

Sadly, it has come to an end.

The love affair started in late 2013 when they opened an outlet close to my place (Powai). And in the process gave me that third place that I always craved for. A place where I could be myself. A place where I dont have to bear with the formal environment of an office. A place where I could escape from the overly-causal vibe of a home. A place that inspired me. A place that helped me get in the zone, over an over again and allowed me to do good work. In fact I wrote a large part of #tnks at the Powai outlet.

To me, over time, Starbucks thus became the default place where I’d meet friends, acquaintances, business associates, strangers, first dates and so on and so forth. Every time someone asked me where to meet, irrespective of the city I were in, I could close eyes and ask them to come to the nearest Starbucks outlet. Each store was consistent, each Barista was polite, the coffee was ok but the experience was superlative. With Starbucks, I did not have to worry about things like AC, security, cleanliness, Internet, ambiance etc. I had to think about more important things like making the right impression, convincing the prospective client et al. In fact if I wanted to get a meeting right, I would insist to meet at a Starbucks. Leave the meetings apart, I could spend hours at a Starbucks. All by myself. Starbucks taught me how to be alone.

It gave me so much that I started considering a Starbucks outlet as the greatest place ever invented. And thus, over time, like with lovers, I started taking Starbucks for granted. And I started expecting things from Starbucks. Things that are often hard to deliver if you dont have the interests aligned, the love mutual and shared. Which I know wasn’t. Starbucks after all is a commercial enterprise and while they do have the community’s interest at heart, they have to make money. They have shareholders to get back to at the end of every quarter, if not year.

So with time, as the business grew, the stores started to change. I mean the waiters still called me by my first name and remembered what I order (Java Chip Frappuccino) and I continued to move towards those free drinks and upgrades with every purchase. But the stores became less inviting. Stores became more commercial. Stores started getting “optimized.” Older patrons like me weren’t invited no more. Guess they lost their soul, if they had a soul!

In terms of tangibles, the stores started getting more crowded and the patrons started getting younger. And as a result the service level started to go down, the noise levels went upto a point where it became impossible to hold conversations. Baristas were no longer keen on “knowing” you. They merely wanted to fill in more tables and operate like a McDonalds where the only goal is to rotate tables. Fast. Profitably. Other things stopped mattering. All the cool things that Starbucks does, stands for, took a back seat.

The stores continued to consistently fail to deliver on things that I
expect as a lover, a patron. And like a jilted lover, I can not tolerate someone else getting more attention than I. And thus I am forced to “take” my
affection elsewhere. I am not sure where but someone will take
up the space that has been left vacant by Starbucks. Something that is
little more everlasting and little more permanent. May be. May be not. And of course, its not them, its me! I guess its me who’s at fault. I need to change. I need to give more space. Well, dont I sound like a typical lover left in lurch? Judge me, if you will ;P

But I hope we remain friends. I will of course continue to come over to a Starbucks. But I am not sure if I’d be able to love Starbucks back again. Of course I wish them all the success. They are a great business and they are super cool. I do hope they find love from more people.

As far as I go, I am sure something will come up. Do pray ;P

Till then,
SG

P.S.: I am writing this at a Starbucks. And I will no doubt continue to visit Starbucks and write and spend time and money. But the fanboydom, the love, the undying support, is gone!