I just knew it! Knew it! Knew it! Knew knew knew it! As soon as the time comes for me to leave Pune (another three months tops), I will see an avenue for such thrill and enjoyment that I would want to stay back a little while longer.
Last night, I went for a drive with a friend. We took a wrong turn and got to Law College Road and there, next to an alarmingly bright Kinetic showroom, is an Innsbruck-looking structure. It is lit prettily and a few twinklies stud salad-shaped foliage around the café. Good-looking youth dawdle in all things strappy and vivid – tees, skirts, chappals, jeans. I know it’s a café. Then, I see a banner - a yellow cloth in smudged red lettering – Mocha.
Something deep and visceral and true and primal said ‘Yesssss!’
My Mocha. How much I had missed it! How different it was from the Bombay Mochas. How much better lit and how much cleaner and tidier and how much more polite the staff...and yet, the sameness thrilled me.
The ‘All Day Breakfasts’ listed on page 11, the de-cafs featured with descriptive paragraphs, the ‘cute in Gothland’ m symbol next to dishes that the chef recommends. The uncomfortable chairs where you had to maneuver your spine like elastic. The humungous cups of coffee. The café Zabaglione that was not being prepared because of an absent liquor permit. (It is the brew that sets the Bandra Mocha apart from the rest of the Mochas in the world. Bandra Mocha does this surprisingly well; aside from accommodating those many people in that much space. But hey! That’s Bandra.) The endless wait for the food and the endless wait for the bill. My animated recommendations of ‘Lava Lava’ that was overheard by the couple next to us. They ordered it, liked it, and thanked me. I felt so proud. My baby had come first in class or something.
I had to blink and pinch myself.
Mocha in Pune and it’s almost time for me to leave.
Not that I’m complaining, God. Thank you and all that but maybe the timing could use some work?
Last night, I went for a drive with a friend. We took a wrong turn and got to Law College Road and there, next to an alarmingly bright Kinetic showroom, is an Innsbruck-looking structure. It is lit prettily and a few twinklies stud salad-shaped foliage around the café. Good-looking youth dawdle in all things strappy and vivid – tees, skirts, chappals, jeans. I know it’s a café. Then, I see a banner - a yellow cloth in smudged red lettering – Mocha.
Something deep and visceral and true and primal said ‘Yesssss!’
My Mocha. How much I had missed it! How different it was from the Bombay Mochas. How much better lit and how much cleaner and tidier and how much more polite the staff...and yet, the sameness thrilled me.
The ‘All Day Breakfasts’ listed on page 11, the de-cafs featured with descriptive paragraphs, the ‘cute in Gothland’ m symbol next to dishes that the chef recommends. The uncomfortable chairs where you had to maneuver your spine like elastic. The humungous cups of coffee. The café Zabaglione that was not being prepared because of an absent liquor permit. (It is the brew that sets the Bandra Mocha apart from the rest of the Mochas in the world. Bandra Mocha does this surprisingly well; aside from accommodating those many people in that much space. But hey! That’s Bandra.) The endless wait for the food and the endless wait for the bill. My animated recommendations of ‘Lava Lava’ that was overheard by the couple next to us. They ordered it, liked it, and thanked me. I felt so proud. My baby had come first in class or something.
I had to blink and pinch myself.
Mocha in Pune and it’s almost time for me to leave.
Not that I’m complaining, God. Thank you and all that but maybe the timing could use some work?
Comments
Apparently i had stumbled on your blog while searching the address of mocha on google.
Thanks to you though,
I had a nice time, the staff was dressed so well too isnt and i really appreciated the fact that they had seperate sections for smokers/non smokers.