Last week, I thought I should sit quietly at a coffee shop to organise my thoughts. It proved to be a distraction and my thoughts were dominated by the people who walked by or those sitting there, sipping their hot drinks.
The famous franchises have comfortable chairs and for just under two Rials you can sit all day, chatting with a friend or enjoying your own company. But I also noticed some of them were actually trying to divert their thoughts from potential trouble spots.They talked to each other with shifty eyes, adjusting their positions every few seconds and divert their gazes frequently from one object to another. It is a sign, I suspect, of a distressed mind which desperately tries to find a gracious distraction. I may be wrong but the sight offered me an interesting interlude. I previously planned to sit there for no more than half an hour but I found myself riveted in the same chair for nearly two hours.
One of the highlights was the entrance of a blind man who was escorted by a woman. Perhaps it was his wife but then it could have been his sister. She ordered coffee for him and after placing it on his table she walked away, perhaps to catch up with her shopping. It was impossible to read his mind because a blind person cannot shift his gaze nor find anything interesting to feast his eyes on.A man on the next table diverted his attention from his laptop and looked at the blind man. Then I noticed everybody else doing the same. Their curious glances obviously did not mean anything to him.
I watched him bending and reaching out with his right hand for his coffee. It hovered in the air for five seconds, moving right then left before resting on the steamy mug. There was a smile on his lips as he got hold of it and lifted it gently to his mouth. He was also oblivious to the curious glances from the people who were passing by who may have found it strange to see a man in large dark glasses quietly sipping coffee. These people were just a reflection on his glasses the way the lights of the mall were. To say that he sat looking straight will be cruel but to try to find out what exactly was in his mind was also speculative. In a way, I was trying to invade his mental privacy by taking a peep at his mind.
It was then that I realised I was bored and my mission of trying to put some discipline in my thoughts while drinking coffee proved to be a futile exercise. The place was like a very disciplined circus and perhaps I was trying to spot a clown in the crowd to amuse myself. I then realised that we were all an audience and none of us were performers. On second thought, I might correct this version by saying that the people who walked by found us entertaining enough to make another round to view our performances. I later came to a conclusion that coffee shops are like a circus.
Slightly disgusted by this thought I left. I walked past the woman who escorted the blind man and I noticed a frown on her face when we exchanged looks. I wondered why. Perhaps my eyes accused her of leaving him alone so she could do her shopping freely.Out of curiosity or maybe pure madness, I made a U-turn and walked past the same coffee shop. I wanted to prove a theory that the coffee shop patrons were indeed the performers in a glorified circus ring. – Khaleejnews
