Week 6: Matcha, gratitude, and good books
Compared to the previous weeks, this one felt a lot busier.
On Saturday, I went into the city with my colleague Swaroop. The plan was simple, go to a cute café I had seen online and a bookstore. However, before we even left the campus, we encountered a challenge: finding an actual Uber driver who could take us. It was a 50-minute drive, though for some reason, there were barely any Uber drivers near the campus that morning. We spent an hour trying to find one, and I had nearly lost hope. Then, someone finally accepted! Now that we had transport, the day officially started.
The café was a bit hidden. At first, it seemed like a hole-in-the-wall, but when you go further into the café, it opens into a beautiful, aesthetic space. From the online reviews, this cafe seemed to specialize in coffee and its hot chocolates. However, I was here for something else. I’d seen that they also sold matcha. I have never had a matcha latte before, but decided to try it with a cheesecake (I can never say no to that). When the drink arrived, it looked stunning. So I took a sip. And… I had to suppress a wince. The matcha wasn’t exactly awful, but it definitely wasn’t great either. Truthfully, it totally tasted like grass, weird with a grainy texture. I had hoped that I would like it, as did many people, but I just didn’t. Alas, I still finished it. I won’t judge all matcha on this one experience, though I won’t reach for it again as enthusiastically as I did anytime soon. The cheesecake, on the other hand, tasted wonderful. Rich, creamy, and perfect.
At the cafe, we spent a lot of time chatting. Books, education, travel, our hometowns, and it turned out to be a jumble of fun and interesting conversations. However, at some point during the conversation, I was hit by a deep sense of gratitude. Sometimes, I still can’t believe I’m here. In India, with this internship, it felt surreal. I’m working on an actual research project that could help relieve food insecurity. I realised how quickly I had started treating this experience as ‘normal’ when truly, there wasn’t any normalcy to be found. Because this isn’t normal. It’s incredible. Oftentimes, as time passes, one gets so used to the things life gives you, and we start taking them for granted. But the truth is that not everyone gets to travel, study, or choose the work they like. And the ones that do forget far too often how extraordinary that ‘normal’ life is. In that café, with a not-so-good matcha in front of me, I felt such a great sense of privilege and gratitude. I reminded myself to stay present and to savour every minute I have left here.
Afterwards, we headed off to the bookstore. Luna Books is a family-run independent bookstore dubbed the neighborhood bookstore. The interior was cozy and warm, yet it emitted a sense of calmness and wisdom. There, I enjoyed browsing through the bookshelves leisurely. I lost track of time, but apparently I had spent more than two hours there. And what a great time I had! They have separate rooms for different groups of genres, and it has been a pleasure to go through them all. Their curation of selected books is, as rumoured, truly wonderful. In the end, I left 5 books heavier and even got an adorable mini tote bag.
By then, our stomachs had started grumbling, so we went for an early dinner. After queuing at a popular restaurant, we got seated and ordered biryani. Once again, it was good. After all, you can never go wrong with biryani in Hyderabad. By the time we headed back, it was well into the evening. Once again, it was a day well spent.
On Monday, the real work started. I only had a bit more than two weeks left. We’d hoped to start analysing the data a week ago, but were still waiting for the pepper fruits to ripen. With time running out, I gathered the last bits of data and started organising. That’s when my laptop gave up once again. Excel didn’t work as it should, and neither did RStudio. So I got a temporary work laptop and continued. By Thursday, everything was ready for analysis, and we started. Then we discovered something was amiss with two of our files, and by the time we fixed that, the workday was over.
That left Friday, but August 15th was Independence Day in India. Everyone had the day off to celebrate. The ICRISAT campus also offered some festive activities. The analysis will have to be finished begin next week. I’ll also have to get started on preparing my final presentation then. Time’s almost running out, but I’m still really enjoying the last moments here.
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See you next week,
Dessiy
ps. look at this cute snail I found in front of the glasshouse! And also, sorry for the late update! This was written weeks ago, but I just kept avoiding publishing it. I’m back in the Netherlands again, so expect more posts soon!
