Musings over a Cup of Black Coffee

There’s something oddly honest about black coffee. No sugar, no milk—no pretenses. Just the raw, unapologetic truth swirling in a cup. Sometimes I feel life is exactly like this brew. People keep trying to sweeten it with labels, possessions, and social validations, but at the core, it’s always a little bitter, a little bold, and strangely addictive.

As I take a sip, I wonder—maybe the bitterness isn’t a flaw but the very soul of the drink. Isn’t that true for us too? We keep running from the bitter parts of our journey—failures, heartbreaks, disappointments—but those are the moments that shape our flavor. Without them, we’d be as bland as lukewarm water.

The steam rising from my cup reminds me of fleeting thoughts. They come, they blur my vision for a while, and then they disappear. Some are worth inhaling deeply; others deserve to be exhaled without ceremony. And then there are the stubborn ones—those old memories and regrets that refuse to evaporate. I smile wryly at them, like one does at an old friend who still owes you money.

Funny thing is, black coffee doesn’t promise happiness—it promises awakening. Life, too, doesn’t owe us joy every morning. But it does nudge us awake, shaking us out of our illusions, reminding us to keep sipping, keep living, keep discovering our own aftertaste.

And as I take the last sip, I realize—life, like this coffee, is an acquired taste. Some never grow into it, some dilute it endlessly, and a few, a mad few, fall in love with its raw essence. I suppose I am learning to be one of them.

                                                

The Innocent Illusion

 

In  a quaint town of Milan, there lived a girl named Nikita who was raised by her loving grandparents. She was sheltered with their warmth and affection, infusing in her a belief that the world  was a place of inherent goodness. From her earliest memories, Nikita perceived kindness in every smile, honesty in every word, and sincerity in every action.

Nikita’s innocent soul was nurtured under the gentle guidance of her grandparents who shielded  her from the harsh realities of life that lurked outside their cozy abode. Nikita was taught to see the best in everyone, to forgive easily, and to trust implicitly. In short, she grew up in a bubble of blissful ignorance, cocooned from the cruelty of the world.

As Nikita blossomed into a young woman, she nurtured within her the unwavering belief that goodness prevailed. Soon, she embarked on her journey of matrimony with the undying conviction that it was just an extension of her “kind, honest, and sincere” world!

But life, as often it is, is the most unpredictable. It always has its own plans. 

With each passing day, she realized that this part of the world was completely different from the one she always believed in. Nevertheless, her undaunting belief in “omnipresence of goodness” always overruled her insecurities. She kept on believing that anything and anyone can be changed by being good no matter what. She thought it might take some time but eventually one day they would realize the beauty of spreading goodness all around. But, she was grossly mistaken.

As the years flew by, Nikita encountered moments of disillusionment that completely shattered her innocent illusions. She witnessed cruelty, betrayal, and deception that slowly chipped away the very foundation of her unstaggering belief in the inherent goodness of the world.  Her mind and her heart were constantly at war with each other. One told her that it was futile to invest time and energy on people who never deserved it, while the other told her to be patient. Being a die-hard optimistic she always chose the latter, convincing herself that these were mere anomalies and aberrations in an otherwise benevolent humanity. She desperately clung to hope.

Years trudged by, Nikita now in her late forties painfully came to realize that the world was not the utopia she always believed it to be. Her veil of innocence was completely withered. It was staggering toward its painful death. Despite her relentless pursuit of goodness and best intentions, she felt trapped in a dungeon of manipulation and deceit. She realized that she spent a lifetime pleasing people who were unworthy of kindness. She felt burdened with the weight of her naivety. 

Her world of illusion was crumbling in the face of harsh reality. She mourned the death of her dreams that she held so dear, and her undaunting belief that goodness always triumphs in the end. Lost and broken, she found herself amidst the wreckage of her shattered innocent illusions.

With a heavy heart and trembling hands, Nikita set out to reclaim her life. The road ahead was fraught and uncertain. But, she knew she could no longer cling to the “illusion of innocence”

Her journey in this life had been long and arduous. She decided to walk away from it with her head held high tempered with fires of experience.