Lost In Transit

Picture on a box of Qahwah (its a kind of arabic coffee,thick,strong flavour,aromatic and absolutely delicious)

When i was younger, certain supermarkets would distribute free Qahwah during certain days of the week in tiny paper cups. The size of Qahwah cups are small, they have no handles, and they look like mini bowls. We have a Qahwah cup set somewhere at home.

Its usually had without milk. I like mine with a lot of sugar, or with dates. The taste takes some getting used to because of the consistency and the bitterness. Its also popularly known as Turkish coffee.

I'm a huge fan of coffee, in any way shape or form. My coffee kick started when i was a kid, in the form of a candy called Kopiko, which tasted exactly like strong sweet coffee., andI used to eat it in place of chocolate(which i dont really enjoy all that much).

When i started college, i officially started having coffee by mixing a heaped spoonful into my milk. And i sweetened it with condensed milk.Not very healthy,i know.But it tastes soo good!! And I went from one mug, to two, and eventually my daily coffee intake became 5 mugs!(or was it more?) And each mug was around 300ml of milk! You do the math.

Coffee kills your appetite, and i had pretty much stopped eating. Not that i did it to lose weight or anything. Condensed milk isn't exactly fat free. Mom was really worried cause when she refused to buy me any more coffee I'd just go out and have some.

Then, during one of my 'vacations' to ksa, mom got rid of all the coffee in the house, and i couldn't go out to buy any by myself.

That was a really difficult time for me. I went through withdrawal symptoms., and i was cranky and depressed and frazzled all the time.I mean imagine going from 5 mugs a day, to none!

Whenever i'd pass by a vendor or a coffee place I'd make a sad face and look longingly at my mother. But she was pretty strict about it. And i slowly started regaining my appetite. She finally let me off the hook after about 4-5 months.

So that was it. Now, although i still drink the stuff, I've learnt to control my intake to 2 mugs a day.I've even had to cut down the sugar from 2 heaped teaspoonfuls to one level teaspoon per mug. Diabetes runs on both sides of the family so i gotta be careful.

The only sad thing is during exam time, i have friends who rely on the stuff to help keep them awake, but coffee relaxes me and ends up making me feel woozy. I'm actually immune to caffeine now.