Of Tea Cups and Coffee Mugs, and beyond...

“Wow! So many cups!” was her first reaction when she opened the cup cabinet.

I smiled. “I had got so bored with the same cups Madam has…” she continued.

She was a visiting maid, having accompanied my friend that day, and was now helping me serve tea.

I smiled again.

That was probably the first time I thought why I loved buying cups and mugs and kettles…did they remind me of my Kitchen Playset and pretend tea parties we had when we were kids, or did they quietly comfort my ‘scared of change and yet, get bored easily’ streak? I think it is partly both, but more that streak related to change.

Everyone gets bored, and yet change is sometimes not possible (you cannot change your family, your relatives, your boss,  e.g.) or  advisable (changing your spouse or having an extra marital affair just to add some excitement in your life….would be on the verge of stupidity actually!), or  is unaffordable (your home, your country, or even your job…), or even scary (any of the above could be scary, depending upon individual circumstances!).

It is then that these little cups in bone-china, porcelain,ceramic, stone, steel and baked mud come to my rescue…they add an excitement to life without all the side effects of change! A new cup, or even the cup that has not been used for a long time and hence feels new- both have the same capabilities of adding colour, romance, and life to something as mundane and humdrum as teatime. Probably, it is the same reason why we want to eat out, or sometimes just go out for a cup of coffee or a plate of chaat…it helps break the monotony and routine of something as simple and essential as eating and drinking.

For long, I have kept the special crockery for special occasions; and frankly, for practical reasons (it is expensive, and I cannot afford it being chipped, lost, scratched upon during the course of daily wear and tear); some of it, I still do. And yet, the other day when I decided to have coffee in one of those special bone-china mugs mom had gifted me, it was an amazing feeling to see the froth rise.  As I took my sips, I felt on another plane, that familiar and yet untraceable rush of mushiness enveloping me all over again…

I realised then, that every single piece of crockery serves a purpose besides serving food or drinks…it helps me live an ordinary and everyday  experience like an extraordinary one. It  can make me feel special (say, when it is a delicate white, embossed floral bone-china or fine porcelain),  nostalgic (an older piece flooding me with memories of how and when and why it was bought- like those regular brown ones I had bought only because they reminded me of my holidays at my aunt’s place!), excited (a new piece with its new feel), bored (when it is the same blue stone cup!),  enthralled (the one with the Japanese birds drawn on them…) or even romantic (the bone-china coffee mug with the froth dripping over the rim and smelling so divine)- just by being what it is!

I think I just enjoy the easy change I get by just choosing a different cup for my tea, whenever I want.