The Bay area coffee chapter + my car

Waking up early morning, taking my car and driving up to a coffee place... that has been one of the most pleasant things living in a bay area. My fav cafes have been (in order of preference) -

1. Philz at Loma Verde, Palo Alto.
2. Dana Street Roasting company, Mountain view.
3. Sufi cafe.
4. Peets at Castro.
5. Red rock cafe.
6. Starbucks

What i like about these cafes -
Obviously the coffees. But not that much. But good coffee opens up all the senses.

The diversity of people around me. There are book readers, song writers , ipad readers, people with small cute children with cheese/chocolate on their faces, random activities like board games, crossword solvers, etc etc

The music, oh yes the music.

Just the community aspect of a coffee shop. The locality that comes with it.  Those who say that people are not social anymore, those who say that social networks only exists in online world.... they should visit these coffee shops. While they may be true at an overall level, these coffee shops help preserve the humanity in all of us.

Discussions, arbit discussions, overhearing conversations, strangers ......

And most importantly the feel of it. It takes effort to create a feeling and these cafes do it in such a style that it just makes my day.


Today, i think this Bay area coffee chatper is coming to an end. I am going to move back to India (many posts will follow to explain the process). And also i am going to sell my car, my awesome toyota corolla Sports model, the silver colored think tank which was able to understand me and had enough sense to override my traffic sense and sensibilities. The car that took care of itself, that never complained, never cried even when i made a dent in it, the car that never made a sound when i scratched it, the car that ran even when its tire had a puncture and i couldnt see it, the car that took me to all those places, the car that gave me such music to listen, the car which carried all those big luggage bags, the car which never gave me a problem ever, the car that took me to redwood forest, weekend drives to Half Moon Bay, vegas, LA, and everywhere. A great car!  A personal car. My car.  It is today, Jan 26 ( on India's republic day), we say goodbye. 

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