The Breakfast Menu - Episode 1

Hello and welcome to the breakfast menu.

Today on the menu we have:

- Why on earth have I started a podcast? AKA an introduction

- The Lukewarm Cuppa

The introduction:

We’ve all heard the famous quote “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” I’ve been meaning to start a podcast series for what seems like eternity. Often when I want to do something new, I begin by obsessively planning for EVERY SINGLE DETAIL first. What usually happens is that the planning process then, becomes so time-consuming and complicated that I often end up foregoing the whole idea. Well, this time, for once in my life, I decided to take the advice of “just starting” to heart and simply begin: whether it turns out to be a mistake or a wonderful leap of fate, only time will tell. But for now, I am very happy and very excited that I have embarked on this new journey. During these podcasts I will be reading a series of essays on art and culture, written by myself, hoping that you’d find these subjects as interesting as I do. They will be short and sweet, something to have as a side dish, on your breakfast menu.

On that note, let’s begin:

Five O’clock Tea by Mary Cassatt

Episode 1:

The Lukewarm Cuppa[1]

If you come from an Iranian background, or any Middle Eastern country for that matter, a piping hot cup of tea is and will forever be your number one addiction. You drink it in the morning, you drink it when you are hungry, you drink it when you have a headache and you drink it when you are having the time of your life with friends and family. In a sense, it’s a focal point of your everyday life.

My relationship with this divine beverage became even stronger when I moved to London, England and lived there for 5 years. The guys up there sure know how to appreciate a good cuppa, day in, day out.

So, when I returned back home and started my very first corporate job, the number one thing that got me through the day was the promise of a glorious hot cup of tea, landing on my desk, every morning upon my arrival to the office.

The cup in question, is actually a huge mug, in my favorite shade of blue - dark turquoise - and has a dainty little handle on the side and it is of course, from IKEA (“Eee-KEH-Yah,” to go with the correct Swedish pronunciation that is)! Oh don’t we all just love that store!

The canteen guy brings my tea up to the 2nd floor, where I work, and places it gently on a huge coaster on my desk as if it is the most precious thing in the entire world.

The cup reaches me at boiling temperature! So it’s impossible to drink it right away and therefore, when it arrives, I am usually in the process of getting everything ready for the day ahead. I unlock my drawer and lay all my vitamin pills, my laptop, my daily planner and all the leftover work and papers from the previous day on my desk. I turn my laptop on, and check to make sure I’m connected to Skype and my status is set to available, and then I check my emails.

After doing a brief read-through of all my emails, I leave my desk to water the few small plants I keep at the office: can’t live without some greenery around me!

Then I sit back down and start answering to all those emails that I have received since the day before (the Company I work for, has branches all over the world and we all work at different time zones so it’s normal to receive a lot of emails, after working hours) and then, mid typing at the speed of light, I look to my right side and realize that I have completely forgotten about my precious cup of tea!

I hold my lukewarm cup of tea in my hands, look ever so dotingly at it and feel a wave of sorrow shadowing over me, for I have missed the opportunity to sip and enjoy it at that perfect temperature; you know that exact moment where the tea is ever so pleasingly hot and so reassuring, but not so hot that it will burn your tongue and all your internal organs on its way down to your tummy!

At this point it’s too embarrassing to call the canteen and ask for a replacement, so I just sit back and start drinking my lukewarm tea and, as I reach for a date, biscuit or a sugar cube to have with the drink, the unsatisfactory temperature of the beverage sparks the rise of all kinds of negativity in my head. I find myself asking the same question over and over again: what is an art enthusiast like me doing with a corporate job?

It takes me a while to put all these questions to rest.

I count all the friends that I have made because of this job, how it has helped me to better the flaws of my personality, the satisfaction I get after completing each and every project, the fact that the few chances of leading the team that I get, sits very well with my Leo[2] characteristics, the available opportunity for growth and last but definitely not least, the financial security that comes with the job and allows me to freely do all my little art projects on the side. It sounds like something your Middle-Eastern parents would tell you, but it is kind of true, believe it or not!

Eventually when I get to this point, I have consumed my tea in full, and with the misery of drinking a cold tea being over, I feel my peace of mind restoring to its normal levels!

As I place my lovely blue cup back on the table and slide my fingers back on the keyboard, a hint of a smile comes back to my face. I look around and I see a narrow ray of light coming through the window in the conference room, which is right across from where I sit. I take it as a positive sign and start typing away with the smile on my face now stretched from ear to ear.

And thus begins another working day for me, at the office.

*

That’s all for today’s program I’m afraid. Catch you on the next serving of “The breakfast menu” – until then, take care and Nooshe Jawn[3].

1. [1] A cup of tea – British Slang [2] My zodiac birth sign: Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac. These folks are impossible to miss, since they love being center stage! (Sounds familiar?) [3] Persian for: Enjoy your meal – a phrase commonly used in Iran by the party host at the end of the meal.