The cafe at a corner in Patan was clean and spotlessly shiny. And though it was not very expensive, it served fancy lattes and doppios just as well as any of the expensive cafes in Jhamsikhel. It was her favourite place to go - the kind of place where well dressed students from expensive private schools lounged and discussed outdated English literature. The kind of place where her ripped jeans would be seen as fashionable and not as a sign of deterioration. The kind of place where you could feel fancy even if you didn't have enough money for the really fancy restaurants.
She hurried towards it. And just as she had suspected, the cafe had a notice - cafe will be closed from tomorrow. She sat down with a sigh in one of its light bamboo stools outside, and looked away pensively.
"Sad that you won't be getting your daily fix?" a voice chirped up nearby, startling her. She looked up to see a sharp young man eagerly looking at her from another chair nearby. The way he sat on two chairs and leaned across a third clearly showed that he was familiar with the space. His expression of curiosity, with a nose that actually seemed to be sniffing out her frustration, put her on the edge.
"Some people have other things to worry about than a cup of cappuccino!" she snapped, and was surprised at her own sharpness.
"Oh!" he smiled easily, blinking rapidly and falling back into his chair. "You are more worried about corona than coffee?"
The waitress had come out to take her order. "Please enjoy our last cup today ma'am, we are closing down due to corona tomorrow," said the pleasant mannered young lady.
"Thank you, one latte please," she said to the waitress. "And what are you going to do after the cafe closes?"
The waitress let her fake smile go as she eased into her real feeling of distress. "I don't know, maybe go back home to Ramechhap, But then, what will I do there?" she sighed as she went to the kitchen.
"See, that's what I am worried about," she mumbled, almost to herself, but she knew the young man was listening. "What are daily wage earners going to do? How are they going to live while corona lasts? Everyone will go on quarantine and offices will be closed. But people like them will suffer. They have no security."
"But you cannot expect this cafe to give them security, keep them employed when there are no customers," the young man replied, looking up at the cafe with a pensive frown. Across the glass window, his eyes met the cashier's, and both briefly nodded at each other. "He is a nice guy, and he doesn't want to do this."
"Maybe you are friends with the cafe owner here. But the fact that he is a nice guy doesn't mean that he doesn't have an advantage here," she fumed, as she finally took a good look at the young man. His jeans were not ripped, and he was not smoking, though it was the outdoor smoking zone. Clean shaved, he could be a cut above the average college student who visited the space, since he seemed to know everyone at the cafe. "All fine for capitalists to hide behind the nice guy frame. It's not them who are losing anything. They have all the rice, dal, soap, and sanitizers they need. They can just stay home an ride out the storm."
"Is it his fault that he has the resources to be safe?" asked the young man, turning back at her with a concentrated frown. "Is it his fault that he was born with money? In fact it is a credit to him that he had the brains to multiply what he got."
"No, but is it his staff's s fault if they don't have the same resources?" she asked, as the waitress came over with the coffee. Perhaps aware that she was being referenced, she slightly stumbled, spilling the coffee. The young man swiftly got up and steadied her. The two shared a conspiratorial look as he took the coffee cup from her brought it over. "Hire the neediest, make them work unearthly hours for lowest wages, and fire them as soon as a crisis arises. Strip a worker off of all humanity and reduce them to lowest wage, that's all capitalists are good for."
"Apologies," he said, and she didn't know if it was for the spilled coffee or for his statement. "But this young lady here has a lot to gain from this employment. She would otherwise be back home in Ramechhap, dependent on her family for money, or married off."
"Just because our previous system was faulty doesn't mean that capitalism is the answer," she said spiritedly as she sipped her coffee. "There could have been ways to educate and empower women without them going through the capitalistic mill."
"Good luck with that!" he said sarcastically. "But until then, what's wrong with the capitalistic mill anyway? Why shouldn't a man earn his profit when he can?" now he seemed to be speaking almost to himself as he studied his nails deeply. "Wouldn't you do the same if you could?" he mumbled.
"Because it's not fair!" she almost screamed, or cried, or both, and the boy looked up, surprised at her ernestness. "The resources of the earth belong equally to all humankind. How can a capitalist lay claim to something and make millions of profits from it and make others suffer for it?" she had stared rambling and stuttering now, and struggled to put her sentences together. it was obvious that she had had his argument many times, and routinely broke down in exasperation at this point . "In fact, not just to human, but to all animals and living beings and plants and insects too, in equal portion. Look at how nature is lashing out because humans have taken too much!"
The boy, who had been staring at her fixedly with his eyes growing rounder every minute, suddenly burst into an absurd, full throated laughter, and bent over double. The girl watched him with shimmering eyes until he too had tears of laughter in his eyes.
"Ok, so, because theoretically the earth and its resources belong to everyone, a human should give up opportunities and take only his share? And who determines what his share is?" he asked in mock seriousness.
"No, no one does." Now she was speaking as if she was explaining to a 5-year old. "But then, you can be minimalistic, take only what you need....".
"But for your kind information, while I sit away in my minimalism and let my talents rot, another person is going to come and grab the opportunity and make profits anyway. It's not going to make difference to the earth and its resources what you do," now he too was speaking to a 5-year old, in slow and deliberate phrases, looking her deeply in the eye.
"Maybe for the first time we agree. You cannot really solve capitalism, because we are already so deep into it that there is no way we can set up an independant system," she trailed off, not knowing how to end this.
As she stared far into the horizon, she was conscious of his piercing gaze, that would look away the moment she tried to meet it.
Maybe if she had met him at another setting, she might have introduced herself with a confident handshake and asked for his email. Or if not, at least his name, so that she cloud stalk him on social media before deciding if she wanted to talk to him more.
But no, they had argued too much already.
As she got up to leave, she wondered if she saw the same twinge of regret in his eyes as he smiled and waved at her. She thoughtfully picked up her bag - containing her thesis on the impact of world market's ebb and flow on Nepal's domestic economy - walked around the corner to where she had parked her car, and drove off to the university for another round of editing.
The young man went inside the cafe - picked up his bag - he had just been told to stay home until he as needed, and walked to the bus park where he boarded a bus to Ramechhap.
**
Spoilers ahead
Do not read if you want to experience the story with your own perception
The characters present many facets - and all of them are true depending on where you stand in the spectrum. Feel free to choose, or make up your own interpretation
OrShe hurried towards it. And just as she had suspected, the cafe had a notice - cafe will be closed from tomorrow. She sat down with a sigh in one of its light bamboo stools outside, and looked away pensively.
"Sad that you won't be getting your daily fix?" a voice chirped up nearby, startling her. She looked up to see a sharp young man eagerly looking at her from another chair nearby. The way he sat on two chairs and leaned across a third clearly showed that he was familiar with the space. His expression of curiosity, with a nose that actually seemed to be sniffing out her frustration, put her on the edge.
"Some people have other things to worry about than a cup of cappuccino!" she snapped, and was surprised at her own sharpness.
"Oh!" he smiled easily, blinking rapidly and falling back into his chair. "You are more worried about corona than coffee?"
The waitress had come out to take her order. "Please enjoy our last cup today ma'am, we are closing down due to corona tomorrow," said the pleasant mannered young lady.
"Thank you, one latte please," she said to the waitress. "And what are you going to do after the cafe closes?"
The waitress let her fake smile go as she eased into her real feeling of distress. "I don't know, maybe go back home to Ramechhap, But then, what will I do there?" she sighed as she went to the kitchen.
"See, that's what I am worried about," she mumbled, almost to herself, but she knew the young man was listening. "What are daily wage earners going to do? How are they going to live while corona lasts? Everyone will go on quarantine and offices will be closed. But people like them will suffer. They have no security."
"But you cannot expect this cafe to give them security, keep them employed when there are no customers," the young man replied, looking up at the cafe with a pensive frown. Across the glass window, his eyes met the cashier's, and both briefly nodded at each other. "He is a nice guy, and he doesn't want to do this."
"Maybe you are friends with the cafe owner here. But the fact that he is a nice guy doesn't mean that he doesn't have an advantage here," she fumed, as she finally took a good look at the young man. His jeans were not ripped, and he was not smoking, though it was the outdoor smoking zone. Clean shaved, he could be a cut above the average college student who visited the space, since he seemed to know everyone at the cafe. "All fine for capitalists to hide behind the nice guy frame. It's not them who are losing anything. They have all the rice, dal, soap, and sanitizers they need. They can just stay home an ride out the storm."
"Is it his fault that he has the resources to be safe?" asked the young man, turning back at her with a concentrated frown. "Is it his fault that he was born with money? In fact it is a credit to him that he had the brains to multiply what he got."
"No, but is it his staff's s fault if they don't have the same resources?" she asked, as the waitress came over with the coffee. Perhaps aware that she was being referenced, she slightly stumbled, spilling the coffee. The young man swiftly got up and steadied her. The two shared a conspiratorial look as he took the coffee cup from her brought it over. "Hire the neediest, make them work unearthly hours for lowest wages, and fire them as soon as a crisis arises. Strip a worker off of all humanity and reduce them to lowest wage, that's all capitalists are good for."
"Apologies," he said, and she didn't know if it was for the spilled coffee or for his statement. "But this young lady here has a lot to gain from this employment. She would otherwise be back home in Ramechhap, dependent on her family for money, or married off."
"Just because our previous system was faulty doesn't mean that capitalism is the answer," she said spiritedly as she sipped her coffee. "There could have been ways to educate and empower women without them going through the capitalistic mill."
"Good luck with that!" he said sarcastically. "But until then, what's wrong with the capitalistic mill anyway? Why shouldn't a man earn his profit when he can?" now he seemed to be speaking almost to himself as he studied his nails deeply. "Wouldn't you do the same if you could?" he mumbled.
"Because it's not fair!" she almost screamed, or cried, or both, and the boy looked up, surprised at her ernestness. "The resources of the earth belong equally to all humankind. How can a capitalist lay claim to something and make millions of profits from it and make others suffer for it?" she had stared rambling and stuttering now, and struggled to put her sentences together. it was obvious that she had had his argument many times, and routinely broke down in exasperation at this point . "In fact, not just to human, but to all animals and living beings and plants and insects too, in equal portion. Look at how nature is lashing out because humans have taken too much!"
The boy, who had been staring at her fixedly with his eyes growing rounder every minute, suddenly burst into an absurd, full throated laughter, and bent over double. The girl watched him with shimmering eyes until he too had tears of laughter in his eyes.
"Ok, so, because theoretically the earth and its resources belong to everyone, a human should give up opportunities and take only his share? And who determines what his share is?" he asked in mock seriousness.
"No, no one does." Now she was speaking as if she was explaining to a 5-year old. "But then, you can be minimalistic, take only what you need....".
"But for your kind information, while I sit away in my minimalism and let my talents rot, another person is going to come and grab the opportunity and make profits anyway. It's not going to make difference to the earth and its resources what you do," now he too was speaking to a 5-year old, in slow and deliberate phrases, looking her deeply in the eye.
"Maybe for the first time we agree. You cannot really solve capitalism, because we are already so deep into it that there is no way we can set up an independant system," she trailed off, not knowing how to end this.
As she stared far into the horizon, she was conscious of his piercing gaze, that would look away the moment she tried to meet it.
Maybe if she had met him at another setting, she might have introduced herself with a confident handshake and asked for his email. Or if not, at least his name, so that she cloud stalk him on social media before deciding if she wanted to talk to him more.
But no, they had argued too much already.
As she got up to leave, she wondered if she saw the same twinge of regret in his eyes as he smiled and waved at her. She thoughtfully picked up her bag - containing her thesis on the impact of world market's ebb and flow on Nepal's domestic economy - walked around the corner to where she had parked her car, and drove off to the university for another round of editing.
The young man went inside the cafe - picked up his bag - he had just been told to stay home until he as needed, and walked to the bus park where he boarded a bus to Ramechhap.
**
Spoilers ahead
Do not read if you want to experience the story with your own perception
The characters present many facets - and all of them are true depending on where you stand in the spectrum. Feel free to choose, or make up your own interpretation
- In an increasingly uninformed world carried away by capitalism, the scholar offers the only hope.
- Scholars talk much and do not much.
- People under capitalism are always exploited, and are simmering with unspoken rage.
- There is not colonising without the explicit consent of the colonised. Capitalism would not succeed without the explicit and willing participation of its victims.
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