Representing a small world of its
own, this has been our first cup of coffee-place for at least half the year. Here
we find a transvestite, sitting on one of the sofas in one of the corners of the
room. Across from this person sits an elderly lady on another set of sofas. Without exchanging a word, these people
sit there each day, for hours at a time.
The transvestite person—or so we
heard one day—completely covers her/his head with a oversized hat. S/he wears a loose leather
jacket and a scarf wraps around the neck. S/he is there when we enter the room each
day and stays there when we leave. Sometimes s/he moves one or two locations
within the room and makes two or three trips to move her/his two or three hand
bags.
“A man becoming a woman?" "Yeah, a
man can become a woman, ney…” a wired elderly
man blurted one day that grabbed our attention to the transvestite. We watched the
weird man pursuing the transvestite from the distance. The man thought he was pursuing
a lady, we guessed.
The elderly man had his own characters. We never saw him purchasing
anything from the restaurant. He was tall and queer-looking! He walked around with a cellphone on his hand. His large jacket unzipped, and his hands
spread wide. He reminded us of a hawk going after his prey. Fortunately, he
left after a short quarrel between him and the transvestite.
There is also a mentally-ill
person. This poor guy doesn’t know how odd it is for someone to watch
him rolling up his sleeves just to drink a cup of coffee/tea. He sometimes
smiles and talks to himself. Other times looks outside through the glass-windows
and walks around the room. We don’t know
who he is or what his past was, but to see a young person going through this
ritual makes my husband and I very sad!
There are also other people in
this room, whom we meet and greet some days. Some of them are young, and others
are elderlies. Some come here with their coffee-craze and others for
breakfast. There are also a few ‘lovers’
who come to take their chances to sleep on each-other’s arms or laps!
Our coffee world makes us feel lucky and at the same time very vulnerable to mental disorders!
