Cafe Coffee Day, Bangalore

We’ve been here at Plot 2048 in Kodihaly for a while now. Most mornings start with just getting the doors open and wiping down the tables before the first few people walk in. It’s right there on 14th Main in the 6th Block, so we see a lot of folks from the H.A.L. 3rd Stage area passing through. Usually, the first thing we do is check the machines and make sure the milk is fresh. Bangalore weather can be a bit unpredictable, but inside here, it stays pretty much the same. Some days are packed with people on laptops, and other times it's just quiet with the sound of the grinder going. We don't really do anything fancy, just keep the place running and make sure there’s enough sugar and spoons on the counter. The staff here mostly knows the regulars by now, like that one guy who always wants his drink extra hot. It’s a job like any other, really. We spend a lot of time just keeping the floor clean because people bring in a lot of dust from the road. Vijaykumar handles a lot of the back-end stuff while we manage the floor. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to wait a minute for the backup to kick in, but that’s just how it is in this part of town. We’re just a spot where you can sit for twenty minutes or two hours if you need to. It's not perfect, but it works.