Cafe Coffee Day

The Metro station at Inderlok is always moving. We are at G 4, right where people are switching lines or heading home. It’s mostly a blur of faces. Some people stop for a coffee because they have ten minutes to kill before their train. Others sit here for an hour with a laptop because they need the space. We make a lot of lattes. The steam wand on the machine makes a constant hissing noise that we don’t even hear anymore. It’s small here. We spend a lot of time wiping tables and making sure the sugar sachets are filled up. Sometimes someone spills a drink and we have to jump out with a cloth before it reaches someone’s bag. It gets really loud when the trains pull in above us, but you get used to the vibration. We aren't trying to be anything special, just a place to sit for a bit. The muffins come in the morning and we set them out in the case. By evening, they’re usually gone. We see the same security guards every day. They say hello and sometimes we give them a cup of water. It’s just a steady rhythm of grinding beans and calling out names. The shift ends, we lock the gate, and go home ourselves on the same trains everyone else takes. That is the daily life for us at Cafe Coffee Day.