Summary

A coffee vending machine attendant's story reveals insights into human potential and the value of continuous learning and self-improvement.

Abstract

The narrative centers on an encounter with a coffee vending machine attendant in a hospital, who, despite his humble position, was once a master cook. The attendant, engrossed in a YouTube video, is unaware of the vast ocean of knowledge and skills he could still explore, reflecting a broader human tendency to settle for the surface of our capabilities. The author, initially judgmental, empathizes with the man's situation, realizing that everyone, regardless of their current state, has the potential for growth. The attendant's lack of awareness about Premchand, a renowned Hindi author, and his inability to read Hindi or speak English, underscores the importance of lifelong learning and the limitations imposed by a lack of education. The author reflects on the wisdom of his mother, who might have advised him to focus on his own actions and responsibilities rather than judging others.

Opinions

The author initially judges the coffee vendor harshly for his apparent lack of ambition but later softens, considering the possibility that the vendor might be engaged in educational content.
The author questions the attendant's demotion from a master cook to a coffee vendor and ponders the hierarchy of demotion during a pandemic.
The attendant's belief that he has learned everything necessary, despite his limited skills, reflects a narrow perspective on personal growth and the potential for learning new things.
The author suggests that the attendant could use his downtime to learn new skills, such as painting, singing, or reading literature, indicating a belief in the value of diverse knowledge and cultural literacy.
The author recognizes the attendant's limitations in language and literacy as significant barriers to personal and professional development.
The author reflects on the broader human tendency to become complacent and arrogant as we improve relative to those around us, suggesting that we often fail to tap into our full mental and physical potential.
The author imagines his mother's advice to focus on one's own actions and responsibilities, emphasizing the importance of humility and service over judgment and self-righteousness.

The Coffee Vending Machine Guy’s Story

“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” ― Isaac Newton

Just outside this hospital, there’s a coffee vending machine with a guy who sells you the coffee. He was intently watching a show on YouTube. I interrupted him to ask if he had any sugarless coffee. I had to shout at him to make him look up.

I was intrigued. I mean — it is a vending machine. Fill it up, and it runs itself. The guy who hangs around to make sure people pay for their coffee isn’t likely to need a lot of skills. I found myself judging him harshly for being so absorbed in a YouTube video. Then I softened. Maybe it was a learning video, and not an entertainment show.

The cook who got demoted to vending coffee

He was surprised when I spoke in Hindi, because this was a Tamil language town. He opened up and shared his woes. He said that he was a master cook but got demoted to the coffee machine when he went home for the lockdown.

I was thinking, maybe master cooks don’t get demoted like that? Maybe you have to peel potatoes or something? Are there levels in demotion when you have an extended holiday in the middle of a pandemic?

I watched him pour the coffee into my thermos, and I suggested that since he spent a lot of time waiting for customers, he could spend some time learning a new skill on YouTube.

I have learnt everything, he said. I can cook Thai food. I can drive. What more is there to learn now?

I let that thought of his sink in. “If you can cook Thai food and you know how drive you needn’t learn how to do anything else.”

Only thing is, he was serious. I suggested he learn how to paint, or sing, or dance. Maybe even read literature by Premchand, a famous Hindi author.

The chap had never heard of Premchand even though he was a Hindi native.

Then he said he didn’t know the Hindi script. He could read the English alphabet but not the Hindi script. He couldn’t speak in English and he couldn’t read in Hindi.

I took my coffee and escaped.

Burn, earn, learn. Burn the midnight oil, learn something new, earn more respect and money.

At some level, everyone barely scratches the surface of mental and physical capacity, and the better we get in relation to people around us, the more arrogant we are likely to be, I suppose.

If my mother had been around, she would have told me not to judge him, and instead learn more and do more for people around me. I guess she would have said that. I don’t know, though, what she would have said.

Maybe she would have told me to pour the coffee and “see to the next job.” That’s more like her. That’s what she would have said —

See to the next job.