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I was at my lowest yesterday. I couldn’t understand myself. I was so demotivated at work. I was lazy and I didn’t want do anything. I was analyzing what the problem is. My bosses are good and we have an amazing team in the department. The company is good. The people in the island treats me well. So whats wrong? Maybe I am just burned out or over worked. Maybe, I  need a break.

I thought of meeting a friend that I haven’t seen for a long time. Maybe he could give me a breathe of fresh air.

I invited him for dinner, told him I will meet him in a bookstore as he said, I could find novels there.

I got excited when he mentioned about the books. I thought, maybe I could find inspiration by seeing lots of books.

I arrived at the bookstore around 7:40pm and it was closed. The sign board says, they will open at 8pm. So I walked a bit and saw an ice cream shop and thought of buying and ice cream while waiting for the bookstore to open.

I saw the stairs but I couldn’t find the door. How could they have a stairs leading to a cemented corner and glass walls? I couldn’t find any door knobs or any push or pull sign board. So i thought, forget about the ice cream. I just stood at the bottom of the stairs. Waiting for signs of humanity from the ice cream shop.

An old lady passed by and spoke to me in Dhivehi, pointing at the ice cream board and as we both could not understand each other, she just smiled and left.

Finally, a group of youngsters came out of the ice cream shop. They came out through an automatic sliding glass door, hence there was no door knob or push or pull sign. Finding out about the door, didn’t make me want to eat ice cream anymore. I just stood there pretending I was waiting for someone, even though I feel nobody cares if I am pretending or not.

I went back to the bookstore at 8pm sharp and as they opened I ran to the 3rd floor where the books are. I was quite disappointed.  There was a whole bunch of text books and just two shelves for novels. Few English classics and a lot of Indian novels. Not my type.

My friend came and he was also disappointed when he saw that there were very few choices.

I saw one interesting book though, a Romance Novel written by a Maldivian. The book cover is so similar to Precious Hearts Romance Novels so I thought, let me give this a try then.

I paid for the book and we headed to  a cafe. We planned to eat in Cafe C but ended up going to Cafe N just beside it because the place looks quiet and interesting.

It has an open air garden like area and has a live cooking station. Not bad, we thought.

The waitress who attended us is a Filipina, so I asked in Tagalog if the Nasi Goreng is good. She said yes. Although I still doubt the taste, I ordered it and I just told her not to make it spicy.

The food was delivered about after 15 minutes and as soon as I saw the rice, I already knew it’s not going to be good. I looked at the Chef. I am 60% sure he is from Sri Lanka. Not that I have anything against Sri Lankans. It’s just that, if you have tasted an authentic Nasi Goreng, you will know the difference between one cooked by an Indonesian (or Malaysian) and by a Sri Lankan. The flavor is totally different.

Anyway, I tasted it as I was hungry and it was spicy. From that point I am sure that the Chef is 100% Sri Lankan.

I don’t like wasting food so I just kept on eating. Every spoon full of spicy rice is followed by cold water.  I haven’t eaten half of the dish but I already felt full because of the amount of water I had.

I wasn’t wearing my glasses while eating but then I saw some movements in one of the corner areas where a curb side is located. I thought maybe I was just imagining a rat. But then I saw it move. At that time I was 50% sure it was a rat. So I put my (super-powered-laser) glasses on and looked at that corner. I didn’t blink for several minutes. I dropped my spoon and fork and stopped eating. I kept on looking.

After a few minutes, I saw this creature running once more. And this time, I was 100% it is not only a rat but a big fat rat running around that Cafe.

We stood up, asked for the bill and runaway. I won’t ever come back to Cafe N, neither will i step foot on Cafe C. How do I know if they are sharing the same pets?

So enough for my search for inspiration yesterday.

Today I woke up with the conviction that I will find motivation within myself and not from a Cafe with a pet running around during dinner time.