When the team was at bay, coffee saved the day -By Subham Paul from VGSoM IIT Kharagpur

4 mins read

One day, I saw ten budding managers sitting around a table finishing ten cups of coffee with no eye-contact with each other. It was not the merciless rain outside that kept them waiting. The storm ravaging in everybody’s mind was strong enough to break a team that won countless hearts last year. But, at the end, when the team was at bay, coffee saved the day. 

Café Coffee Day is our second home

Inside the gigantic campus of IIT Kharagpur, Café Coffee Day is the second home for most of students and staff members. Be it young couples trying to solder delicate faults, old professors relaxing over a chat and observing the ignorant young couples, coffee is the ultimate way to deal with life. 

Clubs and committees are important parts of B-Schools just like what cream and sugar are to coffee. At the Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, students feel proud to be a part of their respective clubs and committees, just like in any other B-School. One of the most noteworthy aspects of the culture is to teach students to work as a team and get things done in time. That’s where the bullet hit us that day. After completing a range of difficult tasks, our team of ten was on the verge of breaking point. Just like those ten cups, we felt a sense of emptiness. 

“Let’s get some more coffee,” suggested one bright soul. 

“Aha! That could possibly work,” thought a couple of other souls. 

“At least it’s better to have another cup before getting away from this pointless meet,” pondered some others. 

“I’ll have a cold coffee,” the remaining four said in unison, followed by an awkward silence. 

“Dark Frappe!”

Utterly awkward silence!

When coffee saved the day 

Our team had a reputation of reflecting a sense of unity. Difficult deliverables were always pouring in and we were able to complete them. Moreover, we also managed ourselves as well as our resources. Each one of us was different. Yet a handful of things kept us together, such as the love for our team and a cup of coffee. Disputes and ego-clashes were hard to handle. But this time, the cut was deep. Sparked by a sudden sense of workload, a couple of members vouched to leave the team. While that was an immature move on certain levels. This mindset caused chasms between all. As a result, the number grew to four and eventually to six. Well, that needed some serious damage control, and we reached our second home to slack off.  

When things were falling apart 

Our team didn’t work for two weeks. Now handling logistics, strategy, finance and marketing problems was a huge problem. However, it was coffee that came to our rescue. I took a sip of my Dark Frappe, asking the opinions of others. The ones refused to leave shook their heads, while the rest took bigger gulps. Just then, three members from another committee entered the café and were surprised to see us. They walked up to us, who were apparently relaxing and bonding over coffee!

Readers who liked the movie Chak De! India can relate to this now. Being an advocate of preventing the fallout, I instantly whispered to my neighboring teammate who belonged to the same school of thought. We began a conversation with our guests regarding an old dispute between the two committees. What followed was the expected string of baseless accusations. 

Well, it has been three months now, the ten of us are still fighting about planning our future. We have never felt so united as we are now. Thanks to those three guests who played angels when we desperately needed some change. As a ritual, our team routinely laughs over the epic humiliation that the three poor souls received from all ten of us. 

True enough, when we failed to find a way out, coffee indeed saved our day!

This article was submitted as a part of Become an Author conducted by Dare2Compete.