Stepping into Pachmarhi with my students felt like walking back into my own past—but this time, on my first field trip as a teacher, tracing the same path I hiked 16 years ago as a student. We hiked trails, climbed toward caves once rumoured to shelter bears, and peered at ancient rock art. For them, it was a first taste of freedom, and for me, it was a circle completed.
Coffee is probably humanity’s favourite drink. As a storytelling ape species, we, the humans, often attach stories to our beloved, and coffee is not an exception. Although coffee is not India’s ‘cup-of-tea’, it has a very fascinating history of its arrival in India, which I came to know while visiting a tiny hamlet in southern India.
Two years ago, my career focus shifted from research to teaching with a course lying in the periphery of my expertise. The challenges were formidable, but the semester bestowed upon me a new identity.
A single arrival date? Think again. Archival records now reveal a Latin American weed entered India three distinct times via three different routes, slipping unnoticed through history to become the relentless force it is today.