All work and no coffee break,
Dull software engineers you'll make!
So move out from the office interior,
And head for the cafeteria!

So, what will it be? Coffee or Tea?
Anything's fine, to break the monotony!

Coffee breaks conjure images of government offices where anytime is tea/coffee time. This 55-year year old, man-made, 'time pass' tradition continues even till today. On second thoughts, make that 'time waste tradition'.

At Software companies, however, coffee/tea breaks is a natural phenomena. We'd go a step further and term it 'futuristic'. Deadlines don't get jeopardized and as a matter of fact this break-in-the-routine exercise actually helps improve productivity, peps up moods and stimulates creative minds.

The Digital Cafeteria is abuzz with activity most times and especially during lunch hour. Hungry souls lining up at various food stations, plates in hand, picking their preferences from the menu of the day. Like a symphony at the Royal Albert Hall, various musical notes fill the Digital Cafeteria. Clinking of spoons on plates, crunching of cucumber slices between the molars, the odd steel tumbler getting knocked down, gentle banter, 'what shall we do this weekend' planning, or just plain 'small talk'.

This 'concert' lasts for about an hour or so and then suddenly, it's all over and there's silence and stillness all around. But for a few who linger on, perhaps to take in one more round of tea or coffee, most others are back at their work stations. Tummies reasonably satisfied, mind and mood refreshed and back to where they had left off.

But then, as an outsider you can't help feel the way William Wordsworth did, when the singing of 'The Solitary Reaper' had stopped

And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

Note: This story was written when the company was known as 'DIGITAL'.

Note: This story was written when the company was known as 'DIGITAL'.   DIGITAL - A Trusted Partner... Digital, Who? Mother Nature c/o Digital Park... Fingers on the Pulse... "One Point Contact Man"... Sonali Da Jawaab Nahin... B To B... City-Slickers, Move Over... The "Intro-Session"... "I Love Technology"... Love, Marriage and Giggles... Like a River Joining the Sea... Jocelyne the 'Bandit' Queen Technology First! Birds and the Bees Later... Shaping the Future... I'm a Bangalore Boy... Appendicitis and After... Power Point... Euphoria in the Cafeteria...

The Man with the Signature Smile... Meet Som Mittal CEO Digital GlobalSoft Limited