Birthday girl Sylvia
I was at Candies earlier this evening for a meeting. Sylvia took our order and then offered us some toffees from a bag much to my surprise. Turned out that it’s her birthday today.
Sylvia, if you didn’t know, is the livewire of Candies and regulars at Candies make a beeline for her because they know Sylvia always makes things happen. Some of her fans lovingly call her Sylvie and she knows them by all by name too.
She calls me Kalyani Sir and bellows this out when my order is ready in the mornings as she knows I hate it if my toast is cold or if my cappuccino is flat. She even knows the extent to which I like my toast crisped and that I don’t like bread brown and that I look sad if there are no chips with my sandwiches and hence keeps a stash for me and, on mornings when I look too groggy, she asks me, ‘what happened sir, why aren’t you smiling? Are you missing ma’am?’. Then she will make sure that I get my petite fours with my cappuccino and specifically the sugar cakes.
It’s thanks to her that everyone at Candies calls me Kalyani sir or Mr Kalyani! I’ve not had the heart to correct them.
If the keyboard of my laptop sang every morning while I typed out the manuscript of my book at Candies and later my blog too, then be assured that Sylvia played a big role in making it happen.
So do join me in wishing Sylvia a very happy birthday while I thank her for the many happy returns I’ve made to Candies.
Sylvia in the acknowledgment section of my book, The Travelling Belly
