The World of Coca-Cola

It is wonderful to get away from the monotony of life every now and then. If I had a choice I would do it every second month. But it's the getting back to the grind that gets the better of me. The chores that look at you banefully, and the realization that there is no getting away is a painful reality. My head is a knot of such thoughts today. And in between perfunctorily gliding over chores, I pull out a can of chilled coke to soothe my weary bones.

As I fling the can open with a twist of my fingers, along with the flow of the fizz, images of our recent trip to the 'World of Coca Cola' in Atlanta come gushing back. I hold the can up and scan the details on it like I was holding it for the first time. This visit to the beacon of world’s most popular beverage had me looking at it in new light. Coca-Cola has successfully become a part of our lives, there is no doubt about that. It lies alongside our Biriyanis, our pizzas, and our sandwiches like a matter of fact, selflessly going on doing its job – of satiating our thirst. But other drinks do that too, 'then why just Coca-Cola?', asks a girl in an advertisement flashing across the monitors to keep us occupied in the queues. To which a lanky young man responds as, 'I don't know, it's Coke. That's it. There’s nothing like it. There's no way I can describe it.' I concur. I don't know what it is about this drink that binds us across cultures and cuisines.

That's precisely the message that was splashed across the big screen on their state-of-the-art theatre. We were ushered to the theatre by a rather uninspired attendee who was supposed to have raised our curiosity about the brand with his fun questions. But what he did was the exact opposite - the hum of his words had the crowd pleading in whimper to let go. Once he did, we settled in the seats for a 6 minutes’ film which was going to set the mood for rest of the day. I must admit doubts around what could possibly be so interesting about a film on a soft drink had crossed my mind several times. To keep the toddler in agreeable temperament inside a packed theatre was another reason that wasn't letting me enjoy the anticipation.

Before it was too late, the big screen exploded into beautiful vignettes of some of life’s best moments. We found ourselves globe-trotting, sharing people’s magic moments around the world. One was on skydiving for the first time, another about breaking the news of a grandchild, grandma's surprise birthday party, crackers bursting in the faraway Diwali sky, colors of Holi rioting Indian streets, a man proposing in air inside a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, an US military man announcing his home-coming from warfront, and the list went on. A beautiful soundtrack in the background aptly reverberated the essence of these stories. The film successfully brought home the message that coke is happiness, coke is family and that, coke is universal. All this is great. But my heart had by now melted into a puddle of tears. And the lump in the throat had hardened. And I had lined my eyes with liner that day - making most of some extra time in hand. I found my eyes welling up to break into a river of tears to my horror. ‘Why are you doing this to me Coca-Cola?’, I wanted to ask. This 6-minute film left me gasping for air. It was unforgiving in the way it tossed up my heart and let it fall flat on the ground. It ended saying - 'Thank you for letting us be a part of your lives. Thank you for choosing Coca-Cola.' And that was it. Stupid unrelenting tears rolled down my cheeks and left me looking like a raccoon. 'Such an emotional idiot', I hissed at this poor show of self-control. Blowing my nose in full force and wiping my tears to save the last vestige of dignity, I awkwardly waded out of the theatre. But wait a minute, I noticed that it wasn't just me who had loved this movie as much hated it. I saw a glint of tear in almost every person in the room who were now pulling themselves together for the exit. Such is the power of films! And Coca-Cola has been making some of the bests.

The exit led us to a grand hall with serval features to get our eyes busy with. Right at this point the husband announced that he must respond to a particularly urgent call of nature and to my fear left me stranded with a pesky toddler to tend to. I heaved a helpless sigh and started scanning the place.  I saw some people queuing up to take pictures with a giant moving-walking polar bear.  I couldn't summon the courage to take upon this task of getting the kid to pose all by myself. So, I waited patiently, feeling the curious eyes of the security lady over my shoulder. Once the wait was over, we headed to the famous 'vault' - the keeper of the phenomenon called Coca-Cola. Once our identification was checked and we hoarded ourselves enough on the security screens, we were let in. The vault was displayed in all its glory - glowing under a purple light that gave it its much-deserved character of mystique and grandeur.

Next, we stopped at a hall that showcased Coca-Cola memorabilia and shared the legendary story of how this product has reached its current fame. The presentation was as impressive as the trivia. Then the most expected and obvious industrial side of the product was revealed to us. The journey of the beverage from its starting point to the final packaged product that we gulp down in minutes was a fascinating story. Then we entered another room which had inviting red foam benches and a big screen to which people were glued. This was a presentation on Coke advertisements over the years – emphasizing its presence and growth over decades. The one from the 1970s in hipster pants and oversized glares was a delight to watch. In another, people from all nations had gathered in a meadow in Italy to send across the message of being united over Coca-Cola. The toddler luckily got hooked to these too, letting us cool off our heels for a while.

Then we wandered into a room with various Coke merchandises that were to be used to strike a pose sitting on a red (again!) couch. I couldn’t have wasted time and was raring to go, but at this point I couldn't find my phone to take the much-desired picture. I looked some more and still there was no sign of it. The tingly feeling in my tummy had started building up when I ransacked my bag and finally declared it's lost. I broke the news to the husband and we ran in the speed of light hour looking for it. I had slipped it in the back pocket of the stroller after taking a video minutes back. But the fact that probably it slipped down to the floor instead of the pocket sent a twitch to my stomach. In my defense, right when this had happened, the toddler had thrown a fit, and I was dealing with a mini meltdown moment. But now this realization wasn’t doing any help. I was left with only one option – of fervently calling the Gods. 'God, please don't let this day end this way. I want to have good memories of this place. For the sake of Coca-Cola God, have mercy!' It was as though the Coca-Cola line had worked! We called on my phone and it rang to our relief. A raspy voice answered it and from a distance a man waved at us. Thank the heavens. Thank the lord. Bless this man who had found it lying on the floor and was looking for the security to hand it over to. We caught him at the right moment saving a lot of unnecessary trouble and thanked him profusely. I grabbed the phone and sunk it deep inside the folds of my bag and promised to not use it for the rest of the tour, only to go back on my words in minutes!

We arrived at the last leg of the tour where they handed us disposable glasses to taste the beverage from every single country they are available in. “Japan is kind of nice, I think Australia is better, O God, Germany tastes horrid!” These are the kind of things one can expect to hear in this area, giving the visitors an air of self-importance. After having tasted enough Coca-Cola for the day, and posing for one last time with the redness of the background that stretched on, we made our way out of the building. The toddler by now was done grimacing over things. We had managed her unpredictable temperament in this trip by stuffing her face with chips – a tried and tested method that has been saving us many embarrassing scenarios lately. At the end, despite starting the day late, and with a fluid itinerary, I think we came back quite satisfied. My face by now had no trace of the vanity I had attempted with my eye liner at the start of the day. But my heart was full. And that’s all that mattered. The day was decidedly becoming warmer with every passing hour. A shower after reaching the hotel had refreshed us for the next round of things to do. But not until now. Not until we opened the can of happiness. Not until, we opened our bottle of Coca-Cola.