THE CUP AND SAUCER MEMORIES

 “.......many of the people there (in India), who are strict in their religion, drink no wine at all; but they use a liquor, more wholesome than pleasant, they call coffee, made by a black seed boiled in water, which turns it almost into the same colour, but doth very little alter the taste of the water. Notwithstanding it is very good to help digestion, to quicken the spirits, and to cleanse the blood"

So said Rev Edward Terry, Chaplain to Sir Thomas Roe who was British ambassador to the court of Emperor Jahangir in the early 16th Century.

  Centuries after that, If there is a taste that connects people and culture in India, then it has to be the Indian Coffee house. A chain which connects 400 cities and towns in India, it has become a part of the common man. For about a century it was the favourite hangout for many sections of people, be it a professional or a labourer, rich or poor. Its legacy as a social meeting place in fostering intellectual discussions is well known, especially the outlet at Kolkata  which is  remembered for having served as the meeting place for 20th century intellectuals and artists, including the likes of  Ravindra Nath Tagore, Satyajit Ray,  Amartya Sen, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen, Manna Dey etc

Well , My memories of the Indian coffee house begin a long back. Every time we came to Kannur town with my parents would end with a visit there, as they were very fond of the rich aroma and the strongly flavoured coffee, served in Kannur’s good old Indian Coffee House hub at Fort Road. Waiters clad in white stiffly - starched uniform with a classic turban was unique for every ICH. Its simple interiors and good old wooden furniture was the right setting for a perfect coffee break. It was not only the coffee, but also the uniquely red cutlets and samosas with the ‘red’ beetroot, an inevitable ingredient in most of their snacks that went with the charm of ICH. Indian coffee house’s beetroot also finds it way as a filling in their masala dosai and the uniquely red watery beetroot sauce for the cutlets and samosas.

Those days in the 80’s, when eating out was not so common in Kannur, people would throng in for the hot steamy meals served from 12 noon. As a school boy, many a times have I stood beside the chairs waiting to get a place there. And the wait was always worth the taste, for the simple meals served in big thalis with a special omelette as an addition.....….   vow! those meals were always special.   As I write this, my mind takes me back to the Kozhikode Medical College Indian Coffee House, as an 8 year old kid holding my father’s hand  to have the tastiest  fish cutlet  I have ever had in my life.  Sadly it was taken off their menu later.

The Indian Coffee House is somewhat of a ubiquitous eatery across many cities and towns throughout India. As an avid traveller, wherever I see a board of Indian Coffee House on my travel, I have never hesitated to walk in for a cup of coffee and a snack even if I’m not hungry as I’m sure about the taste and service.The coffee that I had at Pondicherry, Nagpur, Delhi, Chandigarh, Chidambaram, Trivandrum, Bengaluru, Kannur, Kozhikode or Thrissur have had the same aroma, decoction, colour, quantity and moreover the same satisfaction of the mind.

As I sip my hot coffee on this wet August evening, I googled to know the history of Indian Coffee House. The first Indian Coffee House was under the government body in September 1936 in Churchgate, Bombay. Over the next few years, more such coffee houses were opened in different parts of the country. Though they were initially popular, by the mid-'50s, they were in trouble. The Coffee Board of India then began to contemplate shutting them down. The shuttering of the coffee houses meant the loss of several hundred jobs. To find a way out of this, a delegation of workers accompanied by the Communist leader and the then Member of Parliament, AK Gopalan met Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru recommended that the workers consider forming a co-operative society to run the coffee houses. This seems to have struck a chord as it soon led to the creation of the Indian Coffee Worker’s Cooperative Society, which took over the business from the board in 1957. The first coffee house under this cooperative society was opened in Connaught Place in Delhi. Soon, many such societies were formed in different parts of the country and many Indian Coffee House eateries opened up. It has stood the test of time as an unassuming, unostentatious, efficient, reasonably priced joint across various cultures and societies.

With a standard in efficiency of service, iconic brand image and every employee as its owner, these establishments stands tall as a ‘Coffee House model’ of doing business.  But for me it’s the memories of the coffee in white porcelain cup and saucer, cutlets and meals, which makes Indian Coffee House so special.