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Coffee house gives way to generationext's new flavour

Janaki Murali

DID the coffee house culture go away with a generation that had the time to sit around with a cup of the hot beverage as they discussed what hailed the nation, its politicians, its art, its music and literature?

Not really.

Maybe, the generation has grown up and gone on to other things in their lives. And the coffee houses where journalists, artists, lawyers and singers sat around in its smoky precincts, as conversations flowed fast and quick, are now pale images of the hub of activity they were. This is where tired and old waiters who have aged along with the coffee houses hang around waiting for their customers.

For hours you could sit around with your friends sipping your filter coffee and munching those vegetable pakodas and sandwiches. The Bangalore coffee house even served dosa, that was like those your mother made. At the coffee houses, you never had to wor ry about impatient waiters who could barely wait for you to finish so that they could bring another customer in. You could sit as long as you wanted and regulars were always welcomed smilingly by benign waiters, who hung around your table regaling you wi th little incidents from their lives.

Where has the coffee house culture gone, you wonder as erstwhile hang-outs all around the country are being torn down to give way to other lucrative business.

Do you sometimes wonder whether the young of today are no longer interested in the coffee house culture. Because they have nothing to talk about? Maybe they are busy spending their parents' money and have no time to worry about what ails the nation, its art, theatre, music or its films or literature.

But look around you at the Baristas and the Cafe Coffee Days and the several other such coffee shops that have sprung up all over the country in its cities. What are they, if not a hub of activity and culture.

Of course, the culture has changed and, along with it, the coffee houses had to change too. Today's coffee houses for the young may not serve filter coffee and pakodas, the way you remember. They have made cappuccino and all the other newer varieties of coffee more popular.

But the coffee house culture has really not changed, only the generation has changed. Maybe the young are no longer frequenting the old dilapidated run down smoke filled structures that you frequented. Maybe they will not discuss what ails the nation or its leaders. Maybe they couldn't care less about politics. But that does not mean that they are removed from its culture too.

The coffee house culture has gone nowhere. It has only acquired a new hue. The waiters here are young and smiling and more than willing to lend a ear and share confidences too.

Theatre, music and art originates here, too, as teenagers bring their guitars and their music and test their language and logical skills with scrabble and chess. Artists can display their paintings here and conversation flows quick and fast and thick her e too.

Maybe the old coffee houses as we knew them have faded away into history. But, in its place, the new ones have come to cater to a whole new generation with different views and refreshing ideas, bringing in their wake a breath of freshness.

(Feedback may be sent to janmu@thehindu.co.in).