Wikipedia tells us:
The India Coffee Houses were started by the Coffee Board in early 1940s, during British rule. In the mid 1950s the Board closed down the Coffee Houses, due to a policy change. The thrown-out workers then took over the branches, under the leadership of the communist leader A. K. Gopalan and renamed the network as Indian Coffee House. The first Indian Coffee Workers Co-Operative Society was founded in Bangalore on August 19, 1957. The first Indian Coffee House was opened in New Delhi on October 27, 1957. Gradually, the Indian Coffee House chain expanded across the country.
And about ICH and Kerala:
Kerala has the largest number of Indian Coffee Houses. Advocate T. K. Krishnan, a Communist Leader of Thrissur and Nadakkal (N. S.) Parameswaran Pillai, or "Coffee House Pillai" the State Secretary of the India Coffee Board Labour Union and a thrown-out employee of ICH were the founders of ICHs in Kerala. The first Indian Coffee House of Kerala was started in Thrissur in 1958. It was also the fourth ICH in the country. It was inaugurated by A. K. Gopalan on March 8, 1958.There is also an alternative history book about the ICH movement, in Malayalam, the regional language of Kerala - Coffee Housinte Katha or History of Coffee House by Nadaakkal Parameswaran Pillai. This is the only published written history of ICH movement in any language.
Most Indian Coffee House's look the same in the late afternoons - dim, and visited only by the pilgrim. There is little debate about their efficient service and amazing coffee.
But they don't look the same in a Barista/CCD/Costa sense. Most of them have associated with them, stories and myths of communists and writers and intellectuals and architects and stoners.
One of the stories, repeated but never really confirmed, concerns Booker winner Yann Martel who spent his time at the Napier Zoo in Thiruvananthapuram, watching animals while he researched the Life of Pi. Some parts of the book were apparently written in the Indian Coffee House located opposite the zoo.
The cheap food to munch with your coffee is a fringe benefit.
Something that I have never eaten in an ICH outside Kerala is the mutton omlette, quite simply an omlette that is rolled up to hide the filling of chopped fried mutton. It is by far my favourite food item at an ICH. But the one on M G Road in Bangalore is a great place to go for that slightly late Sunday breakfast when you want to eat scrambled eggs and mutton cutlets and dunk cold coffee till you burst.
If you intend to visit Thiruvantnhapuram, there a few of these Indian Coffee Houses to pick from. Twelve at the last count. One of them is located at the Thampanoor Bus Stand and is an architectural oddity. It is shaped like a spindle and a spiral runs inside, along the circumference of the building on which the tables await diners. Most people are sipping coffee at thirty degrees to the ground. As I said, quite odd.
Another spectacular one is located at Shangumugham Beach, and every table is sea-facing!
These photos are from a nondescript ICH near the University. In the basement of a shopping arcade where Pizza Corner occupies the prime spot.
When I am in Delhi and looking for cheap coffee and munchies, I recall the India Coffee House in Connaught Place, located on the roof of a tall building that overlooks Regal Cinema, and infested by monkeys. Sadly it has been shut down, and I do not think there is another that is quite the same in South Delhi.
7 comments:
Before the current avatar in Connaught Place, there was an ICH earlier there which holds fond memories for me. Pleasant times, happy times with my father, now no more, especially after cricket matches at Kotla.
shut down! i went there two weeks back! on a chilly sunday afternoon, before an NSD play and it was quite alright then....
well, that is good to hear that, anglophilicbong, and apologies everyone, for putting up an unverified rumour.
I went there a couple (or more) months back, and was told it had shut down. All's well.
John, I took the liberty of working on a few photographs from this site. I give you the link for you to examine and download and use them if you find them appropriate.
I used Photoshop CS2 to fiddle with their values.
There was a comment posted on the pastries blog which got me thinking.
So what exactly did you do with those pics, Soulberry? They look much better. Do you have any advice on how I should be clicking in dim restaurants?
Mobile phones may not be the best bet for a blog. Yours is Sony Ericsson I believe...the problem will always be in exposure (shutter speed adjustment)
Any of the automatic digital cameras in the 5000 onwards range will have that...but there is another problem that comes with it...you'll need a very steady hand while clicking photos with such settings.
Then, there will be a yellowish hue...called color cast...which will need to be removed. You'll need some graphics program for that. Most decent cyber cafes will have photoshop installed on one of their compus...then there's Nehru Place.
In that you can do different things depending upon starting point of the photo and the end point you want. There are filters and other tools which can adjust, alter or completely change the pic.
I did different combinations of steps with different photos depending upon what they needed done.
Post a Comment