INDIAN COFFEE HOUSE-A time Travel

It was like any other Saturday afternoon in college street (Kolkata), students returning from school with their heavy bag packs, parents browsing through the latest suggestion books from the road side stalls, medical students selling their used medical books for some quick cash. College street means college and books, a lot of books. You can get any book here even those which are out of publication for a long time. The entire place is like a time capsule it engulfs you to the 1940's. The colonial architecture of the place and the colleges like Presidency reminds you of the colonial past and how far we have come since our colonial "masters" were forced to leave our country. The entire place is a like a big History book. The main attraction apart from the smell of newly printed books was the ancient adda capital of Kolkata "Indian Coffee House".

I always wanted to visit but somehow never got the time. I was in the vicinity & hungry at the same time. I was actually bored with the modern cafe's which we have these days, with their over polished stores and serving very ordinary coffee. It wasn't something new or different and I was in a mood of trying out something different and also experience our Bengali culture. That is when I decided to give our very own Coffee House a visit. It didn't take too much time for me to find it as everyone knew where it was except me, which a slight grin everyone pointed me towards the building. Honestly if not told I would have definitely missed it. Compared a modern Hard Rock cafe or Star Bucks it doesn't have a great signage nor a decent entrance. But it had some thing in it which was drawing me inside. It actually felt like I was going inside a Time machine.

The Indian Coffee House was known as the Albert hall established in 1876, the coffee board decided to have a coffee joint inside the hall which is how it got established in 1942. After Independence it got it's name Coffee House. It got very popular with the intellectuals of Kolkata from the fields of literature, cinema, art and even politics. A lot of students from Presidency, Calcutta University, City colleges were a regular at this place. This building is a part of our heritage and culture and it is a place from where revolutions started in poetry, art & also in politics, and who could forget Manna Dey's famous song on this great place.

I took the ancient spiral staircase and entered the first floor of the coffee house and it was filled with people. I was trying to understand which age group likes and visits this place, but was surprised to see that people from all age groups were there mostly with their friends and enjoying a deep fried fish fry & a coffee. I swear I could see the characters of the famous song Coffee House er adda sitting and enjoying themselves in that old yet rich building. I could also overhear a lot of heated discussions between friends regarding the new government policies or how badly Indian team performed in the recent test matches. All in good spirit though and this is I think a vital part of the adda as well.

The stairs were not very clean but the building had some kinda air which would not let you concentrate on these small imperfections but would force you to go into the past rather than in the future. I had to go to the 1st floor as all seats were taken in the ground floor. The tables were very small for a group of people but okay for a couple or three people. I heard their were wooden rustic chairs before, but they have been replaced with the flimsy plastic chairs. You can attach 2 tables together though if you have a big group.

A lot of people were waiting for the seats to get empty so avoid rush hours generally during weekends. I looked through the menu and ordered a baked fish and a cold coffee. I was expecting a block of fish with white sauce and butter with a few pieces of broccoli & tomato. I can't blame myself as that is what comes to my mind when I think of baked fish. This was Coffee House and after about 40 mins when I got my food delivered to my table by an old waiter who was wearing one of those white uniforms with the white turbans, a classic example of our colonial past, I was bit surprised to see the food and thought that he got some one else's order.

But he confirmed that it was the baked fish which I ordered. The Coffee House styled baked fish was a block of baked fish submerged in to a dark brown gravy with one potato wedge. It was very spicy and was nothing compared to what we are used to. I would not recommend it and would ask you all to try the Fish Fry instead. The baked fish was priced at Rs 85/- & the fish Fry at Rs 75/- .The cold coffee was priced at Rs 40/- the quantity was alright compared to the price but the taste wasn't good at all, very light and felt that the quantity of water was overpowering every other ingredient. The plates and cutlery was clean though. I realized that people do not go to Coffee House for the food nor the coffee the biggest fan of coffee house could never boast about the food, it is an experience and a culture that people get drawn to. I would definitely recommend an evening of adda with friends in this majestic Hall which would transport you to the 1940's.

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