A lot happened over coffee

A lot happened over coffee
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: There’s nothing swanky about it — the rusting board outside and the spartan ambience within. There’s a buzz that the India Coffee House on MG Road is closing shop. But, it’s not decided yet, say its staff.
“Much will depend on the meeting with committee members on Saturday’’ Mahesh, GM, Indian Coffee Workers’
Co-operative Society told TOI. It will either be retained or relocated to Avenue Road. “We haven’t lost hope yet,’’ he said. The building owner wants to close it for renovation.
Many regulars also hope that the institution remains open. The two-floor restaurant with a capacity to seat over 100 people has brewed coffee, conversations and interesting memories for over 50 years.
Media professional C B Yeshvanthkumar associates this place with its old-world charm. The waiters with their white-and-red petas serving the strong coffee that goes down well with old Bangaloreans and Mysoreans in the city, alongside other accompaniments like dosas, scrambled eggs and mutton cutlets. “This is probably the first place I had my masala dosa with a fork and knife, 10 years ago — I then saw it as very unusual,’’ he says.
Veterans Sundar Babu, 65, and his close friend Ethiraj, a retired HAL official, made their first visit together in September 1961 and even today, the duo visits every day — more to meet up for a quick chat over a cup of coffee, sometimes even two. Chandrashekhar, who works in an outdoor advertising firm, has also been here since high school. The coffee was 18 paise then. “I don’t know if there can be another such coffee house,’’ he says.
Intellectuals were a common sight here. Those from the ‘70s and ‘80s see it as a favourite place for politicians and intellectuals. A few waiters here still remember the visit of M F Husain, remembering how he asked for an extra coffee. “I belong to a time when visiting this coffee house was a cult practice. Both the coffee and the sentiments are very strong. If you have not been there, you’re not an intellectual’’ says Prof N S Ashok Kumar of Bangalore University. He has met with many movie makers, particularly those in parallel cinema here. “Whatever happens, the coffee house must not close. We’ll soon have nothing left of the past in the city,’’ he said.