THE COFFEE REBELS
“A lot can happen over a cup of coffee” goes the punch line. Today’s youth seems quite keen to find out the possibilities and probabilities of this intriguing statement. One can spot these joints full of cash rich high school and college students at any point of time in the day (in North Campus, students are found in cafés even post midnight). Though the delicacies dished out by these cafés are quite high priced, unlike the ‘low-on–cash youth’ of the yester years who preferred the 5 rupees instant coffee from Nescafé stalls or college canteen, today’s unreasonably ‘cash-rich youth’ with an unbelievably high disposable income has no scruples in spending 60 to 100 odd rupees on a single mug of cold coffee in these cafés and “espresso bars”. But only few out of the countless who swear by these cafés would be aware of the fact that these happening and vibrant cafés of today owe their origin to the COFFEE HOUSES and Coffee taverns of the yester years.
A trait of pioneering thought, rebellion and agitation had always been ingrained in the tradition of coffee & coffee houses. Though the present day cafés have been reduced to mere ‘hanging out zones’ to have fun with friends and family and at times, a relatively cheaper place to hold business meetings, Coffee houses were once the hub of intellectual thought and the cradle of many revolutions (intellectual, artistic and cultural) and political mass movements. The Coffeehouses were drinking establishments that served the purpose of a center for cultural exchange in a particular community, often fomenting social and political change. In Delhi, one of the earliest coffee houses was started near Rajiv Chowk (at today’s Palika Bazaar) by Mr. I.K.Gujral and some of his friends who after getting terribly infuriated and disgusted by the incessant price hike at a restaurant named Alps, boycotted it, and laid the foundation for a coffee house that was named “Price Rise Resistant Movement – PRRM”.
The famous College Street Coffee House at Kolkata, apart from it’s adda sessions, is also well known as the breeding place of several political and cultural personalities and movements. It has been the most frequented hub of many a poet, artiste, literati, intellectual and people involved in the world of art, culture and film, out of which the eminent ones are Satyajit Ray, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Ritwik Ghatak, Soumitra Chatterjee, Narayan Gangopadhyay and Sunil Gangopadhyay. Several literary magazines owe their origin to the inspiration from the adda sessions there.
Worth mentioning here is also the Indian Coffee House (ICH) movement in Kerala where, when the Coffee Board decided to close down the ICHs in mid 1950’s (that were started by the Coffee Board during British rule in early 1940’s) due to a change in policy, the terminated workers under the leadership of communist leader Mr. A.K.Gopalan started a worker’s cooperative (the first of it’s kind) and took over the management of the ICHs.
Interestingly, Coffee Houses’ close association with movements and agitation is not specific to India alone but is evident throughout the world. The Cafe Le Procope, which was founded in Paris in 1689, is still in business and was a major locus of the French Enlightenment; Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot frequented it, and it is arguably the birthplace of the ‘Encyclopédie’ - the first modern encyclopedia. Jonathan's Coffee-House in 1698 saw the listing of stock and commodity prices that evolved into the London Stock Exchange. Lloyd's of London had its origins in a coffeehouse run by Edward Lloyd, where underwriters of ship insurance met to do business. Auctions in salesrooms attached to coffeehouses provided the start for the great auction houses of Sotheby's and Christie's. A number of well known performers like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan began their careers performing in coffeehouses. American coffee shops are often connected with the evolution of indie, jazz & acoustic music and will often have them playing either live or recorded in their shops. The political nature of much of 1960s folk music made the music a natural tie-in with the political action associated with coffeehouses.
So the next time you sink in at the comfy couch at the nearest café with a tempting coffee mug in your hand wondering at the possibilities and probabilities of the intriguing tagline, do remember that “a lot has ALREADY HAPPENED over a cup of coffee in history”.
A trait of pioneering thought, rebellion and agitation had always been ingrained in the tradition of coffee & coffee houses. Though the present day cafés have been reduced to mere ‘hanging out zones’ to have fun with friends and family and at times, a relatively cheaper place to hold business meetings, Coffee houses were once the hub of intellectual thought and the cradle of many revolutions (intellectual, artistic and cultural) and political mass movements. The Coffeehouses were drinking establishments that served the purpose of a center for cultural exchange in a particular community, often fomenting social and political change. In Delhi, one of the earliest coffee houses was started near Rajiv Chowk (at today’s Palika Bazaar) by Mr. I.K.Gujral and some of his friends who after getting terribly infuriated and disgusted by the incessant price hike at a restaurant named Alps, boycotted it, and laid the foundation for a coffee house that was named “Price Rise Resistant Movement – PRRM”.
The famous College Street Coffee House at Kolkata, apart from it’s adda sessions, is also well known as the breeding place of several political and cultural personalities and movements. It has been the most frequented hub of many a poet, artiste, literati, intellectual and people involved in the world of art, culture and film, out of which the eminent ones are Satyajit Ray, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Ritwik Ghatak, Soumitra Chatterjee, Narayan Gangopadhyay and Sunil Gangopadhyay. Several literary magazines owe their origin to the inspiration from the adda sessions there.
Worth mentioning here is also the Indian Coffee House (ICH) movement in Kerala where, when the Coffee Board decided to close down the ICHs in mid 1950’s (that were started by the Coffee Board during British rule in early 1940’s) due to a change in policy, the terminated workers under the leadership of communist leader Mr. A.K.Gopalan started a worker’s cooperative (the first of it’s kind) and took over the management of the ICHs.
Interestingly, Coffee Houses’ close association with movements and agitation is not specific to India alone but is evident throughout the world. The Cafe Le Procope, which was founded in Paris in 1689, is still in business and was a major locus of the French Enlightenment; Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot frequented it, and it is arguably the birthplace of the ‘Encyclopédie’ - the first modern encyclopedia. Jonathan's Coffee-House in 1698 saw the listing of stock and commodity prices that evolved into the London Stock Exchange. Lloyd's of London had its origins in a coffeehouse run by Edward Lloyd, where underwriters of ship insurance met to do business. Auctions in salesrooms attached to coffeehouses provided the start for the great auction houses of Sotheby's and Christie's. A number of well known performers like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan began their careers performing in coffeehouses. American coffee shops are often connected with the evolution of indie, jazz & acoustic music and will often have them playing either live or recorded in their shops. The political nature of much of 1960s folk music made the music a natural tie-in with the political action associated with coffeehouses.
So the next time you sink in at the comfy couch at the nearest café with a tempting coffee mug in your hand wondering at the possibilities and probabilities of the intriguing tagline, do remember that “a lot has ALREADY HAPPENED over a cup of coffee in history”.
BY : SHUBHRO SEN
posted by Shubhro at 12:24 PM
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