A look at how Cafés and Coffee shops and the people frequenting them have changed
Words: Vandana Devi Images: Various Sources
Gone are the days when over steaming hot cups of coffees youngsters and elders sat together discussing everything from politics to business to life. From the elders talking about how things were back in the day (kind of like what we are doing right now), to the youngsters explaining how things need to change. Revolutions began and ended in such public spaces, and at various points of time in history, coffee and cafés were banned in various places in fear of public agitation. Such a stir these places created, with face-to-face discussions and debates, dissecting government policies and making people aware of different opinions and what not. Such was the glorious tradition of cafés and coffee around the world.
India has no shortage of histories and cultures, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we too had a thriving coffee house (our very own Indianised Cafés) culture. Indian Coffee house is one of those remaining pieces of history left in our country where Tagores and Hussains must have written and painted masterpieces, where words like Fascism, proletariat, bourgeoisie must have first been heard. Public speakers evolved, politicians felt the pulse of the people, and the Vadas were pretty good too. It was important to have a flourishing public sphere where free-thinking and sharing of opinions were promoted and this positively (and sometimes negatively) contributed towards making more aware and socially conscious citizens.
It was important during the freedom struggle, and still is as important. One might argue that social media has taken away the need to have a physical public sphere and has made things much more convenient. And it is true that a lot more opinions can be thrown around casually now. But the fact remains that face-to-face discussions, with human touch, emotions and feelings are still relevant, even in today’s age and time. It doesn’t matter if we don’t have intellectual discussions all the time, we at least need to be around people and not forget how to be polite and nice.
Today Cafés have taken over coffee shops in Urban areas, franchises such as Starbucks are ruling and free wi-fi is the most important facility to be provided. Coffee and food are becoming art pieces that go on our Instagram stories whilst we spend quality time with our laptops. Conversations have ceased to exist as virtual conversations have taken over even whilst we are out, supposedly spending time with other people of the human race.
It’s no wonder that the recent trend amongst café owners is discouraging use of technology in their premises by putting up signboards asking them to be more interactive, not providing free wi-fi or plug points. It is basically no ones fault that such places have become quiet places where people go to get work done. And there is no one to blame because work in general is slowly taking higher priority in our lives and this inevitably means people have to spend larger amounts of time on the same. The coffee is still the same, people have just changed.
And all this is fine, simply being reminiscent of the old times and not living in the present is also not advised. One simply wishes that at least once in a while a coffee shop would come alive with loud conversations and arguments and laughter, and I’m pretty sure that even the most workaholic and craving-peace-and-quiet of us, would enjoy that.