Adda With Kalyan: Do Cafes Capture The Mood Of Modern India? #Hangout

Bangalore's filter kapi is still a favourite with the city's coffee lovers.

In case you’ve been watching Adda with Kalyan, and wondered what an ‘adda’ is, then let me tell you about a Bengali custom.

In Kolkata, it is common for people to gather at street corners, called ‘parar rock’, and chat about the anything under the world over endless cups of black tea. This is called an adda.

The City of Joy is changing like the rest of India, and our cities are now flooded with cafes, which are popular hangout joints. They are also being treated as spaces to work out of in post-liberalisation India.

In the latest edition of Adda With Kalyan, we spoke to café owners from across India to find out what’s brewing.

You can catch Xerxes Bodhanwala of Red Fork in Bangalore talk about how there are two Bangalores now who coexist over their cups of filter kaapi and cappuccinos.

Aharnish Mishra, who runs Bizibean in Gurgaon raises an interesting point about emerging cities such as Guargaon and Noida. He argues that these cities are not burdened by legacy unlike the Mumbais and Delhis of the world, and are more open to innovation, which reflects in their café culture. These new hubs are more white collar focused, and have a more homogeneous dining out crowd than neighbouring Delhi. There are ‘many Delhis’ as he points out.

Arpana Gvalani of Gostana in Mumbai’s Bandra reminds us that coffee was once a rare, premium experience even in Mumbai. Hard as this seems to believe in a city dotted with cafes. She points out an interesting trend of people trying out organic teas now after their coffee fixation. A reflection of a movement towards greater awareness of what goes into one’s body.

And what’s happening in Kolkata? Sohini Basu Behrens of Mrs Magpie, points out that the younger generation in the city is experimentative and receptive to international trends. They are eager to experience the best of what the world has to offer, and mushrooming of several modern cafes in recent years is proof.

What would be interesting to see of what happens to the addas at the parar rocks of Kolkata in the face of the fast growing café culture in the city.