One afternoon in the sixties, a group comprising Sunil Gangopadhyay and others got up from their Coffee House adda and went to Howrah Station, took the first train and landed up in Palamau forest (Bihar) next morning. From that impromptu journey emerged the novel
Aranyer Din Ratri!
The Indian Coffee House was originally built to commemorate the prince consort's visit to Calcutta in 1890 and was named Albert Hall .
During the nationalist period, it became a metting place for patriots but when it proved small political meetings, it was turned into formal coffee house in 1944.
Indian Coffee House is located opposite the Presidency College on College Street, Kolkata.
It has been for a long time a regular hang out and a renowned adda place for intellectuals and students. It has played an important part in Calcutta's cultural history and known as the hub of intellectual debates.
The prestige of the Coffee House increased with regular visitors such as Satyajit Ray, Amartya Sen, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and Sunil Gangopadhyay. The Coffee House is of historical significance for being the rendezvous of innumerable versatile people, from its inception to date.
Scholars, editors, artists and writers like Ritwik Ghatak, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sanjeev Chattopadhyay, Samaresh Majumdar, Subhas Mukhopadhyay and Shakti Chattopadhyay have been just a few among the patrons of the restaurant.
In early sixties of 20th century the coffee house became the intellectual battleground of the famous Hungry generation literary and
cultural movement; the iconic poets Malay Roy Choudhury,
Samir Roychoudhury brother duo who pioneered the movement
were arrested and prosecuted.
Several literary magazines owe their origin to the inspiration from the adda sessions at this coffee house.
In Indian Coffee House you can find the waiters and servers in a typical white dress with a unique style of hat, offering you the menus.
The coffee house is famous for its adda sessions, and as the breeding place of several political and cultural personalities and movements. Many people come here just for the sake of adda and just being a part of the long talking sessions. Several talented and illustrious persons from different streams have been thronging this renowned adda for a long time.
There were the routine chat sessions around the tables, but in hushed tones. The waiters served customers in their usual sluggish manner, but seemed markedly slower. For Kolkata's famous intellectual hub Coffee House was in mourning at the passing away of Manna Dey who rendered the famous song that for generations has been regarded as its anthem.
Thirty years back, Dey recorded 'Coffee Houser sei addata aaj ar nei' (The chat sessions at the Coffee House have faded away) capturing the 'golden late afternoons' spent by seven friends at the joint and the successes, frustrations, tragedies and disappointments which they experienced in their later lives.
The song, which told the story of artist Nikhilesh, guitarist D'souza, journalist Moidul, wannabe poet Amol, has steeped with nostalgia generations of Kolkatans - who spent such golden moments of their youth and student lives in coffee houses with dreams of a new world order or a career of creativity, only to lose their way in the labyrinth of harsh reality.
"Coffee House will remain... so will remain the chat sessions, but the man who made them immortal is now no more," Suparnakanti Ghosh, who composed the song penned by Gouriprasanna Majumdar, told after passing away of Manna Dey.
Nirad C. Chaudhuri dedicated one whole chapter in his Autobiography of an Unknown Indian on the Bengali phenomenon of adda. It was adda at the early 19th century residence of Henry Derozio that is rumored to have started Bengal Renaissance!
Being a Calcuttan, I feel as long as there is a culture of Bong Adda, coffee cup, cigarette and friends, the Indian Coffee House will be awaiting for you with its glory and nostalgia in the narrow lane of College Street.
