Architecture of intellectual sociality: Tea and coffeehouses in post-colonial Delhi

Abstract

Abstract The essay presents a historical narrative about the way tea and coffeehouses in post-partition, post-colonial Delhi were inhabited, embraced, used, celebrated and fought for by a couple of generations of migrant Hindi intellectuals in the middle decades of the last century. Adda-like, but more public and open, the space helped them connect with the city, otherwise an alien and distant entity mired in power and busy with the agenda of nation-building. It is here that they set up networks with their like-minded others to find a virtual home away from home. It is long past its glory, but its affective appeal as a socially convivial, creatively stimulating, and politically vibrant, albeit gendered, public place is nostalgically testified in the abundant testimonials offered by its more articulate regular visitors. The space, what happens there, and to it, thus emerges as a metaphor for changing times the city has witnessed through the decades.