We all at some point have probably watched the American series ‘Friends.’
If you are anything like me, you may have watched reruns of it twenty times over knowing every dialogue before it was even mouthed.
It always made me wonder what was the one thing that made us all connect to the crazy episodes; besides the fact that we all wished for friends like Ross, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe, Rachael and Monica- Those that we can hang out day after day and just chill out with at Central Perk the coffee shop where nothing could go wrong and every problem in the world looked almost non existent beyond the safe haven?
I am a Coffee/tea shop trouper; if I was missing I would ask you to first check the five nearest coffee houses before calling 911.
So when ‘the XVII tea room‘ opened few years ago; 200 meters away from my pad, it wasn’t a surprise that I made it a regular haunt.
And then just like that last week it didn’t want us anymore!!!!
I was slightly deceived and hugely sentimental when I first heard the news.
I had started this blog on one of it’s tables and even written and edited half my first novel there. My first babies!
Here is a bit about how and when the love affair started in 2016.
Small description of the tea room -It had paintings which were sketched and colored on the walls themselves , a lady on a swing(which I assume was Alice in Wonderland) and her cat in a cup is a personal favourite .(This was on the main level)
More so because I would glance at her often, in-between staring blankly at my screen, telling myself that some day when I will be a famous author I would zone into this kind of freedom too.
Here I was – A slave to words, phrases and grammar deep down in copy edit and there she was with her long luscious hair flying all over the place without a care in the world. ( okay maybe her long hair was part of the envy, hmmm not sure)
The basement had a charm of its own.Youngsters hung out to play board games and several used their space as offices.
The sound of repeated music retro tracks, wasn’t a pain in the neck as it should have been but it kind of made me relate to each song day after day; pushing me to my creative limits beyond what I thought was possible.
My routine of 2016/17 -I would bring my good old HP laptop to the Tea hub around 11 am, order my morning coffee or Chai, a bun maska if I was peckish and pound on it till evening; sometimes forgetting lunch but the stewards who had become friends by then would mildly suggest feeding me my favourite chilli cheese toast and strawberry tea which I would gladly gulp down in between word play and pulling my hair roots.
I conducted all kinds of meetings there which ended up fruitful for work and finally some that lead to few special memories.
Once in a while my four year old nephew would land up post four pm if he missed me during the day ( or was it for their free cookies ?) and when the rain beat Mumbai into a storm, I still ventured into my tea shop knowing I was protected and safe .
XVII proved that routine can be exciting too. The transparent glass windows gave you the view of the world, the ‘neighboring table’- Kara became my new go to pal and over hearing the wild conversations of daily smokers who chilled outside the tea stall was always informative .(By the end of every week I knew the status of each one’s sex and love life and had to almost put tape on my mouth to intervene and provide my two penny advice)
My intern Janhavi worked out of here and I feel guilty now, that for barely Rs 500( one cold coffee one snack two hot beverages ) we sat morning to eve; used their internet and their space and not once were we told to leave.
In fact the smiling faces of familiarity made the experience of bringing out a book and a blog more authentic.
When I met the owner Dhara Bhansali a day before close down, we both had an emotional moment.
Owners Sahil and Dhara
Luckily I was on the invite list for the goodbye dinner and I was happy to bump into other tearoom loyalists.
Life goes on and of course there are many other options but ‘the XVII tea room’ will always be special.
It wasn’t a commercial chain, it was home! (FB/ Insta #theXVIItearoom.bandra)
I didn’t realise until today that even places have a birth and death pattern and it effects us more profoundly than we can ever understand.
Maybe it will resurface somewhere else again.
Until then this blog chaiwithkai which was conceived in The XVII tearoom Bandra will have to go on ….without the buzz and comfort of the beloved chai kadukaan!! ( tea shop)
Chai With Kai 