Coffee with Lenin

Opened last month — on May Day to be precise — the bookstore also houses a small cafe. Sudhanva Deshpande,who manages and runs the place,puts on a fresh kettle for our coffee. “The response has been very good so far,” he says with a content smile. “Because more than a ­bookstore,we are also a space for like-minded people to come and discuss ideas,” he ­says,adding that the attached theatre space set up by Jana Natya Manch has regular free movie screenings and other performances.

As the kettle boils,Deshpande lists the various events he has organised in the last few weeks. “We have book reading sessions almost every day. Apart from that,we have organised movie screenings,talks and we also had a very successful brunch last week,” he says,pouring out hot coffee in two white cups painted with the sickle-and-hammer motif.

The place is run with the help of volunteers and friends who pitch in various things like adding freshly baked cakes to the menu or helping out in the kitchen. The biscuits and other namkeen served here are also procured locally. Both the bookstore and cafe are fixed with various bits and pieces of donated furniture. So the mismatched sofa,fridge,the odd chairs and the worn-out table add to the warm and cosy ambience of the place. The cafe operates on the pay-as-you-please concept,so one can leave loads of money or nothing at all in the specially designated clay bowl.

If you want to pick up a souvenir for yourself,or want to treat a Left-leaning friend,you have a nice little bunch to choose from. From the sickle-and-hammer pattern coffee mugs,paperweights and jute bags with images of Bhagat Singh printed on them,you can also pick up old photographs of the leftist theatre group Jana Natya Manch.