Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXVI No. 21, February 16-28, 2017
Chennai Newsreel
By T.K. Srinivasa Chari
A bookshop, writers, and a café
It would seem that the Biblical saying ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’ motivated two of the city’s very own business enterprises to come up with a recipe called the Writer’s Café. Opened before three months ago, the coffeehouse meets bookstore is a collaboration -between restaurateur M. Maha-devan better known as ‘Hot Breads’ Mahadevan, and the iconic 172 years old bookstore Higginbothams.
Corporate Chef Karan Manavalan says that Writer’s Café is part of the corporate social responsibility effort of CC Fine Foods South India. Not only are seven burn survivors among the 30 people employed, but the profits of the café go to the NGO, International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care.
The two-storied Writer’s Café sits prettily on the corner of Peter’s Road and Peter’s Lane. Step into the Cafe and a glance to one side, reveals you guessed right coffee table books. One of them is about M.S. Subbulakshmi. Even though the ground floor is predominantly the dining area, bookshelves line the walls on either side with reads for both the young, adult and foodies. It is said that Mahadevan was enthused by the Arthur Hailey’s The Hotel more than two decades ago to get into the food industry after being an academic at Madras University.
The 50-seater café’s menu is Swiss-inspired and put together by Chef Silke Stadler. It consists of soups, salads, appetisers, flammkuchen, a pizza-like dish, pasta, sandwiches, juices and desserts, priced between Rs 30 and 290.
Upstairs, Higginbothams has the stock of 1,000 titles with around 13,000 books spread across the genres. Separate spaces exist for Tamil and children’s sections, magazines and stationery. The bookstore seats upto a dozen people who could work on their writing, reading, art or just meet with fellow book-lovers. Free wi-fi on the premises encourages visitors in their creative pursuits.
Sharadha, the Business Development Manager and Book-incharge, is pleased with the enthusiasm of the literati since the opening. Recently, the city’s youth gobbled up titles of Markus Zusak, especially Book Thief to have them autographed by the author at The Hindu Lit for Life festival. Popular Tamil titles like Ponniyin Selvan are a sell-out and first-time authors yearn to have their books on display here. The Café will also order titles for you.
Writer’s Café has hosted book launches, book clubs, the writer’s workshop ‘Thirsty Pens’ and birthday parties.
AVIS Viswanathan, Happiness curator, who wrote his book Fall Like A Rose Petal at the Chamiers store and café, says, “Writing in this space is an immersive experience. It gives you a great opportunity to be present in the moment, even as life goes by. People come, go…they’re happy, sad, animated, quiet…you witness it, yet you stay immersed in your writing…each word speaks to you and the images you create come alive!”
On the perceived threat from technology to books, let’s recall writer Stephen Fry’s last word: “Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators”. Here’s to many more book cafes.
