For those who live in the Tricity (Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali), Shimla is a weekend destination. For the daring ones, who have the stamina for the four hour uphill ride and back, it is also a day destination. It has gone downhill since its glory days as the summer capital of the British Raj but retains enough charm to tempt tourists to its doors.
You can look up lists that tell you which are the best spots to visit; without them, most tourists spend their time walking on the Mall Road, hanging out on The Ridge, the Lakkar Bazar, going down to the Kali Mata temple. Then there is the increasingly naughty monkey infested Jakhu Temple.
There are two famous food landmarks in Shimla. One is a corner booth on the Mall Road which serves soups and snacks. I loved their coffee in a paper cup. Maybe it was the invigorating air of Shimla that made the coffee so tasty. Another must try item of this booth was the Slush. One sip could give you a brain freeze. At any time, you can see people crowded outside the booth, picking up their food and enjoying it lounging around near by. There is a booth on the ridge too but I haven't tried it. I hope these places are still functional.
The other iconic landmark of Shimla was the Indian Coffee House on the Mall Road. The first time I went to Shimla, as a young fifteen year old girl, I remembered eating at the Indian Coffee House. I have seen these cosy cafes in many places. They boast a vast clientele. They are renowned for nourishing many impoverished artists who could not afford fancy dining. To enter an Indian Coffee House is to admit your pockets are not lined. It is unabashedly middle class. The furniture is a collection of Sunmica top tables and chairs that make a terrible squeak when you drag them. The dosas are invariably soggy, the idlis hard, the sambar and chutney are a sham. Their cutlets get more minuscule by the day, there is no kick in the coffee, shakes look fake and their cutlery is terrible. Yet you will see people make a beeline to these cafes during lunch hour or any other time.
When you are wondering which to pick between two equally evil looking cafes, it is safer to pick Indian Coffee House because it is predictable. Which was why my parents chose Indian Coffee House for eating often when we were in Shimla. Years later, when I visited Shimla again I was thrilled to find the cafe safe on its spot on the Mall Road. It brought back memories of my first visit to the place.
Today I hear that the cafe is set to close down. I feel as if a trusted friend is going away forever. Corona has hit us hard in so many ways that it is difficult to fathom. So many things that we took for granted are snatched away from us. We are no longer free to travel when the mood takes us, we cannot eat out when we wish, we look at people with suspicion, wondering if they are carrying the dreadful disease, our children are holed in at home, we are living like rats, poking our noses out of home only to ferret for food.
In such times, closing of a familiar cafe in a beloved spot may not mean much to us personally but it is the death of one more memory, one more icon that bites the dust.
