Soul Feed: Kunzum Cafe; too good to be true!!

Sunday 23 September 2012

Kunzum Cafe; too good to be true!!

Good coffee, yum cookies, free wifi, relaxed atmosphere and lots of travelogues to read on!!

Yeah indeed this sounds like a coffee café, but hold on untill your thoughts wander into the normal lines of what a café is all about.

As students of journalism we need to make a documentary on a topic of choice. So to find a place where we can have our long hours of script writing sessions, we spotted this café, KUNZUM CAFÉ in the posh locality of Hauz Khas Village. I have been to this place once before and it was my second visit and this time with two of my friends. I was looking for my favorite place near the French window, to steal glimpses of what is happening outside as well (this is the reason why I always pray for a window seat in a bus). But anyways somebody was already enjoying that corner of the café so we found another cozy place to sit. We ordered for 3 cups of coffee and then I started looking around at the place. One thing you would notice at the very first sight would be magnificent and beautiful paintings hanging on the walls. At once it would look like an art museum and indeed a striking one. The paintings are by Mr. Ajay Jain. Mr. Ajay Jain is the brain behind ‘Kunzum Café.’ He started this place over 2 years back.

Painting by Mr Ajay Jain

The brilliant concept running behind this café is that, anybody can come and sit for as long as they want without the compulsion of buying anything. You do get coffee and tea along with yum cookies and though it is not free but you can give the price whatever you feel like! And you don’t have to give it to anybody; there is a small collection box near the entrance where you can drop any amount as you please to. And free Wi-Fi is like a bonus offer.

The soothing coffee

The box to put money

While I was having a look around at the café, I spotted a place where there were stacks of books kept over a wide spread wooden shelf. Travel books dominate the collection. No wonder they have a whole book called, ‘Kunzum Travel Guide’ where they have mentioned about the most interesting and unusual places around the country. And as I was roaming around and clicking the pictures, the General manager, Mr Apurbo, spotted me and called me. I got a little apprehensive (though I had taken a prior permission to click there) and was hell bent on assuring him that sir you can check my notes, there is nothing I am writing that you would not want me to. All my worries were put to complete rest when he politely started conversing with me and telling me more about Kunzum café. He told me that they will be starting a proper 6-months course on travel writing. They would set up criteria of selecting students for their course, like an entrance exam or something.

Arun Paule Verma, a well known lens man conducted a photography workshop here which was covered by ‘Travel Secrets; magazine. This is just one of the many achievements which I am mentioning. Hindustan Times, Forbes etc have all covered stories on Kunzum Café.

Talking about its relaxed atmosphere, the café has a very friendly set up, with Bob Marley singing in the background (through a music system) and wide variety of tea to offer which includes, chai masala, Darjeeling tea, green tea, lemon flavored tea, green tea and mint, elaichi tea, jasmine green tea and classic Assam tea. All the tea lovers, you get the hint, right?

It’s not just a peaceful environment which develops your love for the place but also a unique way of maintaining contacts with the customers. They have a pile of beautiful diaries and scrapbooks, each for a different purpose. On one you can leave your name and e-mail id. One is for exclusively writing messages and feedbacks to Kunzum Café. There is also a diary where you can write your personal anecdotes, like somebody wrote about a trip to Mumbai. You will also find a kind of a photo essay book, where you can paste pictures or self made sketches and describe something about it. There is also something for the book lovers, it’s a diary named ‘Book wag,’ a kind of a Book club where people can recommend various books like they have recommended ‘Tipping Point,’ ;Monk Who Sold His Ferrari,’ ‘River Dog’ by Mark Shand etc. There is also a proud bulletin board placed upon the wall where people have pinned there sweet messages on small papers, small kites and spoons made of light wood.