Please don’t ask me to sit down. When we are in uniform, we are not supposed to sit down while talking to any guest. In fact, we have to maintain a particular posture while taking orders or talking to our customers. All this has become part and parcel of my life. After all, it is my 22nd year with the Indian Coffee House (ICH) and sixth year with this branch at Anna’s Arcade, near Spencer Junction.
I got this job through my brother-in-law. My first posting was at the ICH at Medical College [Thiruvananthapuram has 11 ICH outlets now]. I started as a cleaner and my uniform was white shirt and white pants, with a Gandhi cap. Cleaners get promoted as bearers and then we get a green belt and the kettu (turban) with green band. At the next level is head assistant bearer. Then we get to wear a green patta [akin to a breastplate], which is pinned on the chest and the green band on the turban gets a golden border. Next comes head bearer, which is my post now. I wear a red patta , red belt and turban with the red band and golden border. In another three years time, I hope to be promoted as supervisor. Then my uniform will be a crisp white cotton shirt and pants. The uniforms are provided by Indian Coffee Board Workers’ Co-operative Society and we each get three pairs a year.
With each promotion, the responsibilities increase. For instance, if there is any issue at the outlet, the head bearers are answerable to the managers. Although the outlet opens only at 8 a.m., we have to report for work at 6 a.m. because cleaning and other preparations have to be done. However, the job is not back-breaking since we all work in shifts. The morning shift is from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the next shift starts at 1 p.m. and is on till 9 p.m. We have regular weekly off and casual leave. So I get ample time with my family, comprising wife, Thankamani, and two sons, Gopukiran and Gopusharan. We stay at Kallayam.
I am very satisfied with my job. ICH has got this old world charm, a reason why it is a favourite place for people from different walks of life. Of the daily customers, around 80 percent are regular ones. We are friendly and close to most of them and they are like our extended family.
In fact, there are certain groups, whom we call the ‘irippu party’, who regularly come to the outlet to catch up with each other or to kill time.
Mutton omelette and cold coffee are the specialities of ICH. Gobi manchurian and chilli chicken are new additions on the menu.
If you ask me my favourite Coffee House dish, it is masala dosa. Our masala is special in that it has beetroot, beans, carrot, ginger, green chilli, potato and onion. The method of preparation is different. In fact, once when we served the masala without beetroot, a group of customers protested. That’s why beetroot is still an integral part of our dishes. The reason is purely economical as far as I know.
There is a heavy rush between five and seven in the evenings. On Sundays most people who come to the churches nearby have breakfast from here. In fact, food from ICH is a part of their Sunday mass!
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
