Brewing culture and coffee

Iconic structure salvaged from the brink of demolition gets life

December 20, 2014 09:19 am | Updated 09:19 am IST - PUDUCHERRY:

The Indian coffee house: Before and After. Photo: T. Singaravelou

The Indian coffee house: Before and After. Photo: T. Singaravelou

> To scores of travellers who have passed by this former French enclave, the Indian Coffee House on Jawaharlal Nehru Street was not just another a coffee shop---it was a place integral to the city's culture scene.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the ICH was said to have attracted a range of writers, artists, residents and Aurovilians as they made plans for the ‘City of Dawn’. Virtually every resident and every other tourist will perhaps have a story to tell about their coffee house experience and its easy ambience in which perfect strangers could engage in a tete-a-tete over a steaming cup of the beverage. Perhaps it is here in the Indian Coffee House, the Puducherry Tourism Department’s slogan, ‘Give Time a Break’ rings most true. These days, the place attracts several tourists which featured prominently in the Booker prize-winning Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

Looking at the new-look Indian Coffee House today, it is unimaginable that it was once on the verge of demolition. Part of the heritage of this city is that when news spread of the plans of the management at the ICH to demolish the building some years ago, it was not just residents who felt outraged but Yann Martel himself.

Mr. Martel even shot off a letter in October 2007 asking the government of Puducherry to reconsider their decision, according to a copy of the letter which is with the Puducherry chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). After a false start by another agency, INTACH took over the work and a restored ICH opened its doors to its patrons in April this year.

The two storey Franco-Tamil building even has a decorative jali work on its parapet which can be traced to late Art Deco influence, according to INTACH. While the ICH project has its unique place of prominence among the success stories of heritage conservation in Puducherry, there is another exemplar project that brought together government agencies, INTACH, international collaborators and most importantly, local residents: the Vysial Street restoration project. The project was so well executed that it bagged the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Award of Merit 2008, and was selected to participate in the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

The Vysial Street project was a result of the Asia Urbs programme, a partnership between the Government of Puducherry, the European Commission, Urbino in Italy and Villeneuve sur-Lot in France, and assisted by Auroville.

The project restored the facades of around 20 houses and the Soussilabai school on this street in the Tamil quarters.

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