The iconic Cafe Samovar, which will down shutters on March 31, is planning various cultural activities over the next ten days, in an extended farewell to its fans.
The iconic Cafe Samovar, which will down shutters on March 31, is planning various cultural activities over the next ten days, in an extended farewell to its fans. The news of the iconic cafe shutting down has brought a nostalgic tear to the eyes of the city's culturati. The 50-year-old eatery at Kala Ghoda, which lost out on its space in Jehangir Art Gallery after a court order, is seeing thousands of people visit it for a last round of snacks and reminiscence of times past.
The family which runs the cafe may donate to visitors the decorations hung up there over the past 50 years. “My mother decorated the place according to seasons. There were kites for Makar Sankranti and fans for summers. People can collect these if they wish. We are also asking painters to paint the tables. We are bringing out a big whiteboard where people can write their messages. Pritish Nandy has said he will visit the cafe every day till it shuts down. Dolly Thakore pointed to a table, saying she sat there with Mario Miranda, RK Laxman and Vinod Mehta and that all of them have passed away. We have named the whole farewell 'So Long SAMs-50 years in style!!'. A poetry recital on the final day is also in the pipeline,” said Devika Bhojwani, daughter of Usha Khanna, who opened the cafe.
Bhojwani's friend Maleeka Lala is handling the online campaign for Cafe Samovar. People can take selfies or pictures at the cafe and post them online on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #50yearsofSamovar. “They can give us their name, their stories around the cafe and share old photos if they have any. The campaign is picking up momentum slowly and we have seen a few interesting stories online,” Lala said.
Bhojwani said, “People have been coming here as if on pilgrimage. We are trying to find seats to accommodate everybody and we just saw a group of 12 elderly men, who were easily in their 80s, sitting here. They said they have been coming here ever since it started and that they were from the stamp collectors' society. People have been asking us how could this happen? Didn't you do anything? But we have been fighting for 30 years to keep it alive and the ruling recently came out. Some concerned people even want to file PILs, I think. They are telling us to talk to the CM. We have been inundated with the press and people over the last few days.” Bhojwani said that her mother, who is now 87, has accepted the court's decision. Bhojwani added her mother said that all things must come to an end and that they will leave with their heads held high
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