Friends meet for coffee at the landmark Indian Coffee House on College Street in Kolkata, India.
Also known as the College Street Coffee House, the cafe is located across from the Presidency College. At the same location, since the early 1940′s, it was and still is a favorite meeting place for students, poets, artists, writers and other intellectual types. Now owned by the Indian Coffee Workers Co-operative, it looks much the same as it did in the late days of the Raj. One goes there for the ambiance and not the coffee, which, either hot or cold, is much like dishwater.
A half mile of booksellers, large and small, spill out on both sides of College Street, just down from the Coffee House. Known as Boi Para (Colony of Books), it is the largest used book market in the world and the biggest in all of India. One can find almost any title ever printed in India, as well as titles, in and out of print, from much of Europe and beyond.
Dalo 2013
20 Jan 2014Very cool perspective!
fotograffer
24 Jan 2014Thanks Randall and thank you for visiting.
catbirdinamerica
20 Jan 2014Looks just like my kind of place, Ron. I love it!
fotograffer
24 Jan 2014Yes, me too. Just wish the coffee was better. 🙂
catbirdinamerica
25 Jan 2014Ah, too bad it wasn’t! 🙂
anotherday2paradise
20 Jan 2014Your photos perfectly capture the ambience of both the coffee house and the book market, Ron. Love the name of the street. “Chatterjee” seems most appropriate. 😀
fotograffer
24 Jan 2014Thanks Sylvia, as always.
Tina Schell
20 Jan 2014Fun Ron! Love the shot from above!
fotograffer
24 Jan 2014A change in perspective often makes for a more interesting image. Thanks Tina.
Pinetree Photo Nature Discovery
21 Jan 2014I like the guy reading the paper over the shoulder of the guy next to him – great expressions.
fotograffer
24 Jan 2014In India people reading newspapers is a very common site, unlike most places. Thank you Carol.
bluebrightly
1 Feb 2014Amazing! I love these – thanks.
fotograffer
8 Feb 2014Thank you.