In the hustle bustle of west Delhi ‘One World News’ has found a hushed corner, they call it the May Day Café and Bookstore. Surrounded by the tall houses, small shops, honking cars, loud vendors and a rickshaw stand, May Day Café is slightly different from the other such establishments.
It is a place for those who are interested in leftist ideas and philosophies, although there are book of other genres as well like world cinema and Indian history. A unique place to read and discuss culture & politics, May Day Café endorses the idea of dedicating time to books.
More than often one may also find intellectuals meeting and discussing anything under the sun, here. The visitors are free to chose their books and enjoy their brew while working on their laptops and chatting with their friends. As you walk in, you are mesmerized with the calm and cool ambience, the very well organized book shelves and to add to the aura, there are black and white posters all around, which define the essence of the place.
Sudhanva Deshpande, who manages and runs the place, provides diverse reading options which surprisingly have a fair representation of the likes of Karl Marx and Antonio Gramsci. Both the bookstore and café are fixed with various bits and pieces of donated furniture. So the mismatched sofa, fridge and the odd chairs adds to the warm and cozy atmosphere of the place. The intellectually designed fresh mugs of coffee are truly the attraction of the whole café.
The cafeteria section operates on pay what you want concept where either one can give loads of money or leave without paying anything. One may also purchase coffee mugs, paperweights, bookmarks and jute bags from among the merchandise collections. The bookstore also works on a model which delivers books via bicycles to the ones who have ordered them online, although it is yet to hit the purple patch as there lies a crunch of delivery boys, Sigh!
Attached to the café, there is a small set up for theatre by the Jana Natya Manch (Janam). The name of the place is Studio Safdar and its new role is of a rehearsal space for theatre artists from Delhi. The name refers to one of Janam’s founder members, Safdar Hashmi, who was brutally murdered while performing a street play called Halla Bol in 1989. The set up has proved to be good news for the theatre artists who wanted space to practice their work. The walls of the theatre are painted black except one which is occasionally used for screening films.
The kettles have just boiled, yet, there is more to come.
Photo Courtesy : Harsh Agarwal,OneWorldNews
If you know of any such cool place and want to share your experience with us? Drop us a feedback at info@oneworldnews.in
