Biting into a crunchy piece of warm buttered toast along with sips from a steaming hot cup of tea sitting on a rickety wooden chair at this place, it may not have struck you that this could be the same chair where poet Kazi Nazrul Islam sat and ate breakfast nearly 80 years back.<\/p>\n
Look around. Did it occur to you that a round white marble-top table here may have been used by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to work out the blueprint of a plan to free the country from British rule?<\/p>\n
In a city where multistoried buildings are replacing century-old aristocratic mansions of both north and south Kolkata, Favourite Cabin<\/em> on College Street has stood the test of time. Not only that, the owners are trying to meticulously preserve the d\u00e9cor of many decades ago, consciously keeping itself out of the race to match the kitschy or the cool of swanky new caf\u00e9s.<\/p>\n Octogenarian\u00a0Badal Barua, co-owner of Favourite Cabin<\/em> says proudly, \u201cOur d\u00e9cor reflects the nostalgia of our glorious bygone days. So we have changed only those things that got damaged over a period of time. Everything else remains unchanged since inception.\u201d<\/p>\n Some new inclusions were plastic chairs. Barua regrets it though \u201cPlastic chairs are no match for the old wooden chairs on a lawn that are here since 1918. But we had to add some since wooden furniture is very expensive,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n An enormous coal furnace, a tin tray to toast the bread \u2013 are also torch-bearers of the cabin\u2019s century old tradition. Barua says, \u201cThese are not for display. We still toast breads in the coal-furnace because it brings a special taste. We could have gone for cheaper LPG cylinders, but our customers wouldn\u2019t approve of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sitting under a creaking DC fan, regular customer, Rathin Biswas, agrees, \u201cI come to Favourite Cabin<\/em> to soak in the tradition and nostalgia. If that changes, the place will lose its charm.\u201d<\/p>\n During first half of the 20th<\/sup> century, Nutan Chandra Barua and his elder brother Gaur Chandra Barua, who hailed from Bangladesh\u2019s Chittagaong, set up Favourite Cabin<\/em> in 1918 on 69B Surya Sen Street (then known as Mirzapur Street). The amiable and warm hearted reception of the owners made it a favourite haunt of people from every group \u2013 college students to freedom fighters.<\/p>\n Over the years the place may have fallen silent in comparison, but the memories of the many heated, intellectual debates on political ideology, fascinating and\u00a0whimsical conversations, remain. Dilip Barua says, \u201cWe\u2019ve never asked customers to leave, even after they finish their tea or food. They can spend hours on end and continue with their adda.\u201d<\/p>\n Favourite Cabin<\/em> has been a favourite destination for freedom fighters, prolific authors \u2013 all of whom were instrumental in shaping the future of India. Kazi Nazrul Islam used to acquire a table by the side of the window, sit there quietly for hours, words flowing from his pen. Subhas Chandra Bose was a regular who often listened intently to the poet.<\/p>\n Favourite Cabin<\/em> wasn\u2019t under major suspicion of the British police, and thus a safe place for the freedom fighters to work out their plans.<\/p>\n Dilip Barua (87), co-owner, remembers, \u201cEarlier, our cabin was divided into three parts \u2013 an outer area, followed by the inner chamber where all the plans and discussions on the freedom movement used to held, and then there was the kitchen. The cash counter was supervised by my father or uncle. If they sensed a police raid, they would tap a spoon on a plate to alert the revolutionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n He shows a small door by the kitchen, and adds \u2013 his eyes sparkling with child-like excitement, \u201cThe revolutionaries would escape through the door and police had to return empty-handed.\u201d<\/p>\n The thick, colossal walls of Favourite Cabin<\/em> have witnessed India\u2019s struggle for freedom, seen the birth of several political ideals, gone through the transition period during Independence, followed by fierce rivalry among political parties, and the stormy days of Naxal movement.<\/p>\n Retired teacher, Tapan Basu (78), says, \u201cI tried to sit as close as possible to those great leaders, so I could eavesdrop\u201d. Since then he makes sure to have a cup of tea every day at Favourite Cabin<\/em>.<\/p>\n Poet Sunil Gangopadhay was also a regular. Dilip Barua recalled, \u201cDuring the Seventies, due to a hike in sugar price, we placed a notice to increase the price of tea from 25 paisa to 30 paisa and Sunilbabu<\/em> protested it through a newspaper column.\u201d \u00a0Actor Soumitra Chatterjee was also a Favourite<\/em> visitor.<\/p>\n The menu here has remained almost the same over the years \u2013 tea, lemon tea, pan cake, slice cake.\u00a0 The price of the tea and toast makes it a popular destination still.\u00a0 Badal Barua says, \u201che cheap rate and\u00a0scope for unbridled adda here prove our superiority over those even among the younger generation.\u201d \u00a0Samadrita Banerjee, a student of Calcutta University echoed this, \u201cThe main attraction here are the long adda sessions without pinching the pocket.\u201d Shashwata Ganguly, a former student of Presidency University currently studying in Germany said, \u201cI was bowled over by the marble top tables. It evoked a sense of ancient Bengal within the heart of Kolkata.\u201d<\/p>\n Eighty-seven year old Dilip Barua continues to prepare tea and toast even today with great enthusiasm and love. The charming old Favourite Cabin<\/em> has witnessed awakening, rise and fall of many generations and ideologies. And every sip of tea, every bite of the toast here is filled with memories, nostalgia and the essence of Kolkata.<\/p>\n On its centenary year, Favourite Cabin <\/em>hopes to serve for hundreds of years to come.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Favourite Cabin\u00a0completes hundred years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-bengal","8":"category-editors-choice"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}