Amy March, in the novel Little Women, sketched a cartoon of her teacher, Mr Davis, while she battled boredom in the classroom. Enola Holmes drew cartoons of Mycroft Holmes and Miss Harrison to mock them and their conventional beliefs when she was sent to boarding school. Even the film maestro, Satyajit Ray, often entertained himself with doodling. Cartoons, as an art form, offer a unique blend of humour, calm and composure, which may effortlessly wipe away the pressures and frustrations of societal responsibilities, corporate work demands, politics and even mere school homework. A laugh is a necessity, and those who ease the burden of such minds weighed down by stress must be considered society’s saviours, as they dig ways to load off those burdened minds and recycle them to think fresh.
This week we came across one such saviour, providing solace to the people of Kolkata from the fast-paced and hectic metropolitan lifestyle by offering them the magical combination of coffee and cartoons.
Nestled beside the Tollygunge Metro station, Kolkata Coffee, which covers no more than 3 ft by 5 ft of pavement space, is the brainchild and single-handed creation of Shyama Prasad Dey. This little shop is no less than a museum itself. Along with 4 to 5 seating arrangements, every corner of this blue-coloured shop is plastered with black and white whimsical cartoons and intricate sketches, including calligraphic quotes.
Initially, Dey assisted and finally took over his father’s book-selling business in 1993, and then shifted it near the Tollygunge metro station. The previous shop unfortunately reached its expiration date during the onset of the Covid pandemic, with reading mostly becoming digital. Therefore, as someone from the working class of the nation, hope and idleness were never options. As soon as the global pandemic hit its last days, he established his coffee shop, just outside the Tollygunge metro station.
Dey speaks of his origin of interest: “I used to doodle during my early days in the book shop. Gradually, I came up with the idea of drawing some of those on greeting cards and initially showcasing some for sale. To my astonishment, those items were swiftly purchased, prompting me to create more in response to the escalating demand. Hence, I dived deep into the world of art. After discovering my area of interest, it was up until the year 2016 that I eventually took part in different exhibitions and fairs, as after that I became severely sick from taking long bus journeys from my home to attend such events.”
Even though he visits his coffee shop every day at 6 p.m., his entire day remains packed. His day starts at 4 a.m., when he sets off for the Baghajatin fish market to sell tea, and he only returns around 10 a.m. after securing the day’s earnings. He says, “I sell tea to the fish sellers who cannot move around to buy tea now and then. Fishermen, as they engage in strenuous physical labour since the break of dawn, mostly rely on sips of tea to stir them up for work.”
There is stiff competition among tea sellers; hence, for his shop in the Tollygunge area, he made the rule of selling coffee only in order to segregate himself from the other hawkers in the same area and also not to bother anyone else’s business. He even caricatured a few boards with writing on them that say, “Ekane cha paben na”, meaning one won’t get tea here.
Dey’s pseudonym, ‘Dhopeshwar Maharaj’ is because he not only draws individuals in cartoons but also adds witty one- or two-liners as captions. Often, people get surprised by reading these captions that match their current mood, thoughts or personalities.
“The idea to draw on coffee cups was from my daughter’s, who told me of coffee shops that write customers’ names on their coffee cups. Therefore, along with serving coffee, I can draw cartoonish profiles of people who visit my shop, instantly, for a very nominal price,” he adds.
Dey handles his clients quite decently. While offering his customers their cups of coffee, he himself sips one too, to set a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere, hence allowing the former to gulp and digest their mundane work pressure along with his coffee.