Last Sunday afternoon, we had stopped by at Leaping Windows — a cafe in Versova that doubles up as a library for comic books and graphic novels — for a cup of tea. There was just one empty table in the al fresco section, the place bustling with both upwardly mobile youngsters and filmy folk who live in the vicinity.

We took a chair, asked for the tea, and in the middle of our cuppa, spotted Utsa Shome, the co-owner, stepping out for a smoke. So, we went up to him to say 'Hi', thinking that our conversation would entail little more than an exchange of pleasantries. And that's why it came as a surprise when Shome told us, "Oh, by the way, we are starting to serve beer in a week."