Bombay Rewind: Here's the story of Irani cafe in Girgaum

A little over 80 years ago a man mdash there is ambiguity here but he was possibly a Mr Pratap mdash returned wideeyed to Bombay after a trip to Paris The mesmerising splendour of the European capital city had left an indelible mark on his psyche So much so that he decided on a French name Bellevue or beautiful view for a residential property he was constructing This building was close to the Royal Opera House in Girgaum And when an Irani gentleman approached him with a proposal for a cafeacute in a vacant corner within that property Mr Pratap again made a request for it to be named after a historic coffee shop he had been to in ParisThat place was called Cafe de la PaixBut lets put the era we are talking about here in context first before we move any further in time Bombay back then was a work in progress as it still is It was an amalgam of horsedrawn carriages sharing street space with the countrys first automobiles Tram tracks zigzagged across parts of the south Dhoticlad labourers ferried goods on the roads that helped build the fortunes of traders wearing sola hats People were making their way here from different parts of the country taken in by an emerging sense of commerce And the initial Irani immigrants to the city were looking for ways of making a living having decided that Bombay is the new home they would settle inOne such way they found was to open cafeacutes in street corners The reason was simple enough mdash since such spots werent vastucompliant Hindus considered them inauspicious for business But the Iranis had none of that superstitious hankypanky So sensing an opportunity they took over these plots en masse converting them into partcafeacute and partconvenient store with a deacutecor that was distinctive of the community be it in the form of checkered tablecloths or portraits of Zarathustra their prophetGustad Dilshaw Irani Pics Atul KambleAnd Gustad Dilshaw Irani mdash the Irani gentleman who did accede to Mr Prataps request of naming his establishment Cafeacute Dela Paix mdash stuck to that memo minus the checkered upholstery He set up glass cabinets that displayed his wares all across the eatery with a framed picture of Zarathushtra placed above the counter for cash transactions Some of these cabinets were embossed with floral designs typical to his community with a board saying Trust in God symbolic of his belief system The menu was sparse mdash chai bunmaska omelettes and bhurji The tables and chairs strewn around the place were similarly nofrills but sturdy And soon enough business was booming especially after the neighbourhood transformed into a hub for automobile spare parts and the diamond tradeBy then the original proprietors son Dilshaw Gustad Irani had taken over the reins Irani as was customary of other such cafeacutes kept his doors open for customers regardless of class religion or creed So diamond merchants who got off at a tram junction that ended right outside the cafeacute could easily sit next to a table with a coolie nursing a cup of tea And this led to a sense of inevitable goodwill being conferred upon the gentleman People no matter who they were felt accepted at Cafeacute Dela PaixVilla Bellevue with Cafe Dela Paix in the groundfloor cornerBut gradually the times started changing The trams became defunct The diamond business moved to Bandra Kurla Complex The government set up a nosmoking policy inside eating houses And the number of customers consequently started dwindling So what does one do in a situation like this Spruce up the deacutecor and raise the prices you might think But Irani did none of that He let the cafeacute that his father had built remain exactly the way it had been since inception In fact its almost as if we have zipped back in time when we visit the place ourselves on a Friday morningThe glass cabinets show the stains of wear and tear Hungry termites have eaten away at the wooden panels The embossments show no signs of ageing though but thats only because they are made of pure gold And the general air of the place is such that if we had shut ourselves in for a while with all the doors closed we wouldnt be surprised if we walked out into a world where horsedrawn carriages were still the order of the day and people roamed around in topis and dhotisAnd thats why places like Cafe Dela Paix are such an integral stitch in the fabric of this city Look at the next halffinished highrise you spot and ask yourself how greedy are we for change and at what cost to history are we willing to accept it Who the hell has the time for such answers you might counterquestion Well Gustad Dilshaw Irani mdash the thirdgeneration proprietor of Cafeacute Dela Paix who shares the same name as his grandfather mdash does Hes the one who recounts its story for us after a fair bit of coaxing it must be said And the 46yearold tells us that he like his father wouldnt refurbish the place even if you gave him sacks full of money This place is an heirloom for the city and I wouldnt want to take it away from it he says voicing a sentiment that seems as incongruous to our era as a chunk of diamond would be in a shop selling spare parts for automobilesStars drop byA flat in Indira Nivas in pic below a building down the lane from Cafe Dela Paix is where yesteryear actress Rekha Sabnis used to live Its where parts of the film Bhumika starring Smita Patil was filmed Sabnis was a regular visitor to the cafe with Patil also having dropped in there from time to time And Sahitya Akademiwinning writer Kiran Nagarkar is another famous face to have frequented the placeCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates