Right outside gate 1 of Tollygunge Metro station is Shyama Prasad Dey’s coffee stall. It is, however, no ordinary coffee stall. Adorned with caricatures, paintings, cartoons and witty doggerel verses, this stall stands apart from the rest. A busy man, Dey spoke with My Kolkata about his life, journey, and unique take on a coffee stall while serving the beverage piping hot to eager customers. Occasionally, he also obliged them by drawing their caricatures on the coffee cups.
Cartoons, caricatures, witty one-liners adorn his coffee shop
‘Surviving hardships is what life is all about’
Even though he visits his coffee shop every day at 6pm, his entire day remains packed. His day starts by 4am, when he sets off for the Baghajatin fish market to sell tea. He only returns around 10am, after securing the day’s earnings. “We sell tea to the fish sellers who cannot move around to buy tea now and then. Our USP lies in the fact that we can move around while selling tea. There is stiff competition among tea sellers and it is a fight for survival. But surviving hardships is what is life all about,” says Dey smiling as he pours a cuppa to another eager customer.
‘Sudhui coffee, cha paben na’
One of the boards out adorning his shop
Dey’s story began in Bijoygarh where he was born and raised. He went to a local school and for graduation was enrolled in South City College. But he couldn’t complete his graduation. Before long, he found himself assisting his father in his book-selling business. Eventually, he shifted his business to Tollygunge, and started selling his books outside the Metro station where he currently sells his coffee. That was in 1993. Till 2020, his business kept him afloat. During the Covid years, his business started to flounder. He lives in a family of 17 members. That is when he decided to sell tea on his cycle in Baghajatin, Garia, Bansdroni and Jadavpur twice a day. That is when he also decided to set up a coffee stall.
But why coffee? “I thought of selling tea here (at the stall outside gate 1 of Tollygunge Metro station). But here my friends were also selling tea and I needed to differentiate myself from them so that people came to my stall,” he says. Accordingly, several signs in his stall warn people not to ask for tea. One of them reads, ‘Sudhui coffee, cha paben na’ (you will only get coffee here, not tea).
The story of Dhopeshwar Maharaj
‘Dhopeshwar Maharaj’ is the pseudonum that Shyama Prasad Dey uses for all his writings
All the witty two-liners and pieces of advice or instruction come from Dhopeshwar Maharaj – Dey’s pseudonym. The rationale behind this is simple, people are more likely to listen to someone fictitious, than someone real. But his decision to start painting was heavily influenced by his daughter, Suryasree, who egged him on to make something unique out of a coffee stall. The 23-year-old works as a backend employee for an event management company.
“My daughter once told me that there are coffee shops where they write your name on the coffee cups. She gave me the idea to start drawing on the cups. I paint the caricatures of people who visit my shop, instantly, for a very nominal price. Now, a lot of people visit my coffee stall because they can also get a picture of themselves,” says Dey.
Dey uses the pseudonym ‘Dhopeshwar Maharaj’
Dey used to enjoy painting but now he feels like he is obligated to paint because people travel from far to have their caricatures sketched. When asked what he enjoys the most, he said that he enjoys life as it is with its various challenges.
Though Dey barely gets time to breathe, Dey wouldn’t change a thing. “I do not need any more rest than what I get already. Life is for living,” he concludes.
