For long, the idea of erudition to any college-going Calcuttan would have been reading books — preferably from outside the curriculum — at least before smart phones began to take over all their attention.

However, a restaurant in Bolpur — located less than 3km from the Visva Bharati campus — is trying to undo the change by rolling out an incentive to lure the young and the restless into the world of words.

Starting this week, Panchabyanjon, a 70-seater family restaurant in Bolpur’s Netaji Market, will offer a free cup of coffee to anyone who reads a book at the eatery for more than an hour.

“It’s an experiment,” eatery owner Tapos Mullick said when asked whether a cup of coffee would be enough in the battle between books and smart phones. Mullick didn’t have a clear answer. According to him, he set up a small library — with over 600 titles — at his family restaurant as he thought books would prompt some among his patrons to browse through them.

That experiment, however, failed miserably. “Most of the students who came in here would just be looking at their smart phones and occasionally at each other. The books didn’t get the attention,” he said.

The owner of Panchabyanjon (loosely translates to five curries) wanted to try one last time and the idea of incentivising reading struck him. Mullick, who tries to write poems in Bengali, said his intention was to promote books for the millennials’ interest.

So, he planned a makeover of his eatery. This week, the library — which houses new and varsity-worn titles from across politics and the arts and sciences — was christened Book Bar.

Asked about the seeming innuendo in the library’s name, Mullick said: “I know that if the books don’t attract them, then the coffee surely will.”

The idea may sound unique, but it would have cost implications for the eatery as book readers would have to be served with coffee as promised. If there is a rush of readers, wouldn’t it pinch him?

“I haven’t yet worked out the cost benefit analysis… But I can expect that people spending some time will also munch something with coffee,” smiled Mullick.

So, is it a marketing gimmick? The owner said it was up to the patrons to decide the motive behind the move.

“Had only marketing been the motive, I wouldn’t have set up this library,” said Mullick.

Amid questions on the motive behind the move, officials at neighbouring Visva Bharati welcomed the initiative.

“I do think that the youth are too engrossed with their technology these days. Some of them read e-books, but the habit of reading real books should stay in our society,” said Manbendra Mukhopahdyay, the chief coordinator of Visva Bharati’s Bangladesh Bhavana.

“Even Rabindranath Tagore used to lead book discussions with a cup of tea when he lived in Santiniketan,” he added.

Former Kala Bhavana curator, Sushovan Adhikari, agreed.

“A cup of coffee is a must with a book, and here it is free. I think youths will flock there,” he said.

“I love reading itself, but I will also take many of my coffee-loving friends along with me next time,” said Nafis Afnan, an undergraduate student of Bengali hailing from Bangladesh.