Once in a while someone asks, and I say, “It’s a chain of coffee shops, kind of like Starbuck’s, but Indian.” The answer never seems satisfactory, which must be my own fault. I suppose it’s the way I say the words Coffee Day, the way a person might say knight in shining armor or beloved or at least hot fudge sundae, depending on preferences.
Coffee Day has rescued me in many a city, places where a woman should never sit down alone or where every business locks up for hours in the afternoon. Its sign is a red beacon, visible from blocks away, that says “Come. Sit. We'll take care of you.”
Not that it’s all that special inside. A Coffee Day usually has a clean to cleanish (it is India, after all), modern interior, with little square tables and reasonably comfortable chairs. The cappuccino is milky, with a heart swirled into the foam. Drinking water comes in little plastic bottles. Sandwiches, if needed, may be chicken, paneer, or spinach and corn. Sweets are mostly chocolate colored, but with only the mildest, if any, chocolate flavor.
Though the majority of customers are always men, it is the sort of place where ladies meet for coffee. Schoolgirls can be trusted to come on their own to share a slice of cake for a treat. In some places, clusters of students appear in the afternoon, boys at one table and girls at another. The important thing is that I can sit undisturbed, sip a coffee and check my map, read, or daydream.
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