An interesting book, a good cup of coffee and the hours can go by. We are not talking about the cafes in Hyderabad where, in the off-peak hours, you are likely to find someone poring over a book or working on a laptop. Think of a cafe attached to a bookstore that can transform into an adda for the exchange of ideas, reading recommendations or playing a boardgame. Qahveh Khaneh, the compact cafe at the entrance of Akshara Books in Journalists Colony, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, is built on such a concept.
In the Middle East, Qahveh Khaneh refers to coffee houses where people socialise, exchange news and read. Abhilasha Atluri, the entrepreneur behind Hyderabad’s Qahveh Khaneh, might have borrowed a Middle-Eastern name for her venture but she mooted the idea of starting a cafe attached to Akshara Books on returning from her college stint in the United States, where she saw Barnes & Noble bookstores adjacent to Starbucks.
Akshara is among the last few independent bookstores in the city. The store, set up in the 1990s, has changed a few addresses before it moved to its current location eight years ago. In its early years, Akshara set a precedent by hosting visiting authors in interactive sessions with readers. With the opening of Qahveh Khaneh in January 2022, the store has revived the hosting small events, calling them ‘Guftagoos at QK’. A few photographs on a moodboard of the cafe documents vignettes of these events. There will be more.
