Book Review: In those days there was no coffee Writing in Cultural History by A.R Venkatachalapthy

 ‘History is not yet what it aught to be’ – Marc Bloch

This book narrates the day to day life of Tamil Nadu in colonial time and their cultural artifacts in those days. AR Venkatachalapathy explains how coffee, tea, tobacco and other cultural signs had significant meanings in the colonial time. Instead of going to the stereotypical, elite and traditional historical narratives, Venkitachalapathy, a disciple of KN Panikkar, searches what roles coffee, tea and tobacco engaged in the making of modern Tamil Nadu. The book is divided in two parts and in the first part both material (coffee, tea and tobacco) and cultural (the cartoon, the city and modern literature) artefacts are elucidated and further the books related how they were consumed in colonial Tamil Nadu. And in the second part, it engages with the politics of language and identity in colonial Tamil Nadu. In the first part, the discussion is about the coffee. Coffee is not a simple word in those days. It is something very important sign, a cultural symbol which differentiates a range of cultures which transform through various trajectories. Drinking coffee was considered as a habit of middle class/ upper class/ caste of Tamil Nadu. Coffee has been accepted in the cultural domain of Tamil Nadu after years’ long negotiations with the tradition and practices. It was also considered as the symbol of acceptance of modernity of Tamil Brahmins and the reluctance of lower class/ caste people. It is not as easy as saying ‘drinking coffee’ but some opine that ‘One can write a whole puranam on coffee’; and ‘to go without my morning cup of coffee is like the world as crucial economic crises.

The story of coffee is a very recent one. According to the archives, the morning cup of coffee was unknown to people in those days. Coffee was first cultivated in Ethiopia; but soon it reached in India with it’s its cultural other, tea. But when it was introduced in India, it represented the colonial Europe; soon the debate was centred on the replacing of morning drink –neerajaram- of Indians with an alien drink -coffee-. So the general opinion was that coffee drinking is not required in our nation. Our ancestors never ever consumed it. Coffee is a kind of liquor. Stri Dharma, a radical woman organisation claims: ‘coffee here seems to stimulate cheerful for a little while  after drinking, but gradually subvert the vitality of the digestive organs that’s why the body is weak, this creates all sort of unknown diseases. People in Tamil Nadu used to drink the cold rice in those days, but coffee created a threat to that habit. So the debate soon diverted to the English coffee Vs Indian cold rice (payachoru) and cold rice personifies coffee as an immoral woman, who has led people astray and disturbed the (fasting) austerities connected with amavasi, ekadasi and karthigai. The patriarchal way of life taught that women are addicted coffee and consumed to western culture.

But the upper caste Brahmin used coffee as an evidence of their earlier acceptance of colonial modernity and they utilized it to dominate others, soon Tamil Nadu faced the discrimination in drinking coffee. For cultural reasons both coffee and tea were understood as the specific symbols of upper and lower castes. For Brahmins, coffee was a touchstone of hospitality, even if they were not providing coffee to their hosts, a mere invitation would do more in that days, the question ‘let’s have some coffee, was more symbolic than the act of providing coffee. If they did not invite for a coffee, it was understood as an insult to the host. The most insulting word in those days was to say, ‘their coffee is awful’. When coffee was a cultural symbol and more coffee hotels were open, Brahmin of Tamil Nadu found a new method to keep their notion of pollution up. They introduced the metal tumbler with rims. It served the role of hospitality to their co-casters and also a tool to keep untouchability. 

When coffee was somehow accepted in day to day life of Tamilans, the Tamil literature started to reflect the new habit. A lot of short stories, articles, puzzles, and riddles were written on coffee. There was an interesting passage in Tamil short story in which Siva descended and offered Kandasami Pillai a cup of coffee with Him. The story goes on like that:

‘As god sipped the coffee, a divine demeanour of having drunk some suffered his face.

This is my leela, said god.

‘This is not your leela, but the hoteliers’. Mixing Chicory with coffee is his handiwork. Show your mettle when you pay for the bill’, whispered Kandaswami Pillai, with his ears, content that he had sorted out the issue of paying for the coffee.

Chicory... what’s that? God looked up quizzingly.

Chicory powder resembles coffee, but it is not coffee. Like those who defraud people in the name of god’, replied Kandasami Pillai.

The issue of good/bad coffee rose soon. Making coffee with buffalo milk was a sign of cultural and moral degradation. It countered with the ‘Pasumpal Kapi Klub’ of Brahmin and Beef biriyani of lower caste/ middle class people. The Coffee hotel which was started every nook and corner of Brahmin populated streets soon became specific cultural symbols. Every third house is either a hair dressing saloon or a coffee hotel. This coffee hotel played the role of a place of congregation, for traders to clinch dealings with others, for families a meeting point in week days. The general addressing of coffee maker was, ‘Iyer, bring me a cup of coffee’ which says, that only the upper caste Brahmin had run hotel in those days. To overcome caste pollution, each hotel facilitated separate corner for Brahmins, and to question this was interpreted as the interfering of the personal matters. Later Periyar Ramaswami sharpene3d his knife against this inhuman practice and called for forcefully destroying the board which showed a sign of Brahmin.

Tea acted as the other of coffee. It was considered as the drink of middle class, lower caste people. The advertisements of tea have always been shown with the working class people. All most all the offices served with tea. Unlike coffee which was served mainly in Brahmin’s coffee hotel, Muslims were famous for strong and best tea. The common notion about the best tea was, ‘the best tea can be had only at Muslim house hold and non- vegetarian restaurant run often by Muslims. In colonial Tamil Nadu, both coffee and tea understood in a very different ways. Both produced and reproduced very different connotations, meaning. Though reluctant at first when coffee was introduced, but later it became a habit of most of Tamilians, there is story in Tamil literature, and it can be read as:

When a husband and wife quarrelled each other, wisdom appears and advises them that,

‘I tell you seriously, and after bitter experience, whatever you do, don’t cut out coffee. You may cut out food, you may go out in rages, or walk three miles to your office, but don’t meddle with coffee.

The story of tobacco was very different from that of coffee and tea. Tobacco was readily accepted by Indians. But later, after the colonial medicine and education introduced in India, tobacco lost its earlier charm and was considered as an intoxicants and dangerous substance as ganja and other drugs. If lend the words of Ashis Nandi, Tobacco was an Indian crop accidently discovered by the European! It was in its earlier days considered as a sign of good life, relaxation, cultural attainment and so on. Without any resistance, the Indian farmers accepted it as a domestic crop. It was not for exportation for two reasons. Europeans considered the Indian tobacco as coarse, rank, ill-flavoured. And Indians felt all these accusation as positive and they liked it, so the exportation held in a very low rate. 

The Tamil word for Tobacco is Pugai-ilai which means smoking leaf. Soon tobacco was explained with divinity. Divine origin of tobacco as explained in Tamil literature is: once three gods Siva, Vishnu and Brahman had a quarrel each other over the supreme power. Each claimed they were the most powerful. To find out a solution it was suggested that let three of them keep a leaf with them and give it without losing. Siva was given a vilvam leaf and Vishnu a basil leaf and Brahma was given a tobacco leaf. Both Siva and Vishnu lost their leaves, but Brahma could keep his leaf with him, and he relaxed: ‘em pathram pogalai’ (my leaf is not lost), the tobacco got that name, pogalai from this word. The rest of the book deals with other cultural and literary issues like cartoons in colonial Tamil Nadu, Imagination of a city, literature, culture and Identity.

Tamil Nadu from time immemorial tried to stand alone and agitated the cultural domination of non-Dravidian forces. So it stood up against the imported Indian nationalism over Tamil nationalism. Whenever a call for English/ Hindi/ Sanskrit education, then they counter-argued for a Tamil Nationalism.  Non Brahmin Vellalar elite challenged the notions of a monolithic Sanskrit based Hindu vision of India. Jadunath Sarkar’s book, ‘Confession of a History Teacher’ deals the importance of English in history writing. To him, for a better history work, English (language) is a necessary thing, a historian without linguistics skill and literary abilities and sensibilities would be no historian at all. According to Partha Chatterjee, all the historical works written in colonial time expressed the duality of material/ spiritual, outer/ inner, man/ women, world / home. The book seeks to negotiate the hierarchy of knowledge. Literature aspiration to occupy the space between the best of professional social science writing in English and the culturally sensitising centre in Tamil Nadu addressing for the most part of literary audience.