“Reading gives us a place to go when we have to stay where we are.” 

A book comes with no reservations. You can safekeep a book, begin it at your own pace, go back, flip forward or close it and take a nap. The book doesn’t mind & the book never moves. You will always find it where you kept it last – on your bed-side stool, under the lamp shade, next to your wrist watch & coffee mug that has left a ring on the wood. A book is a fair deal, and you can take whatever you wish out of a book.

This is why books have always been my favorite. And I am always on the lookout for good books, good tea and good cafes. And I found such a place in the city of Pune – the Waari Book Cafe!

This is a little place with mats, cots, swings, chairs, cushions and a lot of books. The kitchen is small with very limited menu options. Everything I ordered was okay in taste, but nothing to remember the place by. Fortunately, Waari Book Cafe doesn’t need it. They want to be remembered by books and they have done an excellent job at doing that.

They charge 50 bucks per person and you can stay in the place for as long as you like. Ain’t that cool? It’s a perfect place for perpetually broke students who want to hang out but don’t have enough money to shell out. Leave your shoes outside the cafe, pick a book from the library out together at the entrance, grab a seat for yourself and book a date with yourself. No one to disturb – just you and your book.

I wish I had access to a place like this when I was doing my post graduation. Places like these immediately brighten up the drab days that you occasionally have. And the joy comes from the book smiling at you from the top of a bookshelf. 

Life would be so sorted if the world was a cafe where everyone would come, pick a book that suits their taste, claim a corner or a cushion enough to accommodate only them, read as long as they would want & leave when they may. No judgements. No interference. Only peace. Only love. And only books.

Cafe details: 

Address: Kai Pu Bha Bhave Marge, Mahaganesh Colony, Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra 411038

Phone no.: 09822666550

Open hours: 10 am to 10 pm

Cost for two: INR 300