Marx Sipping Tea at Nehru’s Dhaba

by GAURAV JOGI PATHANIA

A student of modern Delhi would hardly be aware of the word ‘dhaba’. Thousands of Delhi-ites are oblivious of the existence of a jungle called Jawaharlal Nehru University, right at the heart of South Delhi. Despite being surrounded by big malls, continental hotels and very expensive coffee cafés, JNU has always been famous for its dhabas. These dhabas are the nocturnal hotspot of the university and famous for their tea and samosa, not for coffee. Instead of what the market says ‘a lot can happen over a cup of coffee’, is happening in JNU over a ‘cup of tea’. The dhabas of JNU are not just the sign of offering tea, but famous spots for initiating debates on national and international issues. Interestingly, these dhabas do not provide any chair to sit. There are stones which are uneven, amorphous and rusty but still have an intoxicating effect which allows students to sit in long chats stretching over hours. Most of the restau-rants in Delhi work till midnight but the dhabas in JNU are open till early morning and there is now a new dhaba which works for 24/7.

The most interesting fact is that the university is named after India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, but there is hardly anything on him, except his bust in the library and statue in front of the administrative block. He is annually remembered at the time of the ‘Nehru Memorial Lecture’. There is no ‘Karl Marx Memorial Lecture’ but Marx exists in the air, on the walls and in the heart of JNU-ites. His influence is all-pervasive since the last forty years. The dhabas in JNU are witness to the existence of the whole range of Marxist thinkers and their hour-long debates through the night. The ‘Ganga dhaba’ is the first and the most celebrated dhaba being known as the ‘throbbing heart’ and ‘Page 3’ of JNU, and also a symbol of its tradition and culture. Students of different unions start from or end their protest or ‘mashaal juloos’ at this dhaba. Every year, newcomers are told by their seniors that ‘this is the place which has produced Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury and many more Marxist leaders’. They are also asked to read Marx to get good grades in their term papers.

Similarly, the dhaba tea has a very special role in the life of JNU-ites. It is always one rupee cheaper than the other places in Delhi. Students spend their whole night debating and discussing on local, national and international politics. These debates are full with the criticism of mainstream thinkers of social sciences. The combination of tea and cigarette makes the discussion-spirit high, healthy and argumentative.

The dhabas are the best target for a student union activist to paste their posters which is another attraction for those who come alone to take tea. These posters and pamphlets offer the latest topics for debates and tea becomes the medium to discuss them. Interestingly, there is no poster of Jawaharlal Nehru in the JNU but one can see how the walls are replete with the handmade colourful posters of Marx, Lenin, Che and lately including Ambedkar, Periyar and Phule.

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THE JNU had been opposed to the idea of market capitalism since its inception. In 2004, Nescafe had established its coffee stall in the middle of the campus, which was thrown out by the students. A big agitation was led by the student unions making the students aware about the penetration of the market forces through a small café that would have destroyed the whole JNU tradition. These students were worried about the survival of these dhabas, the only source of income for the migratory poor. Finally, administration had to yield to the students’ demand. For an outsider, establishing a café shop would be the sign of development but for the JNU students it was the signal of breaking down of many poor families, threatening their survival. That is why a cup of coffee is not the first choice of a JNU-ite, rather he is more attached to a cup of tea. It explains the whole economic and social system where labour is exploited by the owner of tea gardens, processing companies, and finally the distributors. It also explains the village economy which provides fresh buffalo milk at cheap rates but subsequently adulterated by the milk companies which finally come to these dhabas on very expensive rates. Although, the way of exploitation is the same in case of coffee and tea but the JNU students were opposing the agenda of the MNCs.

Tea is the connector of not only students or friends, but teachers and students as well. Being a residential campus, one could find a supervisor and students sipping tea at these dhabas and chatting about research and personal problems which is the uniqueness of the JNU. Some of these dhabas still continue to be uncemented structures but surviving very well all through these years. Ganga, Nilgiri, Mamu’s and Sabarmati dhabas are very famous for tea and one of these dhaba owners even possesses a doctoral degree. All these make the JNU a very accommodating place for the students from every region, religion, caste, tribe, nationa-lities and gender, imbibing others’ ideas, culture, tradition and language over a cup of tea!

Nehru would have never thought that his name would be associated with Marx. But there is one common thread that binds these two, and that is their goal of Socialism, which Jawaharlal Nehru University is trying to bring forth, through the teachings of Mao, Lenin, Che and Marx during the last four decades.