Unwind your mind : Shisha Cafe

What kind of café do you prefer to hop on? I prefer a place where I could unwind my mind, forget the worries of the external world and spend an exhilarating time. In one such hunt of a calming place on one cold night in Tokyo I bumped into a café, about which I am describing ahead.

Image credit : Japan travel

Tucked away in between dazzling shops and cafes in one of the many narrow lanes of Shimokitazawa lies an underlit small room. A big glass facing the road and a tilted wooden door often shut that gives signs of yielding is the only view one can get from the lane. Wait! maybe you can get more. The big transparent glass reveals an entire inside of the café’s area. The casual stretched-out position in which people are sitting inside low-lying tools will never appeal to an outsider. But, If the books can not be judged by their cover, so a café should not be judged by its interior. Welcome to Shisha Café, Shimokitazawa. 

A small room which nowhere fits into the idea of a café we usually have. No chairs, no flashy lights, no colorful walls, no artifacts, no tables. It was late 10 pm at Shimokitazawa and most of the shops were shut. A few which remained open had stopped taking in customers. The cold was catching up with the night and other than stray people no signs of humans were visible. We were prepared to go back to our dormitory just when we passed by a small shop which I had seen earlier but never ventured inside. Partly because of the guests inside smoking Shisha(Hookah), partly because of the smoke coming out of the door kept ajar and partly because of the less attractive ambience inside I never thought of sitting in. 

 A young lady was fanning flames into a few pieces of charcoal outside the café. Although I never expected the café to be serving more than alcohol or a hookah(sheesha), yet I asked the lady “nanji made”(up to what time) and pointed towards the shop. 

She understood that I am asking up to what time the café remains open. “ichiji “, She showed her index finger which in any language on earth means 1.

I recalled a few grammar notes from my Japanese language class and asked, “Kohee ga arimasu ka” (Is coffee available) The reply was yet again in a universal language of a smile and nodding of the head which meant “yes”. 

We followed the lady inside the café. It was a square open space. The side opposite to the main door had a small washroom and beside it was the café counter. Low-lying wooden benches rested against the other three walls. I removed a worn-out pillow over one such bench to find a place to sit and made myself comfortable. A Japanese guy sitting beside me was busy editing photographs on his laptop. Across me on a similar dilapidated bench sat a girl and a boy. Beside them, a well-built man was busy puffing his all energy into hookah. Another hookah was shared by a man and a girl resting their back on the glass facing the street. All seemed to know each other and apart from puffing cigarettes and hookah they were chatting amongst them.

After a brief period, I asked the guy who had spent all his energy in one last smoke from his hookah before setting it aside, “Are you all from Japan?”.

 “No, we are from Mars”. They all started laughing.

 The lady towards my right held her breath and explained that she is from Japan, the guy next to her is from South Africa, the other guy is Japanese and the girl next to her with short hair is from South Korea. The well-built man interjected her and said, “I am partly from Japan and partly from the United States of America”. “Oh wow”, I showed signs of interest in him, “How your composition is so unique?”, I asked.

 “My father is an American and my mother is Japanese. When you mix different chemicals what you get is a composition as unique as me”. To my question "Onamaye wa nan desu ka"  (What is your name) He went on to explain that since Japanese people have short names, and they cannot pronounce long and difficult names each of them have a nickname. The rule of nickname is to pick the first syllable from the name and put a suffix ‘chaann’. His name was Alex and his nickname is Achaann, the Japanese girl was named Yuko and her nickname was Yu-Chaann. The South African guy was Ryan and he was referred to as Ry-chaann. Even though A-chaann had been in Japan for the past 22 years but he still harbored this yearning of going back to the United States and had kept with him his US passport instead of a Japanese Passport. 

“My parents stay in Nagano, which is famous for various things like snow, snow, snow”.

 “Apple”, Yu-chaann cut in between.

 “Oh yes, apple, snow, snow….”. 

“And you”, I said

 “Me? I was an accident” Laughter, conversation, and smoke started freely flowing inside the room. The lady opened the door to let the smoke out. A piece of unknown rock music, the words of which were just barely comprehensible, was playing in the backdrop. The three best ingredients of any inebriated atmosphere are good music, good conversation, and a good laugh. Within a few minutes of our entry, I was inebriated by the intensity of these three ingredients. 

 On another day I met an Indian guy named U-chaan (His name begins with U). He was very regular there in the café and had a lot many acquaintances amongst the cafe regulars. So, A-chaann had told me about U-chaann but it was on my fourth visit to Sheesha café that I happened to meet him. U-chaann happened to be a sought-after guy in Sheesha café. Before his arrival told me that U-chaann is also coming just after a few minutes. When he did, I realized why he was being waited after. He had a persona of a guy next door whom you can go and talk to any time. The moment he entered I had this feeling that somehow either Sheesha belongs to him, or He belongs to Sheesha. Talkative, knowledgeable, humorous, and quite engaging. Not a single time I felt that I had met him only once. Following him arrived a Turkish guy J-chaann. He was a translator of languages, and he made the atmosphere warmer and more hilarious. Together with Uchaann, Jchaann, A-chaann, and two other girls (One Japanese and one Indonesian) I had a spell of laugh riot inside the café. We discussed topics as weird as human anatomy (I have diluted the word to appear soberer) to Indian independent musicians like Prateek Kuhad and Osho Jain and definitely about Sheesha. At some moment I was kneeling on my knees and laughing. 

Before parting at around 1 am , I told them that I have had such a laughing session after a long time. To which Uchaan reverted “Welcome to Shisha Café”.

That’s Shisha Café for you.