A mobile cafe to tell stories in different cities

Six young people with a passion for stories have set out to travel to eight cities with the unique mission of reviving the lost tradition of itinerant storytelling. They also hope to revive the gift economy — pay as you may.

Team Bean, comprising of four girls and two boys, all in their 20s on Monday started their 3,000 km journey on a  vehicle, called Cafe Bean Here Bean There. “We will be moving from one city to another, collecting and sharing stories, creating community spaces, mapping each city with things not so popular and conducting workshops. We have converted our van into a mobile cafe. We will interact with common people in different cities to share stories. At the end, we’ll document the stories of all these places,” Sukhmani Chani, a  member said.

There is no fixed price attached to the coffee or snacks in the mobile cafe; people can pay as they please, and tell stories. The team says it is a collaborative project between the six partners who will be on the road for a month.

“We intend to make it an annual feature, adding more cities and countries in the coming years,” team member Pratishtha Dobhal said. Starting from Chandigarh on Monday, the mobile cafe will explore Dehradun (Sep 18-19), Rishikesh (Sep 20), New Delhi (Sep 22-24), Jaipur (Sep 27-28), Udaipur (Sep 30-Oct 1), Ahmedabad (Oct 3-4) and Baroda (Oct 6) before returning.