Our Journey from a Chai Biscuit Stall to a Literary Name.

10 Years of Crafting Experiences

to Deliver Well-Being and Harmony through Arts, Literature and Cultural Activities

The journey started with an idea of making regional specialties available to people. Deep down the idea was to help connect with their roots and eventually with themselves. To do so, regional specialties were sourced and sold it in the flea markets with a stall serving chai (making chai and serving) and biscuits (Hyderabad Karachi Bakery Biscuit) & dry fruits. Seeing the response, a café in Pune (in 2015) was started which serves and sells these products. At Nukkad Café, the Masala Chai served is a blend of Assam Chaipati & Kerala Spices, served along with Hyderabad’s Karachi Bakery biscuits.

As the café gained popularity, it became clear that connecting people with themselves shouldn’t be limited to food alone. The café then started hosting music, art and cultural events. Nukkad Café became the first café as a community space in Pune, which encouraged all forms of arts & literature. It is the first café to start playing free live music in café set-up. It is the oldest venue for stand-up comedy in Pune and now it also runs Pune’s largest active poetry club.

Beyond our walls, we extended these events to other libraries and cafés, helping to cultivate a vibrant arts and literary scene across the city. Pre-COVID, every month, we were facilitating, approximately 90 events at 30 venues in the city, engaging over 2,500 people.

During COVID, we facilitated aspiring authors and poets to publish books and we have published 4 books in Kindle.

Nukkad Café also became the first café in Pune (perhaps the first in India) to be awarded as Best Book Café in 2022, marking a milestone in the literary timeline of the city. The award was given by Pune Times Mirror. Today we have 3 branches in Pune and we are working on the franchise model. Additionally, we are the only café that organizes a city-wide literary festival. Every April, in celebration of World Book Day, we host "Pune’s World Book Day" —a month-long literary festival. In 2024, the festival featured 70 authors, 37 events at 10 venues over 10 days, and attracted over 2,000 participants. As a result of our efforts, companies and institutions are now approaching us to design literary engagements and festivals for them.

Seeing the transformation, artistic & literary engagement, brings in people, we recetly started a foundation. The PAALVIA Foundation, a registered social initiative committed to fostering well-being and societal harmony through the power of arts, literature, and cultural activities. By leveraging these mediums, it aim to inspire and drive positive change within communities. Recently, it launched a new project focused on empowering children in slum areas by providing them with training in poetry, songwriting, and music. This initiative is designed to unlock their potential and drive well-being and harmony.