Cafe Culture in Pune- Being Young and Middle Class in Urban India

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The emergence of a visible, commodified leisure culture in the form of cafes, targeted at and appropriated by young adults from the is a striking phenomenon in the transformation of urban life in India since the economic liberalization in 1993 Café Culture Punit is an ethnographic snapshot, taken in 2008, tracing the effects of globalization from the perspective of young middle class urbanites in post-liberalization Pune, India Documenting with meticulous detail the lifeworlds-from clothing to hanging out. friendship, dating, education, and marriage this work captures new forms of socializing consumption, self-improvement, and relationship-management. These practices set the young generation apart-the first to grow up with mass-consumerism-as a group in historical time, in relation to other. lifeworlds in India, to 'western' versions and as a rounded lifeworld in itself.

Rich in ethnographic detail, this work follows the young café culture crowd, which in its practices sought to domesticate the global while transcending 'the local", They were negotiating to follow their hearts, while preserving strong family bonds and inter-generational dependencies thus modifying the meaning of being middle class Indians in our contemporary globalized world.

Teresa Platz Robinson is an independent scholar. She has a master's degree in socio-cultural anthropology, philosophy and history of South Asia (Berlin); master's degree in research methods in anthropology (Durham, UK); and PhD in social anthropology (Durham, UK).

There are many people whom I wish to thank for their support and encouragement throughout the process of completing my PhD. My first thanks must, of course, go to all the people in Pune, who welcomed me into their homes and hearts, and (almost) never grew tired of answering my endless questions. First and foremost, my very special thanks to my Indian family, particularly Meena and Madhav, who provided me with a home and a family far away from home. None of this would have been possible without their love and care, generosity and openness. 1 will always be grateful for all the beautiful memories. A very warm thanks for the invaluable (life and other) lessons, the support, curiosity, and care I received from my yoga ladies, especially my yoga teacher, my Marathi teacher, Vidya, Aruna, and Sheela. I also wish to thank all the shop owners and vendors of Dhole Patil Road, who contributed considerably to making me feel at home in Pune. Furthermore, a big thanks goes to Raul, whose knowledge and contacts, and also optimism and enthusiasm, seemed inexhaustible. I also must thank Dr Sujata Patel, Dr Rajeshwari Deshpande, and Dr Suhas Palshikar for instructive meetings. Last but not least, 'Arun' and 'Mira' were my confidantes, inspirations, and friends. They deserve a medal for their patience in answering my questions. Their friendship and love are treasures I will always cherish. Apart from those two, the cafe culture in this book is represented by Bunny, Rishika, Vikram, Vishal, Natu, Teddy, Pranav, RD, Manthan, Softy, Shivani, Rohit, Dingu, Kuku, Kehali, Zubair, Hina, and so many more. I am incredibly grateful to everyone in Pune for the apprenticeship and for sharing your treasures with me, the treasures of your lives!

The emergence of a visible, commodified, leisure culture in the form of cafes, targeted at and appropriated by young adults from the middle and upper classes, is a striking phenomenon in the transformation of urban life and city-scapes in India since the economic liberalization in 1991 Economic liberalization commonly denotes a series of reform policies which culminated in 1991, marking India's entry into the global market economy. The influx of foreign companies, goods, people, ideas, and images increased. Throughout India the discourse of modernity has been highly cultivated and in use since colonial times. The recent economic change raised hopes that India would finally draw level with other industrialized countries in terms of living standards, and be at home in modernity. The policies of economic liberalization were accompanied by public discourses and media images, which not only attributed the rise of the middle class to the success of the economic reforms, but also saw the middle class as the main beneficiary. However, while the emergence of the middle class as a cultural ideal was given much attention, there was little ethnographic research exploring the realities and rhetoric of this class and the socio-cultural changes involved. So in 2008, I set out to explore how the Indian middle class under- stood and positioned itself in the rapidly changing world of Pune. Initially I faced one of the problems of doing fieldwork in a city: how to spend my day and to start fieldwork. One of my strategies was going to cafés during the day. Rather randomly, I built up a network of friends amongst the young generation frequenting cafes.