KSRTC Bus Station, Thiruvananthapuram

India Coffee House at the KSRTC Bus Station. Designed by Laurie Baker.

It's a colourful, spiral brick structure that you can't miss at the entrance of the bus terminal. Once you step in, you realise that it's a climb up the spiral to find a seat. The design is very simple with the kitchen at the bottom, the loo up in the middle and the manager's office and staff rooms on the very top.

The tables are part of the building and functional. The food is pucca Malayali with the lovely smell of dosas and beef fried with coconut and curry leaves.

The tables at the bottom of the spiraling restaurant were occupied with travellers with luggage and the ones of the top by lovers from the local colleges. But it's best to sit closer to bottom and see the different kinds of people who pass. It's a cross section of the crowd at the Bus Station. The Govt. employees who stay in the outskirts of Trivandrum. The Keralites who have come down to get work done with the Govt. departments in their capital city. The traders from Tamil Nadu that's just a few kilometers south of Trivandrum. Software professionals with laptops and bags having a bite before running to catch the Airavath to Bangalore and many more.

But it's the building that's most interesting. Built in Laurie Baker style. More on him, here. with a a picture of the Coffee House exterior.