The Volga in CP: A love affair that has ended

My first memories of the Volga bar-cum-restaurant goes back to 1998 when I came here as a student from Bangalore. I was taking a stroll in the Inner Circle of Connaught Place (CP) when the name of the Russian river caught my eye. I didn’t get in there partly because it was late in the evening and in mid-December things start getting quite chilly in the city.

Volga Bar and Restaurant

The opportunity came six years later in the spring of 2004 when I came here ‘on my way to’ Bangalore from Patna on a business trip. Not the shortest of routes between the two cities, but I had a kind of meeting here that later pushed me to set up base here in Delhi in January 2005. During my brief stay here then, I had to travel to the British Council at Kasturba Gandhi Marg, very close to CP and while returning, the compulsive ornithologist in me used to drag me to the Inner Circle. That was when I had my first entry inside Volga.

Volga Bar and Restaurant

The first thing that struck me in the bar was the simplicity of the place that was large, well lit (at least much brighter than the usual bars) and the light music that made the ambience much to my liking. It was brimming with people of all hues, from all over the world. There were jholawallahs, the university students, the pressmen, the love struck couples and of course random guys like me. It seemed the Volga is the egalitarian utopia that had its doors open for everyone (though I was to find out months later that table cloths were spread for a selected few customers unless you specifically asked for one). Looking at the wine card made my heart fill with delight as beers cost almost half of what you would probably expect in other bars and the fresh cheese cutlet that you would travel miles for didn’t burn holes in your pocket. And mind you, those days I was almost always just over broken.

That was when I made up my mind to make this my beer adda as long as I was in Delhi.

Over the years, Volga became the place where I made plans with partners, chatted endlessly with fellow journalists, heard people’s heartbreak stories and narrated my own. There were occasions where an occasional glass would slip out of hands and break (it never happened with me though) and the friendly waiters would look the other way.

We had made friends with our regular waiters, one of whom we used to call Uncle ji, a portly bespectacled man pushing middle-age. He used to come over our table, which was almost always the same, the corner of the sofa on the left wall, even if he was not waiting for us to shake hands. His presence insured that even if the regular waiters were not waiting for us on a particular day, we would be well-served. And yes, with the passing of time, the size of our tips too got bigger, so that was an added incentive for them. Of course, no matter whether Uncle ji served us on a particular evening or not, we always tipped him as well saying – just have a smoke with this (or something to that effect).

Outside Volga Restaurant

There are so many memories of that place that would be etched in my memory for ever. Like the beer meetings with my ex-colleagues, former team members, the friend for 22 years who is no longer alive, the book readings, the planning of ventures that never really took off, the heartbreak stories (everybody had one in different times including yours truly), the disgust over banning of smoking in Delhi pubs, the other regulars whom we saw often and almost seemed that we knew each other but never spoke to like the elderly foreigner with a dusky young Indian companion, the man with a camera (he seemed to me like a press photographer) and the south Indian gentleman who was a sucker for the cream of corn soup there etc., etc.

That's my brand of beer and the green chutney

The Volga in CP had a reputation for serving the chilliest beer in the whole of Delhi/NCR region. Its green chutney and peanut masala combo was legendary. I hear that the Volga was also the favoured meeting point of middle class families looking for matrimonial alliances. The first floor was reserved for guests with families or at least a female companion to qualify. However, that was waived for us bachelors (then) and the top waiter there who happened to serve us once on the ground floor always pleaded (in vain) to come upstairs. Though, I saw many families coming in the Volga for a nice time out, I don’t think I saw any families of prospective brides and grooms meeting (or I might have missed it).

A few weeks back, I and some of the old timers planned to meet at the Volga for we haven’t gone through the exercise for some time now. I was quite excited to go there again like a thousand times before on Saturday, Feb 27. The plan was canceled in the last moment due to some unforeseen developments. We agreed to meet the next Saturday.

Alas! It was not to be.

The Feb 28 paper carried the news of the closure of Volga much to my shock and dismay. It jolted me out of my Sunday morning trance and I immediately dialed a few old timers. All of them were in shock as if there had been a family bereavement. It began to get worse when my thoughts went to the friendly waiters. I couldn’t believe that I may never see them again. They way the management shut the joint seemed arbitrary. I wish them, who have planned to contest their sudden termination, the very best.

I went to CP on March 07, Sunday. I passed by the place and saw the door open. Only, the restaurant was ripped off its furniture and a few people, one with a salt and pepper hajji beard instructing a group of labourers something.

I left the place immediately. I knew it was a love affair that has sadly ended, as with real love affairs, the memories would always remain.

[If you have any Volga stories, do share with my readers and me here]

Images: ProxyIndian

Tags: City Icons, Volga Bar and Restaurant, Volga Delhi