Café Positive: A Heart-warming Tale Of 10 Teenagers Who Dared To Embark On The Road Less Travelled

Some dreams require willpower and courage to acquire ground reality, Café Positive shows the determination of 10 HIV positive teenagers and their bravery for initiating something that would break the taboo surrounding HIV patients till date. What is perhaps most astonishing is that this strong resentment towards HIV positive or AIDS patients is not merely restrictive to villages, but is prevalent even in a fast developing metropolitan city like Kolkata.  Amidst all these hurdles, kudos to Indrajyoti Dasgupta for letting his garage to these young people beaming with positivity, untamed by physical or social hurdles.

Kolkata will become the first city in India to play host to a café run by HIV positive teenagers, disowned by their own parents. Yes, these teenagers, deprived of any familial support, are part of an NGO called Offer. I am sure this place has done an incredible job by helping them to hold onto faith and hope, even in the face of challenges. Offer, set up in 1986, has played a pivotal role in once again challenging the age-old beliefs of people regarding HIV virus, and can be viewed as a silver lining in the blinding and dense cloud of ignorance and apathy. The café, which finally found a place in the area of Jodhpur Park, is scheduled to open on July 14h on the auspicious day of the Ratha Yatra. The café has hired cooks and chefs as these teenagers will be solely responsible for taking orders and serving dishes to the customers, they will play no part in the preparation of dishes.

Café With An Initiative

It is true that there are several cafés spanning all over the country set up with the aim of achieving some or the other common good, but what puts Café Positive apart is the very fact that it is providing these teenagers lessons to cope with challenges that life will bring upon. After a few months of living their dreams, one can surely hope that they will become more self-sufficient and adept than before. Their relentless wait of six months has perhaps yielded the best result for them and I am sure it will pave the way for many other NGOs or orphanages to come up with such noble and daring  initiatives.  Due to the issue of a constricted space that a garage can permit, the youths have decided to focus on takeaway services, since making space for comfortable seats would be a matter of more time as of now. They are hopeful, irrespective of the stigma that they have faced during the last six months, about the feasibility of getting hold of a bigger place somewhere in the near future.  

Why The Misconceptions Surrounding HIV Today?

Given the series of turndowns, that these children have faced from different owners of properties, it is only evident that there is still illiteracy surrounding HIV patients. Some of the common myths that have managed to survive like oral literature are- HIV virus can be transmitted by touching the person, hugging, shaking hands, or even exchanging phones! The other misconceptions are that HIV can be caused by drug intake, or breathing in the same air with an HIV patient. Incidences ensuing from such ignorance are only too recurrent to overlook and it is high time somebody takes the lead to spread education and awareness in order to eliminate myths surrounding HIV.       

What Does The Present Scenario Demand From Us?

The most stunning part of their project was the array of refusals that they had to deal with, even from the so-called “middle-class intelligentsia” belonging to one of the poshest localities of Kolkata. This is not just heart-breaking but also a practical example of persisting ignorance that India harbours towards HIV, AIDS, and Cancer patients. The most disadvantageous lots are the victims themselves, who become marginalized and castrated from society. If such blatant discrimination and prejudices are still in practice in a city like Kolkata one can only wonder about the crudeness prevailing in lesser developed regions.   

Why We Need To See More Of Such Initiatives . . .

Ventures like these signify the dawn of an era where we can strive to create a better society, instead of invisibilizing present problems at hand. Such initiatives will ensure that ignorance or bigotry is not being relegated to the background, as it will only aggravate the problem. HIV patients are rampantly treated as untouchables, they are stigmatised and are driven to suicide. The negativity thus sowed within the patients’ mind by the society is nothing less than organized abuse. Café Positive is a stark reminder that shunning HIV positive or AIDS patients from the society and snatching away their right to live is not merely absurd but is inhuman. Here is hoping that more such Café Positives gain acceptance in society by breaking taboos and standing proudly against discrimination of every form.