The Coffee Shack was a small Nescafe stall that stood at the spot that's currently occupied by the Chaayos outlet – between the Main Building and SOM. Except that when the Coffee Shack first came up there was no SOM building. At the time there was no decent coffee to be had on campus either, though the CHEA Canteen had great chai and chakli.
And then the ‘Shack’ sprung up, with friendly staff who served good coffee and maggi and an innovation called maggi pakoda. At an affordable price. With that welcoming arch at the entrance, covered with green leaves and flowers. To a lot of us that hated the mess food, or who simply woke up late and missed brekkie at the hostel, or who wanted to sip coffee and cack for a few hours under a natural canopy of green, the Shack was a Great Escape.
To all of us that were on campus during the late 90s, the Coffee Shack or simply the ‘Shack’ was one of the iconic spots on campus. The ‘Shack’ was intended to be a pit stop on the way to lectures, but more often than not, ended up as the destination. Sit for hours under the green canopy and cack with all and sundry, or just dash in, grab a coffee and run to a lecture, either way visiting the Shack improved one’s day.
The Shack remains dear to us till this day, and we’d like to ensure that future students know a Shack that’s a respite from lectures, end-sem stress, missing one's parents etc. Of course, we want students to know that our batch sponsored the Shack, and that we are a light-hearted jovial lot, and hence the punning prefix ‘9Tea7’.