Oxford Bookstore

On Park Street since 1919, and the shelves still carry the weight of that: nationalist thinkers gathered here before Independence, and by local legend the shop served as a message drop in the 1970s. It is the flagship of the Apeejay group now, with a deep India-focused catalogue and the Cha Bar pouring more than 150 kinds of tea, which is how a ten-minute stop becomes two hours. A civilised pause between the cafés of Park Street and the open grass of the Maidan.

A century on Park Street, with 150 kinds of tea poured beside the shelves