India, June 4 -- The chaikhana would stay open long after midnight. Its white lighting would continue to dimly illuminate a small portion of the darkened alley outside. While the air inside the tea house would faintly smell of lukewarm milk. And oh, that last table! It would almost always be thickly wreathed in swirly clouds of beedi smoke. The smokers there would be reciting shairyis. The applauding cries of their wah-wah would emanate out into the deserted street, where it would be swallowed by the surrounding silence.

Founded in 1966, Modern Tea House in Old Delhi's Havel Azam Khan shut three weeks ago. It is a particular loss for the area's poets. Arriving every night after dinner from nearby galis, kuchas, katras, chattas, and ahata...