Sometimes a throwaway conversation between friends about quitting their jobs and opening a café can actually come true. For Nitin Nai and Dhrumin Chheda, that half-joking dream is Pustakafé, tucked in a lane that’s barely five minutes away from Matunga Road railway station.

As you step out of the western exit of the railway station, and walk past a stretch that is bearing the brunt of road repairs, the small café nearly misses the eye. Opened in June, the two-floored space has, in just six months, become an unofficial hangout for students of DG Ruparel College, close enough for some to practically hop across in between lectures.