A bawadi is a stepwell — a structure our ancestors built to descend into the earth and find water, coolness, and company in the middle of a desert. Anyone could come down the steps. No gatekeeping, no minimum spend on belonging.

India doesn't have enough good third places — rooms that are not home and not work, where you're allowed to simply be. Bawadi is built as one: comfortable and communal, yet secluded. Somewhere you descend into, away from the noise, the way you descend into a stepwell. You don't have to buy anything to sit here.

We start in Jodhpur deliberately. It's the rare city where modernity and traditionality live in the same streets — blue walls and specialty coffee, carved doors and a café culture that's already growing. Step into culture.

I'm starting this because I wanted a room like this to exist and couldn't find one. A place where you can come as you are, sit as long as you like, be found or be left alone — and where your wallet doesn't decide whether you belong. Bawadi is that first: a community, a safe space. If all you do here is chill, that's the place working.

I'm from Jaisalmer. I grew up in the desert this brand is named for. We built some of the most beautiful things in the world — the carved doors of Jodhpur, the blues of its walls, the geometry of a stepwell — and it's not just here: it's Jaipur, the South, places I haven't even seen yet. One country holding deserts, coasts, forests, and mountains — and we live in boxes, selling the view instead of sitting in it. We became modern, but we left the beauty behind.

And yes — I want the people who make these things to be paid for them. Not honoured, paid. I'm one founder with limited resources, so that part gets built gradually: the shop sells what our makers produce, streetwear next to block-print, and as Bawadi grows, so does what flows back to them. Modern should never overpower the roots — and commerce should never overpower the room.

— Shubham, Jodhpur