With chai and nonalcoholic cocktails, Chalo pop-up fosters community for Muslims
To close out Eid al-Adha at the end of June, a studio inside Bridgeport’s Zhou B Art Center transformed into a little corner of Pakistan.
Garlands of white flowers draped from the ceiling, the 2022 short film “Maqluba” played from a projector, and friends, new and old, exchanged stories and laughter over chai, nonalcoholic cocktails and Ludo, a board game popular in Pakistan.
It was the official launch of the new Chalo pop-up, an event focused on cultivating welcoming, dynamic spaces for Muslims, people of color and those looking for ways to socialize without alcohol.
“I felt like I was always having to assimilate. I wasn’t able to fully be myself in a lot of (majority-white) spaces that I was entering,” said Chalo co-founder Ema Khan. “And so my goal with this project was to have that space where we all can express our dual identities.”
Khan and fellow Chalo co-founders Khansa Noor and Ghania Chaudhry began developing Chalo in May. After bouts of bar fatigue and searching for diverse spaces with relaxed weekend atmospheres, the three co-founders decided to create their own alternative.
As they began looking for a space to host their pop-up, they connected with Studio Salam, a nonprofit organization aimed at promoting the creative pursuits of Muslim and artists of color with a multiuse location inside Zhou B Art Center.
As the event took shape, the three friends decided to focus on a common experience upon which guests could connect and build community: drinking chai.
The spiced black tea, often tempered with milk and sugar, is integral to many South Asian households. Noor recalled the many nights her extended family would spend connecting over cups of chai in the Chicago suburbs. Chaudhry was her family’s designated chai-maker growing up, watching dramas in the evening with her mother while sipping a warm cup, or hosting family members as a young adult and impressing them with her chai skills.
“The best chai is your mother’s chai,” Chaudhry said. “We’re bringing the tradition that’s been passed down through generations.”
Each co-founder can easily recall their respective family’s recipes — one uses a little extra cardamom, another, fennel seeds.
Still, the three women didn’t always readily embrace the tradition.
“Chai was something I dreaded making often,” Chaudhry said. As a kid, she recalled groaning about the delicate process, which demands finding the perfect concentration of milk, water and infusion of spices and other flavors.
“But as I’ve grown older, it’s become something I really cherished,” she said. “It’s become a symbol of community.”
Along with the menu of rose- and lavender-infused chai, Chalo also offered a list of nonalcoholic cocktails. Guests sipped on Jashan, a papaya-based drink with coconut and Tang — a nod to the co-founders’ memories of breaking Ramadan fasts with the citrusy drink throughout their youth. A group sat around a coffee table, drinking a seemingly never-ending stream of Gulabos, a strawberry-rose concoction with an underlying zest.
For Chicago resident and hijabi Mediha Say, it was a welcome change from other venues. As a person who chooses not to drink, spending time in bars or other social places can be hard, she said.
“You feel like you can’t participate, or like a buzzkill,” Say added. But at Chalo, she said, she didn’t feel like the odd one out.
That welcoming atmosphere was exactly what the co-founders — and their collaborators at Studio Salam — hoped to foster at Chalo. The name itself is a nod to cross-cultural connections, as the Urdu word is phonetically similar to the Arabic term yalla. Both translate to “Let’s go!”
“It’s kind of like a space to exist in that doesn’t require anything of you,” said Sahar Sheikh-Ahmad, one of the Studio Salam co-founders. The nonprofit works to provide “third spaces” — communal locations outside of someone’s home or work — where people can foster real-life connections, whether it be during coworking “office hours” or potluck iftars during Ramadan.
“What I thought was amazing at the pop-up was encouraging people who don’t already know each other to talk to each other,” Chaudhry said. “And I felt like that was really happening organically. A safe space, to me, means that you can come to a space by yourself and leave with like 10 friends.”
Going forward, Chalo can be spotted at a series of private events throughout July, and the co-founders hope to host future pop-ups in varying parts of Chicago. Regardless of what comes next, they are proud to have fostered community, opening up one little corner of Pakistan in the city they call home.
Chalo, instagram.com/wearechalo; Studio Salam, fourth floor, Zhou B. Art Center, 1029 W. 35th St., instagram.com/studiosalam.chi
