Chai Point

“Suhane Safar Ki Chai.”

Chai story-1

Even before I was born chai played a key role in my life’s existence. Chai has played a key
role in my mom and Dad’s lifeline and has been part of their life it is a thing that can be related to
and connected with them emotionally. When my dad started his career in Chennai, he used to drink
tea 4 times a day. This was not about just the cup of tea but his financial constraints have caused
him to have tea as his meal. Chai played the main role in his survival in Chennai and not only him but
also in people like him who just started their careers in Chennai.

Chai wasn’t just a beverage or food but it was helping people to make a living and has
created the greatest politicians, directors, and business, people. People have a lot of stories to tell
over a cup of tea and it wasn’t like any other beverage as it has no bounds. People have always
preferred drinking chai during rainy, sunny, winter and whatsoever the climate may be.

Chai was one of the drinks that had an emotional connection with people all over India and
were not just seen as a beverage. A lot of changes would happen over a cup of tea and so was my
Dad. He has cherished every time of his existence over a cup of tea almost every day.

The roadside Tea Kadai (Shops) has enough stories to tell and enough emotions to go
through than most of the high-tech fancy cafes around the world.

The roadside tea shops were helping people from corporates to build relationships over a
cup of tea and sutta as people used to work overtime and people who had late night shifts. It helped
people have more emotional conversations apart from stories from their work.

“Chai wasn’t just a beverage, it was an emotion.”

Chai Story-2

Another one of my interesting experiences with Chai was during my college days, especially during
the time of Symposiums and Inter-college national level competitions, for which we used to stay still
at midnight sleeping in our workshops after our classes to do our events, competitions, etc. We were
working till midnight 2 AM, and 3 AM to finish all of the Herculean tasks we were going through.
Sometimes won’t able to find any restaurants nearby and the only thing that kept us alive during our
hard times were the “Chai” and “Sutta” that was delivered by the Thallu Vandi Anna (The
shopkeeper who used to sell snacks and tea even during midnight in his motorcycle). We used to
plan the load of work over a cup of Tea and a cigarette which would keep us refreshed, help us think
more at Midnight, and keep us energized and awake throughout the night.

There is a saying called “Becoming an Obama overnight.” The night time Tea discussions helped us
achieve success and it wasn’t just a beverage that was keeping us awake but it was a tool that
helped us share our emotions, took us through our ups and downs, and became an emotional entity
of the tiring yet happiest during my college days.
Tea was a tool that helped us make conversations with people who were at most strangers, and the
duration of Chai talks was not a concern. Sometimes Anna used to give us free Chai when we were
not having enough money to afford Chai then.

The Chai is other than just a beverage it was an emotional connection between strangers like our
story where Anna become a part of our family during college. It wasn’t just a beverage it was helping
people to have an emotional relationship with others.

Chai was always our go-to beverage not because of the cost, but also with the person whom I had
my Chai Memories with.