Let's Have a Cup of Tea?!!

A hot cup of tea.... have you ever thought a simple cup of tea might change your entire life? The whole future of the nation can be virtually changed over a few cups of tea. Big political issues can be resolved and long unsettled rows can be settled. Huge cultural differences can be figured and a mutual understanding can be achieved between two families who are dead against each other. Even the future of two love birds can be written in golden words, by their families over a cup of tea and, well, some snacks! All this happens just over a cup of tea!! Yes, these things happen on a daily basis in every neighborhood of any Indian town or city. Almost all instances, except I guess, family problems and love marriages! They might need a little more than just tea.

It’s a common notion among us, whenever we come across some problem which we need to discuss with our friends we say, “Let’s talk over tea!”  Why only problems, any secret gossip, any help from a friend, any advice on relationships, any help to sort out problems with girlfriend, topic can be anything, but tea is a must! The aroma itself motivates the forum. Some out-of-the-blue days when taste is not up to the mark, the whole discussion flushes down the sewage and the tea is blamed to spoil the mood of the discussion! Tea acts as a stress-buster and can relieve you, may be for a second, from the lingering tensions of your life, like, boss screaming at you and your wife not understanding your situation, or your parents convincing you every day in a new way to get married!!!  That disturbing headache that you had in office can vanish when you sip the hot, steaming liquid from your cup. Plus, this hot cup of tea from your better half can make you fall in love with her or him, all over again. Now you see, how important a simple cup of tea is!!

Tea is tea, even if it may be the tea from your office brewer machine; it will suffice your need. But the actual enthusiasm comes only in front of a road side tea stall and not the sophisticated cafes, especially for guys. Girls are not commonly seen hanging out in those places; it is generally a guy zone. But every roadside tea stall has its own very interesting story to tell. The discussion usually starts with a silly thing like today’s weather forecast, then slowly it turns to cricket updates and expert opinion of hardcore critics, gradually, it grows into a debate and then motion pictures come into the picture and if you are a Bong, you are bound to have football in the show where the discussion emerges as a very serious argument about Brazil vs Argentina, or Manchester vs Chelsea and Mohun Bagan vs. East Bengal, obviously!   

All these heavy future wrecking discussions are not happening in some international forum with some big dignitaries of the nation, they happen mostly in front of these small tin sheeted tea stalls and the participants are the youth, the future of this nation! And the persons, who run these stalls, know it all. They have a very rich stalk of stories to tell their grandchildren of the every day events that they witness at their stalls. They don’t need TV to watch soap operas or have latest sports update, they see that live every now and then. So many turns and twists, so many ups and downs in life, everything people discuss over tea. The people, who prepare this very important protagonist for these spicy discussions, have seen everything in their life as a chai-wala! They have seen strangers becoming buddies and best buddies parting ways forever. Tons of laughter, bone-cracking jokes, immense happiness and fun, strong friendship, chivalry, rivalry, betrayal, treachery, sacrifice, love, bravery, struggle, creativity, innovations, you name it and they have real time instances for everything. They have seen people falling in love, people trying to make someone fall in love and they have also seen people scheming to impress someone or planning their first date.  They have rejoiced the first jobs and promotions and success of their regular visitors. They have witnessed the struggle of the unemployed youth. They have seen fathers waiting to pick up their kids from school and then, they have also seen those fathers mourning their sons’ negligence towards them as they grow golden. It’s like seeing a Bollywood masala movie with non-fictitious characters, everyday live in front of your eyes. They know the depth of life so well that you don’t need any renounced philosopher. Surprisingly, this is all, again, because of tea, a simple brew, drank when it’s hot, that can change your life!!

So, what say? Let’s have a cup of tea??