(International Tea Day 2020 Special)
So what does that smoking hot cup of tea mean to everyone? Imagine a bustling office, a very serious business meeting to crack a million dollar deal going on in a conference room with a big sturdy oak table surrounded by serious looking businessmen. Beside them sits in elegant china the one thing that probably in that meeting is going somewhat unnoticed, no doubt, but as it makes its way through the system, somewhere in there, a kind of calm settles in, a calm that most likely goes unnoticed just as the tea-cup that has been sitting there for quite some time now. Outside, a few employees who had been working endlessly for days to get the documents ready for the meeting takes a break and goes out to the cafeteria or just outside to the nearby ‘chai-wala’ who makes the most amazing cup, the one elixir that keeps them going in their un-faltered routine . Over the smoking cup held casually in their hands, they exchange their tales of woes and worries or of happiness and prospects as they breathe in the fresh air for a while.
In the evening the men and the women return home after a day of hectic work and yet again settles down to share a moment by the setting sun in the balcony while pouring the brown liquid from the tea pot. Or maybe it’s one of the business person, who happy as he was to crack the deal in the morning, is somewhat more satisfied to sit by his son in the evening and watch him paint with a cup of his most loved beverage held between his fingers made by his wife.
Or perhaps it is the daughter whose privilege it is to make the evening cup of tea for her dad or mom, just the way they like it- “You make the best, dear”- that is all she waits to hear. Doesn’t that make her beam!! Or to the sports person who takes her morning sip of the herbal liquid before rushing out to the gym!
It’s late. The exams are near. The friends are bent seriously over a book trying to solve the impossible problems while another is at the stove making the third round for all of them, so they could stay up the night. Studying.
A group of friends out on a road trip to the mountains sitting in a kind of somewhat ramshackle shop, all of them with a smoking cup, and there is this one amongst them who takes a sip from his cup and reiterates the most hilarious incident making them all burst out in laughter-a moment they shall forever in their lives remember-“On that trip, remember the tea joint where you told us the story…”
Then there is this elegant looking villa painted in the evening sun with all the glorious colours. It has the most beautiful and exquisite china. A rich old lady sits with her husband and shares the evening cup just as they had been doing for the past fifty five year-a life well lived.
Or maybe it is the ‘chai-wala’ himself who after selling over a hundred cup that day returns to the one cup that is ready for him when he gets home, the one that for him eases out the pains endured during the day.
And to many it is green leaves spread out all around like a green ocean- their eyes focused, their hands nimble as they meticulously pick out the leaves that go into making of the most wanted beverage of the entire world.
From posh business rooms to hotels to small road-side joints, to the one cup had with family and friends, the ever–revitalising drink has been serving its course in history through generations and will continue to do so. So often it goes unnoticed- the number of tales shared over it or the calm it bring. Tea means a number of different things to different people. It is a part of their stories. And today is a day to celebrate those stories-everything that a simple cup of tea entails and the sheer happiness it brings. Here’s wishing all a very happy International Tea Day. Let’s all take a pause and think of what a smoking hot cup of tea mean to all of us.
