Indian Tea Houses

Chai or Tea (commonly made with black tea, milk and spices), is a part of Indian culture, Bengali culture rather,  and diet, as much as rice is. Along with chai or chaa as Bengali's call it, we  have to have some snacks- whether it is chaat, singhara (commonly known as samosa), sweets (rasgola), marie biscuits or and biscuits (known as cookies in America). The biscuit might be a british thing, to dunk it in the tea and eat... mmm.

The Italians have their biscottis (delicious) with coffee, the French have their cafe au lait, the people in Westeros (fictional place in A Song of Ice and Fire) have their meads, ales, and Dornish wines...and the Brits and Indians have biscuits. Well maybe the Brits have tea and crumpets (hehehe!). We all have our drink and a side snack to comfort us at the end of the day. I love the tea and biscuits. I love dipping my biscuit in my tea! Personally I do not like it when the biscuit gets so soggy and breaks off and descend to the bottom of the cup, but some people like it. I do however enjoy the soggy biscuit with the subtle flavor of the tea. The chaa can be black, with or without sugar, with or without milk. It's up to you. If you're drinking it black, you can add some lemon... One thing you must have with tea is "Adda" in bengali that means "chat" or "gossip". Just a light, non-serious form of conversation.

In the west we do a type of "adda" over beer, or drinks. However in India or Bengal, chaa serves as the drink of choice for "adda". Its a social bonding experience, usually done at dusk, in the garden, some cozy spot, or the side of the road by the chaa-waalla (tea trader), or the maidan (field for sports). Did we get this culture from the Brits? or is it Bengali?

The point of the matter is, chaa is a ritual in Kolkata. after lunch, in the evenings before breakfast... In a way India has it's own tea-rituals. India has it's own Tea houses, although not as fancy as the Japanese Tea Houses. India's tea houses are rustic, and can be found in the cart on the road-side. It's truly an experience, and if not experienced an entertaining, and awesome sight to see.

India has been getting the reputation more and more of being the worst country or most dangerous country for women, it always has been. Recently more women are speaking up, and more people are standing up for women. So we are hearing more and more of the horrors. It's not recent, however it seems the violence against women is being aggravated further as more people stand up FOR women. There is many an argument against women and not to mention the sexually repressed nature of the culture, and conservative-ness, and what ever else. I recently came across this article on why and how a woman should travel India. Which is so well written. One line in particular struck me "One reason: No country will fascinate and frustrate you more." It's the small things, and not just in India, but every country. So look for the little tea stalls, and enjoy some chaa and biscuit. Forget starbucks, forget chai tea lattes and have the real thing... I sure miss it!

A chaa stand

The neighborhood chaa waala

There also maybe a chaa lady - Pic by Chirasree Charaborty

the chaa tastes best out of little earthen cups!