You visit anyone’s house in India and you’d be greeted with an invitation for Chai, the great Indian tea. Often it’s not even a question, it’s more of imposition. Indians don’t use the phrase ‘would you like some chai?’ as much as ‘let me bring you some chai’. As a result, hardly any interaction — pleasant or otherwise — goes without a cup or two of Chai playing the role of a witness.
Chai, in its current form, was introduced during the British rule when the commercial production of tea began in the lower hills of the Himalayas. But the Indians didn’t simply accept it the way it was offered to them. They twisted it in a unique way by adding milk and spices (a bizarre combination, if you think about it), and made it their own. Chai is not alone in that regard. Indians did the same thing with the game of cricket. And with the English language, too. But, it doesn’t really matter, does it? After all, it was the British that started the loot first along with the word itself.
Clearly it was a gross violation of the ways in which tea was conceived by the purists of China and Japan, even Britain for that matter. But that’s how India has always been — a land of heretics, where you don’t have to agree, so long as you agree on the ground rules of how you disagree.
So when Lichilai, a Sung poet, remarked, ‘there are three most deplorable things in the world: the spoiling of fine youths through false education, the degradation of fine art through vulgar admiration, and the utter waste of fine tea through incompetent manipulation’ Indians did not pay any heed to it. They went about their own ways, making their own Chai.
Now… let’s come to the important part. How do we prepare Chai, the wonderful Indian tea?
It’s pretty simple. Don’t worry about the ‘correct way’ as the British might warn you. Just some water in milk, add tea powder and sugar to it, along with some Indian spices to enhance the flavour. You can use cardamom or ginger or simply Chai masala, a mixture of spices available in every grocery store. That’s it. Boil the ingredients — and there you have it.
Wait!
Why bother making it yourself? Let’s have it in the truly Indian way. As long as you are in India, you’re probably not very far from a chai stall, little roadside shacks that go by different names in different languages. Khokha, Thadi, Chaiwala and many more. Just walk into one of them and ask for one.
Reference books:
Kalampedia 