| Hi there! Welcome to the refreshed format of the Kitchenpostcards Newsletter. This month we talk about Chai! We have moved to Substack and hope that you will continue to enjoy our monthly newsletter in its new avatar. And, if you enjoy reading it, please share the Kitchenpostcards Newsletter with others. It would mean the world to us. – Kanika and Sakshi |
For some reason the start of the new year made us both think of Chai.
Chai means several things to a South Asian. For most of us, it’s THE start to our day. A fresh cuppa of milky tea boiled to the desired colour and consistency with a choice of flavourings is often the first thing we make in our kitchens each day. As the day progresses, it’s also a pause or break in the daily humdrum of a person’s busy (or not) schedule. Whether they are an elderly person reading the newspaper, a factory worker on their afternoon break, a cubicle dweller glued to multiple monitors in their office or a rickshawwala who has stopped at their regular roadside tea stall.
A rite of passage
Chai is also an opportunity to catch up with someone over a conversation. Whether it’s a surprise or planned visit from a guest at your house, chai is always a part of the agenda. Chai is ritualistic. Perhaps like the evening cuppa with family as everyone returns home. An old favourite piece by Candace Rose Rardon I stumbled upon on the internet rightly said, ‘Home is a cup of tea’.
Having chai with someone is about spending time with them, having a chat, sharing your day, sharing stories, lending an ear – it has so many meanings. It’s often an initiation into many things – for many a first cup of tea they made or had was a rite of passage.
I remember sipping one of my first sips of chai, sitting on the kitchen counter top after my grandma, Badi Mummy, boiled a pot, post-lunch for herself and…
