Pause: Of Chai, of conversations

Perhaps, you can never quite understand the joy of chai, until you wolf it down with buttered toast at a railway station in Goa. You can never quite savour it, unless you pour it out of a tea-pot, with a strainer, into tea cups at the Pune Club. And, you can never quite enjoy it fully unless you allow the tea to balm your hearts, soothe your nerves, and spill your secrets. For, what is tea, without conversation. Shared atop rickety, wooden stools in an old Mahim lane, shared within crusty white walls in Sant Nagar, New Delhi. In the second case, the tea was green, glistening, with leaves. The conversation was soulful.

And, what is tea, if not had at Prithvi Cafe where young minds meet in common desire. Oh, 2009, I think, how many conversations over chai you have held in Prithvi Cafe! Over cups of Suleimani Chai, we discovered new friendships, re found old ones. In those moments, we looked for hope. In those hours, we retraced time, and memories, and once even promised to rediscover our city, Mumbai. Year end, I can safely say, I found a Mumbai, I never knew existed.

Yesterday, as I had yet another cup of chai at the Cafe, I allowed my fingers to trace memories, to put little dots on happy days, and big crosses on moments I needn't remember, feelings I mustn't harbour. I must admit, it took me a while. A while to retrace the year, to find the moments that made it up. To leave the present moment, and revel momentarily in the past. I wonder if that is a good thing. Or, not such a good thing.

I can remember sipping chai atop a lovely terrace in Delhi. The chai was hot, black and gingery. It's slight sweetness lingered like the conversation that followed- we cast our fears onto the night sky, and set them out, to welcome a beautiful morning.

I can remember soaking endless cups of tea, with tears. We ran out of tea, but not conversation. The hungry hearts still bared. The tears spilled long after. I can remember sinking feet into pillows, over cups of lemon flavoured tea. And, merry chatter over honey-bit, and apple tea.

I used to be a coffee person...but it seems, in 2009, I have acquired a taste for tea. Or, perhaps, I have just grown to endear the flavour it leaves in the air, the lessons, lives, emotions it leaves in the open. And, the friends it helps me find...again, and again, and again.

[Pause is an ongoing series of reflections by Gayatri Makhijani, Udita Upadhyaya and other writers (I'll update this soon) that captures people, places and moments from the year 2009. Pause ends on 31st December, 2009]