This is a piece written by my sister. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each bit of it. Hope you like it as well.
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All of us for sure remember the first time we rode a bicycle. That very moment when you look back and realise nobody was holding it and you were all alone riding it, when you knew it was all you. Just wow wali feeling comes as if some battle has been won. That rush when you realize a warm feeling is spreading from your chest to the tips of your toes – a feeling you can only describe as "being free".
There are many moments like these, the ones we want to relive again and again. Few habits are inculcated in ones life as if they are some ritual...
Ive always seen my parents one such ritual was sharing a cup of tea at 5:30 a.m., every day. Watching them throw their everything into enjoying that moment made me to ponder what it was and felt like experiencing it too. Anything come in , but this ritual can't go was a reason why actually I felt to be in this moment but...
Girls have complexion as the biggest concern coz this is the parameter for their future prospects. Since childhood girls are refrained from having tea coz of the so called myth of getting their complexion off or early maturity and la bla bla .... " don't take lots of tea ... you will become dark ... shadi nahi hogi types and all ... chai garam hoti hai ....but still kisi ki aadat lag jaye to jati nahi hAi ... habit of tea and getting it sticked to ones lips becomes part and parcel of ones life and never want to be off with it as it's also taken as best companion if one is alone ...
How this habit of tea came in was more interesting ...Watching my parents go through the morning ritual of preparing tea. At 5 a.m., my entire house would be filled with the scent of fresh tea leaves and my father asking my mother to get up n have his hand made tea.. in summers adrak one and in winters ginger n jaggery ..I too at times woke up early but their habit was not modulated by any reasons ...they sat in balcony and would then sip it in silence while peeling vegetable or some other work ..For those 45 minutes or so nothing would sway them.. I always used to remember in my mind words of mother not to have tea as it will go for darker complexion but why they ...though its aroma was great but once i tasted it (chori se) and literally shit it's bitterness numbed my tongue and made it impossible to taste anything for a while. It made my breath smell funny and worse. My taste buds were out of place . For the life of me, I couldnt make out why people drank hell amounts of this poison every day, without actually enjoying it . At time I thought why tea but then in some deep corner of my mind I made to me that could be a possibility, probably my taste buds were not developed well by then ...
I thought of experimenting one day ..
The following incident occurred many years after my struggle why tea , I think I was an old and sensible girl in 6th standard. It was random day back from school we both sisters were shit tired and so thought of resting ... my mom was not there ..It was probably important coz my mind was wobbling with thoughts of what's so great in this tea ..
I asked my sister will you've tea ..She looked pretty down and while I wanted to cheer her up, I had no idea how to. I am a little awkward in situations like this.
But Great, now she is sad and I am stressed. I needed to relax and get her relaxed by this "tea" coz I've heard from my friends that tea is stress buster so that noon was just working like dream come true types ...
I again asked her chai piyegi Guddi...
For the next twenty minutes, she didnt say much.. while she slept I was in experimenting mode .. I watched the Taj Mahal tea changing coloration of plain water and it was really nice to see. I poured in the sharp odour of cinnamon, cardamom and ginger brewing with the tea water which has already changed its colour .Then came the milk. It was the most amazing scene to me than to anything what I had seen till date.. the sight of milk mixing up and filling in the black spaces in a cup of tea.
I don’t remember much of that day, what I said or what she said. I don’t think she appreciated for tea coz she was sleeping sound and so I put that hot cup on her bare legs. Though she didn't say anything rather slapped me for doing that mischievous act but i didn't do it purposely rather it was just done for appreciation in return as it first time struggling hard to make that which I used to have aversion with .But I remember my first sip of tea – spicy, soothing, sweet and refreshing, all at once.
But after having it, I saw her and yes we were both at peace. Complete, total peace. And as long as we had that cup of tea, things were going to be fine. We were going to be fine.
And that was the moment I completely fell for tea. I loved TEA..
So what at the end of the day I felt for tea was that yes Tea is a ritual. It is a million little reasons and jovial moments to yourself that help you get through the day. It slows you down and gives you ideas. Tea is patience, it is meditation.
Now ,
22 years and many hundreds of cups of chai have passed since that day in and beyond the room But to me, the comfort and well-being a cup of tea provides hasn’t changed. I hope it never does.
And yes it can't be replaced to anything ... it's my first love <3
===================
All of us for sure remember the first time we rode a bicycle. That very moment when you look back and realise nobody was holding it and you were all alone riding it, when you knew it was all you. Just wow wali feeling comes as if some battle has been won. That rush when you realize a warm feeling is spreading from your chest to the tips of your toes – a feeling you can only describe as "being free".
There are many moments like these, the ones we want to relive again and again. Few habits are inculcated in ones life as if they are some ritual...
Ive always seen my parents one such ritual was sharing a cup of tea at 5:30 a.m., every day. Watching them throw their everything into enjoying that moment made me to ponder what it was and felt like experiencing it too. Anything come in , but this ritual can't go was a reason why actually I felt to be in this moment but...
Girls have complexion as the biggest concern coz this is the parameter for their future prospects. Since childhood girls are refrained from having tea coz of the so called myth of getting their complexion off or early maturity and la bla bla .... " don't take lots of tea ... you will become dark ... shadi nahi hogi types and all ... chai garam hoti hai ....but still kisi ki aadat lag jaye to jati nahi hAi ... habit of tea and getting it sticked to ones lips becomes part and parcel of ones life and never want to be off with it as it's also taken as best companion if one is alone ...
How this habit of tea came in was more interesting ...Watching my parents go through the morning ritual of preparing tea. At 5 a.m., my entire house would be filled with the scent of fresh tea leaves and my father asking my mother to get up n have his hand made tea.. in summers adrak one and in winters ginger n jaggery ..I too at times woke up early but their habit was not modulated by any reasons ...they sat in balcony and would then sip it in silence while peeling vegetable or some other work ..For those 45 minutes or so nothing would sway them.. I always used to remember in my mind words of mother not to have tea as it will go for darker complexion but why they ...though its aroma was great but once i tasted it (chori se) and literally shit it's bitterness numbed my tongue and made it impossible to taste anything for a while. It made my breath smell funny and worse. My taste buds were out of place . For the life of me, I couldnt make out why people drank hell amounts of this poison every day, without actually enjoying it . At time I thought why tea but then in some deep corner of my mind I made to me that could be a possibility, probably my taste buds were not developed well by then ...
I thought of experimenting one day ..
The following incident occurred many years after my struggle why tea , I think I was an old and sensible girl in 6th standard. It was random day back from school we both sisters were shit tired and so thought of resting ... my mom was not there ..It was probably important coz my mind was wobbling with thoughts of what's so great in this tea ..
I asked my sister will you've tea ..She looked pretty down and while I wanted to cheer her up, I had no idea how to. I am a little awkward in situations like this.
But Great, now she is sad and I am stressed. I needed to relax and get her relaxed by this "tea" coz I've heard from my friends that tea is stress buster so that noon was just working like dream come true types ...
I again asked her chai piyegi Guddi...
For the next twenty minutes, she didnt say much.. while she slept I was in experimenting mode .. I watched the Taj Mahal tea changing coloration of plain water and it was really nice to see. I poured in the sharp odour of cinnamon, cardamom and ginger brewing with the tea water which has already changed its colour .Then came the milk. It was the most amazing scene to me than to anything what I had seen till date.. the sight of milk mixing up and filling in the black spaces in a cup of tea.
I don’t remember much of that day, what I said or what she said. I don’t think she appreciated for tea coz she was sleeping sound and so I put that hot cup on her bare legs. Though she didn't say anything rather slapped me for doing that mischievous act but i didn't do it purposely rather it was just done for appreciation in return as it first time struggling hard to make that which I used to have aversion with .But I remember my first sip of tea – spicy, soothing, sweet and refreshing, all at once.
But after having it, I saw her and yes we were both at peace. Complete, total peace. And as long as we had that cup of tea, things were going to be fine. We were going to be fine.
And that was the moment I completely fell for tea. I loved TEA..
So what at the end of the day I felt for tea was that yes Tea is a ritual. It is a million little reasons and jovial moments to yourself that help you get through the day. It slows you down and gives you ideas. Tea is patience, it is meditation.
Now ,
22 years and many hundreds of cups of chai have passed since that day in and beyond the room But to me, the comfort and well-being a cup of tea provides hasn’t changed. I hope it never does.
And yes it can't be replaced to anything ... it's my first love <3
