Sunday, March 16, 2025
यात्रा वृतांत
पहाड़ और पलायन
A Cup of Tea, confessions of a Tea Lover
My First Cup of morning Tea after I cover a streneous walk of 05 kms at a Nepali shop 5 kms away from Chakrata at a Nepali hotel where I occassionally have my breakfast too considering the well cooked crispy Aloo Parathas. But mostly its the only 01 cup of tea. Its really feel wonderful to sit outside the shop and enjoy your cup of tea after a walk of 5 kms. The cup of tea becomes more special as you receive the great amount of sunlight during this time of the day here. Otherwise in hills there are places where the first rays of sun appear when the day is going to be over and that too for very short period of time. And a good amount of Sunlight through out the day in hills is icing on the cake in case you happen to stay at such a place. Here at this shop you get to meet passing ppl not the tourists but the ppl from common walks of life who visit hills to earn their bread and butter. This shop is being run by a Nepali family. Earlier I used to find an old lady preparing the tea and breakfast here but after few months she was not to be seen and another man came for few days and when due to lots of snowfall this year there was a long gap then I found all the new set of people running this shop now. Husband and wife whose kids are studying in plains and they are runni g the shop now. On asking about the old lady and man he informed me that the old lady is his eldermost sister who is now staying 45 kms away further at another roadside Nepali dhaba with the family of another of his sister. And the man who came to run the shop for few days is no more now as he was suffering from the kidney problem and died during the last month only and he was not having family being unmarried only.
2. Second Cup of tea at Chakrata gate after I return from my 5 kms walk back to room. Here by the time I come back from my walk the first bus from Dehradun has already arrived with the News papers. First bus from Dehradun arrives here at Chakrata by 8.30 or 8.45 and it brings the morning paper. This cup of tea is enjoyed just glancing through the headlines as the morning paper is everyone's apple of the eyes and catching the few headlines too is a great thing to start your day. This shop is being run by a widowed Sikh lady who is running the shop to support her daughters. Intetestingly the Sikh bride took birth in a non sikh family and somehow got married to a Sikh man and became the Sikh. She prepare the bread pakoras and also the boiled eggs so at times I help myself with her bread pakora and boiled eggs to go as my breakfast.
3. Third cup...sorry glass full of tea at 6 Pm after I come back to my room from my office having walked back 5 kms from my office to room. This shop at Chakrata do not have many local visitors as they prepare delicacies mainly to be served to the choosen few. They prepare various delicacies of meat which the Army personnel of Tibbattan origin finds tasty so most of the time the shop if filled wid them. These ppl eat with chopsticks which I could never learned despite watching them for last 5 years of my stay here. Sitting at this shop is itself a new experience as you get to know about these people. Most of them are young and carefree soldiers which I.too used to be once so at times I recollect my own memories of being like them years ago.
4. When I dont go on morning walk then my first cup of tea is at shop closed to my room where I stay. So the last tea I had at all these places on Sat evening and since then I am trying coffee at my room.....He is a local guy who receive the local crowed drawn mainly from the nearby villages.
Having Tea at diff places and diff times keep you updated of all the local events, news, whispers and undercurrents which no news paper publish and not TV channel telecaste. I have experienced that if you wish to feel the pulse of any place you must visit these small tea shops opened on every nook and corner of our cities rather than to visit CCDs, McDs and what not....
So waiting for this lock down to get over soon to enjoy my cups of teas at differant shops.