The question, “How could you just pack up and leave?” has always intrigued me. Still, I packed my life into three suitcases and set off, hoping for the best.
During a layover at one of the world’s largest airports, I took a moment to ground myself in my roots. With my jacket on, yet feeling cold but not as harsh as the Himalayan chill though, I watched the crowds pass through the terminal, a strangely peaceful, dystopian scene. Amid the chaos, I longed for sleep, feeling like a lost zombie. So I decided to first put my sleep to sleep, with chai.
I wandered, looking for a teashop, craving chai and biscuits to shake off my sleep. As I sipped, I thought of home, of lush tea estates, birds singing, and the peace of lying on the grass, gazing up at the serene sky. There, with chai in hand, I pondered how this humble drink has woven my past, present, and future.
Chai is a greeting to life itself. Whenever you want to feel alive, you say “chai.” It’s the one drink that pairs with anything, anytime, morning chai, noon chai, rain chai, evening chai with snacks, chai after work, midnight chai, can’t-sleep chai. It’s the elegant child of water, sharing its ability to adapt and blend seamlessly. Chai with biscuits, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, with or without milk, salt, pakoras, matthi, and even with a cigarette, chai makes every combination work.
Chai is a living thing if you think about it. It breathes and consumes, like when you forget a biscuit in your cup only to find it swallowed whole by your chai. My day as a kid always started with chai and Marie biscuits. In India, we’re even the color of chai, each skin tone reflected in the endless varieties from Assam to Darjeeling to Munnar. From green tea for the health-conscious to sugary milk tea for sweet tooths, chai binds the country across classes and cultures, north to south, rich to poor. It feels only right to honor it here as I settle in, having just left my home, Assam, the state of the world’s finest teas.
As I wrote my tribute, three biscuits had vanished into my chai, which had gone cold. I downed the last gulp and missed my hometown’s dozing dogs whom I used to fed the leftover biscuits who are always too sleepy to bother.
PS: I think I’ll get another cup.
