Chaey Garam !!!

My previous post on “Café culture at AMU” definitely points to one common trait of aligarians, that is, most of them are addicted to Tea. Before and after every important activity, they would prefer having a cup of Tea.

For Aligarians, Tea is the drink of all moments and times. If they want to celebrate, they have Tea. If they are unhappy about something, they have Tea. If they want to tell you something, it will be over a cup of Tea. If two disputing parties want to reach a consensus, it will happen on a Tea table. Even if they are very busy, you can catch them catching up with their cup of Tea.

When aligarians are asked about the kind of Tea they would prefer, one can get a common answer – “kam shakkar, tez patti” which means strong Tea with less sugar in it. That’s when they have a choice but in times of Tea crisis, they can get along with anything that is hot, looks and tastes like Tea but may not be Tea, actually.

This aligarian love for Tea is best visible on the campus. Wherever you go, you can find a Tea outlet close by. Famous hangouts for Tea-guzzlers are – AMU central canteen, Hostel canteens and Cafés like Café-de-phoos and Café-de-laila. Apart from these, one can find ample roadside dhabas on Anoopshaher Road and Medical Road. These dhabas are removed every year but they come up like mushrooms soon after. Not just this, their comeback is coupled with some quality improvements like good quality Tea and Hi-fi music system.

Then there’s See-off Tea which is a very vital part in an aligarian’s life. Whenever an aligarian is planning to set-off on a journey, he should be ready to treat his friends with See-off Tea. It’s called so obviously because you offer this Tea to all those who have come to see you off.

The cup of Tea is so ubiquitous in AMU campus that it wouldn’t be a hype if you call it the cup of life at AMU. Hype is when they say you chop off an aligarian’s finger and you find Tea instead of blood. In the end, I will not withhold the fact that this blog entry has used the word “Tea” for 23 times.