It’s that time of year, the party season, and I do miss the tea gardens of the Dooars. So I turned to my friend Nandita Tiwari who recaptures the spirit of those carefree, heady days when the unexpected was the only thing you could safely expect!

Over to Nandita then – Was it a dream?. Let’s pick up our cups of tea before we settle down, shall we? Cheers, folks! I’ll be back with another tale for you next Friday – yeh vaada raha!

Cheers!

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The sun has begun its southward journey and the festive season is here.

Festivals were always extra special in the world of tea gardens. Today, I am sharing something I wrote about this time of year. When I first went to the tea gardens, it was like entering a parallel universe. ‘I had never heard of the Dooars myself until I got married! We were all afloat in a world that was remote and had very little in common with life in urban India.’

Do sit and have a cup of tea with me while I tell you more.

I will be back next Friday with another tale from ‘Indian Chai Stories’. Yeh vaada raha.

Cheers!

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Those days, the ‘chai ka baby log’ grew up in the most elegant bungalows; bungalows that really shone and reflected all the love and labour that the memsaabs of that era invested in them. Thank you, Sunayana, for inviting us in! 

Sunayana’s table looks most attractive, so let’s stop and feast on the treats she offers. A cup of tea? Yes, please.

I’ll be back with more next Friday, dear readers. Yeh vaada raha!

Cheers!!

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What shall it be today? A light-hearted one? Something thought provoking? A ghost story, or an adventure? Where shall we head today, Assam, Dooars, Darjeeling, the Nilgiris or further away?

It’s going to be Assam and I’m sharing a story that made me laugh out loud early in the morning. Let’s join Indi Khanna as he takes us to Upper Assam to have ‘Just One Drink’ with a Burra Saab.

We’ll need to get our own favourite drink before we sit down with Indi and his host – have you got your cup of tea? Right, so have I. Off we go, then! I will be back next Friday with another tea-time treat for all of us. Yeh vaada raha!

Till then, cheers!

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We’ve visited a number of tea gardens together on our Friday reads, haven’t we? Today’s story takes us to Cachar in the southern part of Assam. That’s where Dilip Syam began life as a planter in the early 1960s. Thank you, Dilip, for sharing your stories with us! 

Get ready to enjoy yourself, dear reader. Four “chhota” stories lined up for you, so I recommend one large cup of chai to go with them. I am just going to get mine, so I’ll say bye for now. 

See you all next Friday with another tea-time treat…yeh vaada raha!

Cheers to all of you!

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I can’t help agreeing with Shipra Castledine, though. She puts it so well: ‘The days gone by… to me had a better quality of life. There was so much strength of character in our previous generations. And a simpler, more meaningful lifestyle. Anyway, we live with what we have and make the best of it :)…As long as saying something like that does not offend young people if they are reading the blog!’

Shipra takes us back in time to the early sixties. In her inimitable style she writes how the tea planters and their families were impacted by the 1962 war, and what life was like in Kolkata – well, Calcutta – of those days. I have a big cup of tea all ready as I settle down to read. Do get yourself one, too, before you lose yourself in Shipra’s world.

Cheers! I’ll be back with another tea-time treat for everyone next Friday. Yeh vaada raha.

The post 69. Back in the Day – VIII appeared first on Chai for Cancer.

“The monsoons were, undoubtedly, the most awesome in the Dooars. Hugging the Himalayan foothills, Nagrakata was known for its frequent cloudbursts when the brooding cumulonimbus clouds rolled, crashed and thundered…” Aloke’s account is vivid and brings the sights, sounds and the ‘feel’ of the Dooars monsoon to the reader.

Come, let’s forget about our surroundings and lose ourselves in Aloke’s world. ‘Surviving the Monsoons’ 

You might want to pick up that cup of your favourite chai before we go! Cheers, dear reader!

I’ll be back next Friday with another teatime snack for you. Yeh vaada raha!

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Tea garden people don’t let anything get in the way of their plans. Intrepid? Yes. Spirited? In more ways than one, believe me. Fun loving? Could you ever think otherwise? Mrinalini’s story tells us all this and more.

She writes, ‘The year was 1990. It was the height of the ULFA agitation and many had told dad that it was foolhardy of him to get his daughter married in an increasingly unsafe environment. But Assam, to my parents, was home and their daughter was going to be married from home.QED.’

Yes, today we’re going to read one of my all-time favourites,  ‘The tale of a wedding less ordinary‘ by Mrinalini Rautela Pahwa. Cheers, dear friends. Let the celebrations begin! 

I will be back next Friday with another tea-time tale for all of you. Yeh vaada raha!

The post 67. The Tale of a Wedding Less Ordinary appeared first on Chai for Cancer.

Hop aboard, my friends. You don’t have to fill out a leave application, and there’s no need to circulate those ‘out of office’ notifications. Rajesh Thomas is here to take us all to the Upper Nilgiris, his beloved highlands. He tells us, ‘A handful of estates with their tea fields situated between 7500 feet and 8100 feet above sea level in this part of Upper Nilgiris …produce some of India’s finest high grown teas.’

Pick up a cup of your favourite brew before we begin. Thank you, Rajesh, for transporting us to your world again.

Cheers, dear readers. I’ll be back again next Friday with another teatime tour for you. Yeh vaada raha!

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This week, we have Aloke Mookerjee’s ‘Mangra Oraon’. Aloke spent many years in the Dooars – in Nagrakata, which I think was the most picturesque place in the entire district. Most of his stories are about his experiences in the area. 

My husband and I spent a lifetime in the Dooars and my favourite weekend outings were in and around Nagrakata. One day, I would like to revisit the gardens of which Aloke writes and read all these stories again! I must have been a very young child when these events took place – I wonder how many of you, dear readers, were born at the time? 

Do drop me a line and let me know!

I will be back with another teatime treat for you next Friday. Yeh vada raha.

Till then, cheers! 

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