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86 responses to “Chai Chahiye”

1. Adil Najam says:

   August 6, 2006 at 12:52 am

   Roshan
   need to hear the poem again…. but my recollection is that the poet’s clear favorite is Lassi at the end, no?

   Became a fan of Civil Junction a year or so ago when I first went their …. the offerings were good but the menu and titles of the food was absolutely superb…. had not seen thsi Newsline story… thanks for it… woudl highly reccomend to all readers

2. Roshan Malik says:

   August 5, 2006 at 11:25 pm

   It is wonderful dialogue and Lassie sarcastically says to Chai for her arrival as a visitor and finally became the custodian of the house!!! It seems both the characters (tea and lassie) are presenting their point of view so strongly, even we are indecisive of our final support http://www.apnaorg.com/poetry/anwar/audio.html

   Civil Junction Cafe (Islamabad) has very interesting menu which depicts our national and regional politics like Ultra Naive Doodh Patti (UNDP), Musharraf’s Guesspresso, Murgh Malaee Aaloo (MMA): You will enjoy reading this interesting article on the menu: http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsMay2004/foodline1may.htm

3. Owais Mughal says:

   August 5, 2006 at 10:28 pm

   Here is a ‘sher’ from Anwar Masood on a cup of tea. It is part of a ghazal, hence the ‘qaafia’: ‘jaaye hai’

   sirf darya par nahiN mauqoof aisi khal-bali
   chai ki piyali meiN bhi toofan paaya jaaye hai

   It roughly tranlsates to following:

   A river is not the only place with chaotic waters
   A storm can be found in a cup of tea too

4. Adil Najam says:

   August 5, 2006 at 9:38 pm

   Roshan

   thanks for rasing these important economic implications of our tea consumption…. a LOT of friegn exchange is spent on this…… so, beyond the romancce of drinking tea (which I also drink too much of), there is teh question fo the political ecconomy of this gift of teh British!

   By the way, your message also reminded me of our earlier discussion on Anwar Masood’s poetry and his other famous poem where Chai (tea) and Lassi battle it out!

5. Roshan Malik says:

   August 5, 2006 at 8:44 pm

   I was involved in a study regarding the dairy scenario of Pakistan. It was one of the findings that tea consumption has surpassed our cultural lassie (yogurt drink) in rural areas. According to FAO, Pakistan is the third largest importer and seventh largest consumer of tea. It imported 109k tonnes in 2003: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/009/j5278e.htm#P88_4639
   We got the free cups and now pouring lot of money in tea import.
   By the way I love to drink tea!!!

6. Phil says:

   August 5, 2006 at 7:20 pm

   I love tea, and I love coffee. This same moment occured to me today at around 4:20 pm in Islamabad, where I made tea, with Lipton and added half a spoon of Maxwell House to it. A little milk and 1 and a Half sugar! A great accompanying story, Mr. Owais.

7. Altamash Mir says:

   August 5, 2006 at 6:56 pm

   The stories are incredible..thanx Owais !
   growing up, my parents made sure that I dont become a tea guzzling addict like them, so they only allowed me to have tea at special occasions…even now I only have tea on weekends and parties…About ten years ago, I was introduced the “Doodh Patti” Style in which you put very little amounts of water and tons of milk and loose patti and cook for hours….good with elaichi…ever since then, Ive been only drinking doodh patti…I cant stand the taste of a “Tea Bag” chai anymore, because of the taste of the paper.
   My favourite brands:
   1. Wagh Bakri Tea (From Gujrat, India). I started avoiding Indian products a little while ago, that when I also quit this brand.
   2. Tapal Danedar…very good and strong tea from Pakistan.
   3. Brook Bond.

8. Adil Najam says:

   August 5, 2006 at 6:15 pm

   The story I had heard was of the tea company going around teh gallis of Delhi offering free cups (tastes) of tea to get people to take up drinking tea…. interestingly, they did this on bicyccles… yes, they supposedly had large vates of tea being made where teh bicycle carrier is.. that woudl heat water which woudl be poured into small cups and people coudl get a free taste…. at least, that is teh story I heard