Galle ki chai & Seniors

You all must have given farewell to your seniors may it be in school, college, office or wherever… so you all are well familiar with farewell event. If not you will someday, in future. In my NIT, we gave farewell to our just immediate seniors in the year 2011, we gifted them all a coffee mug with their group photo on it. In addition to that we had also kept a simple plain glass in it, which was the same as in which we used to drink ‘galle ki chai’ (Tea stall outside our campus). In the bus, one of my seniors said immediately after unpacking his gift, “yeh glass poori college life define karta hai, this is the best gift, we could never think of getting in a farewell, college ke shuru se college ke khatam tak iss glass se sab kuch defined hai!”

Well my immediate reaction to that was sentiya gaye hain baap log.. But on second thoughts that was really well said. Uss galle ki chai ne kitne hi relations banaye hain, bigade hain aur pata nahin kya kya chhoti-badi planning banti-bikharti dekhi hai. 4 rupees normal chai, 6 rupees special masale wali chai. oh. Raat bhar night out maarke subah 5 baje chai. Chamunda khatam hone ke baad college mein ghusne se pehle ek chai. Exam khatam hote hi ek chai. Suttebaazon ke liye Regular/mild/lights/ultra ke sath chai. I really appreciated those NIT girls who were DAILY visitors of galla. They had that bold spirit, true engineer like attitude in my opinion. Not those who would once in a while join the herd. Aaj chai ke paise tum doge – chai treat. Bhaiya aaj chhutta nahi hai, kal paise le lena. That tea was even used for bribing the watchmen at the gate for us to leave college premises in odd hours (2AM, 3AM). Study break lena hai so chai pine chalo. I still remember my final year, starting my bike, taking a triple ride, just to go from hostel to galla (hardly 400 m) for what??? – Masala chai. All in all that one glass of tea was everything and played a very important role which gets unnoticed. How can I forget my “interaction” with seniors and juniors over that glass of tea. Bird watching while drinking tea (believe me, NIT-Surat is situated in the best location for this, ha ha)!

The joy of that beverage in that particular place and in that cheap vessel was unmatched and out of this world. That bliss is absent in the Rs. 150 Tea of Gateway Hotel; Absent in today’s tea where I get it 4 times a day for free. 5 rupees was just exact, right and the best. If I were to break one of those glasses, each piece would have a different story to tell you of what all it has witnessed over the years. Well people, please take time out of your busy-competitive lives and just try to spark that spirit again with your new surroundings. Definitely a wave of rejuvenation shall run through you. For those still in the process of completion of their Bachelors, don’t miss out and make everyday count.