Over a Cup of Tea

I woke up today with a throbbing head and an intense desire to throw up. After dealing the nausea with some quick remedies the next thing I thought of was a cup of tea which is usually the first thing that I think of everyday. But the problem is, I lent my last tea-bag to my flat-mate just the previous night and the nearest grocery wouldn't open until 11. The longing for a steaming cup and my heavy head brought in front of my eyes flashes of the past, of the good days gone by. Dramatic much? I don't think so.

I started the habit of tea very early in my childhood. Sometimes I joke that I've been taking tea before I learned how to walk which is not true. But as a kid of 5/6 I flatly refused to drink a glass of milk if several teaspoons of tea wasn't added to it. I have heard that my elder sister was also like that. In fact most of the children in my paternal side of family has some sort of fascination for tea which is in stark contrast to my maternal family. My maternal grandmother is one fair lady who believes the complexion of her skin was thanks to her refusal to take tea. Forgive the colorism of this otherwise sweet old lady, but she prohibited the beverage for her children & grandchildren, the ones directly under her supervision, that is. Sadly for her, most of them broke that rule sooner or later.

As a child, my primary fascination with the drink had to be about getting older. I guess I took it as a threshold I had to cross to take part in the discussions the elder had while they sat down for the evening tea. It must have started from there and became with time a family ritual. Of course, the beverage itself didn't suffice, especially in the evenings, when unhealthy snacks were bound to be there. Also, my mother doesn't believe in the concept of tea without biscuits. So like most people in the subcontinent we would dip the biscuit in the hot beverage before taking a bite.

Preparing the beverage is also the first thing I learned to make in a kitchen. I don't recall how old I was at that time. We had a domestic help living with us at that time and it was he who taught me how. To this day that is the only explicit recipe I follow while cooking. I still use half teaspoon-full of powdered milk as one spoonful of tea leaves for every cup of tea I make. Despite that I never managed to get a consistent flavor & neither did my mom. The tea we prepare has different flavors & strength each day. My sister is a different story altogether. She's always been very meticulous with the procedure & manages to get the perfect strength every time.

Once she completed education & returned home, my sister & I developed a routine of late night tea parties. We would both study till late into the night. Her head would suddenly pop up at my door, "Are you up for a cuppa?”. We both knew it was a mere formality. So I would nod ritualistically and we'd both head for the kitchen.  Right from when Didi turned on the oven we would start chatting. We'd talk about everything & everyone. Cousins, relatives, family intrigues the existence of which my father refused to believe in. We would talk about films, stars, books, characters, would try to predict the next twist in the TV show we were watching. Game of Thrones is one show we never watched together irrespective of how close we were. She & I would catch the latest episodes separately & then discuss it over the night time tea. When there wasn't anything particularly interesting to talk about we'd just watch an episode of 30 Rock or Veep. Sometimes Ma was part of the fun but she used to be half asleep while sipping the tea. Thankfully the beverage never had any effect on our sleep cycles!

Now I live in a shared apartment where I mostly try to mind my own business except for occasional exchange of pleasantries in the kitchen. Summer or winter a cup in the morning is all the tea I have for the whole day. It isn't as much fun when there is none to break the biscuit with. Anyway, my alarm just rang and it's 10:50. If I leave now, I'll reach just in time for the opening of the grocery.