चायबाज़ संगीता (Chaibaaz Sangeeta)

This is second in the ChaiTalk Serieson Chai ki Dukaan!

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Sangeeta Monga runs an Institute for Personality Development and Grooming in Delhi and caters to a large group of audience. Their testimonials on the institute website clearly substantiate the amount of value that Sangeeta's effort brings to their lives. Please read through the rest of the post to enjoy some tea-time talks with Chaibaaz Sangeeta!

Why Tea?

Tea is the best energy booster, tonic, antioxidant and time pass for me..you name it, it has it

- What if you had to make a flavor of tea, what would you have in it, other than Tea leaves?

I am particularly fond of, other than its green tea flavor and if I have a choice, in that order, saunf/ choti ilaichi/ moti ilaichi/ tulsi/ cinnamon

- What would you do if you were given two days in a tea estate?

I would learn the tea picking to tea leaf sorting to tea making..everything it has to offer..infact I would live in tea garden Lol!

- Tea in a cup? or Tea in a steel glass? or Tea in a kulhad (earthen cups) or tea in a paper cup? or tea in a glass? and why?

In order of preference…

Tea in a kulhar: especially for its earthen flavour

Tea in fine bone china cup : the exquisiteness of flavor and tea sipping is highly enhanced

Tea in stainless glass: I don’t mind this contrast as well because it retains tea flavor and the heat

Tea in paper cup/ disposable plastic is an insult ..an absolute no no!!!!

- What is your earliest memory of Tea?

I desperately wanted to have some and the request was conceded by adding some more milk to tea..I hated this concoction and felt it was injustice for a milk-hater.

Do you remember when you had tea for the first time? Is it related to why you like tea so much?

I cannot recall that, but tea was forbidden to us as children and I guess that is why I have taken to it with vengeance :)

- What would you tell someone who does not drink tea, about what they are missing?

I invariably come out with “ how boring! What do you do the whole day? No time pass???? “ :P

- Your favorite T-shop? and why?

It was long back in my univ days a place called “ Dhaba”…it was actually a dhaba and gave us special ilaichi chai in those workshop glasses..total nostalgia!!!

- Your favorite brand of tea and why?

It is Yellow label and twinings classic (instant tea dip) these days..but I have a collection of green tea at any given period of time. I have a penchant for green tea leaves…so any brand that gives me a strong tea flavor is well taken to!!!

and I was not talking green herbal..that is the latest fad :)

- If Tea was a person, what would that mean to you? What would that person be like?

That person would be my companion.. no tags but a die hard loyalist :) inseparable, cherished and cared for….

- Your favorite T-picture please...

- Your favorite T-quote

Tea is a cup of life.

Please do visit her website by clicking here.

Thank you Sangeeta for your time and responses to the questions about your Chaibaazi!

Anytime Tea Time - Chaibaaz Paavani (चायबाज़ पावनी )

Paavani is a flickr and blog-friend for quite sometime now, and I was really glad to see a T-photograph on her flickr stream! My immediate reaction was to request her permission for posting the photographs on Chai ki Dukaan and am thankful to get a nod from her!

An exceptionally talented photographer, a good writer and a design researcher, she is one of the photographers that I follow and learn from! Please do enjoy her photography work by clicking here.

Welcome to the ChaiBaaz Club, Paavani!

T-tips from Chai ki Dukaan!

When you make tea, make sure that you are smiling!!!



It helps the TEA Taste Better!!!

Photograph from a T-Shop at Jageshwar(Distt. Almora), Uttarakhand, India!

Tuotes (T-Quotes)

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world

- T'ein Yiheng,

eighteenth-century Chinese Sage

A Tea-Time-Tale by Mayuri

I bet we all remember our first times--- first cycle ride, first prize, first drink, first salary, first kiss, first lie... first this & that...
But I also remember my first cuppa tea! :) :)
Because it occured to me after a long wait and lots of anticipation!!! And it happened in too special a way to forget!!!

Okay now, lets begin from the beginning.
For me, tea meant......
...a fancy drink
...a childhood tabooo
...an elders delight
...an enigma
Yes, I was not allowed to have tea. This rule courtesy my grandma; she did not like her children to have tea- and I a kid to her ever. So I never ever had a sip of tea for 27 odd years of my life! (Wonder if that's some sort of a record)


Anyways, I know I was always drawn to this mysterious drink, its woody color and the-then indefinable aroma. Tea was like an enigma for me, something I'd always associate with adulthood (!), choice (!!) andmaturity (!!!) Weird? But that's what it was for me. Those delicate tea sets were equally fascinating, uhhhh, forbidden too! I had watched my elders and cousins sipping their tea and wondered how it tasted. Imagined if it tasted anything like horlicks and decided that it certainly tasted better. Assumed if tea tasted like hot-chocolate and conclued that being the elder's drink it was, it was bound to have a better (read: less sweetened) flavor. The days passed by and I simply belived that I wasn't cut out fora cuppa tea (ironic, haa)... But I'm proven wrong. :)

Animesh (my husband), an avid tea lover himself, never liked the idea of us having different beverages.(Him: Tea; Me: All except tea) So early one morning, he handed me a tea mug and asked me to taste it. ("your introduction to tea", he quipped) He was kind enough to say that I could leave drinking if I did not like it!
So I sipped.
Relished.
Loved it.
And thanked Animesh for my first cuppa ever!! I love him so for this special cuppa and for this perfect moment. :)

Three weeks down, I have travelled across six states, eleven cities and stopped at a number of tea stalls. Needless to say, I enjoyed every single cupppa tea I had.
Proud to be the new kid on the tea block, though still experimenting with tea types and snacks to go with chaii. I liked samosa n plain marie biscuits so far...
Here, may I ask the readers of this post: would you tell me whats your favourite cup of tea & snacks? I'd love to try it out :)

I want to thank Om for letting me tell my tea-story @ chai-ki-dukaan. For letting me be a fellow chai-wali on your blogspace. This whole experience is awesome. Thanks buddy! :)

P.S. Two days back, I asked amma (my grandma) as why she kept me away from this wonderful cuppa. She chuckled and said "Some things are worth the wait"
I agree, amma!!

Some tea-pics now:

My first tea-mug @ Home, Hyderabad :)
Chai at a dhaba on way to Patni-Top (Jammu)


Bollywood Masala Mix & Truck-Driver Especial Chaii @ Cha Bar, New Delhi.
Chai ke Glass @ Cha Bar

* Posted by Mayuri

Chai walon ki Jai

Chai Ki Dukaan recently crossed 75000 hits !!! Congratulations and thank you !!!!

Am out on a longish drive this weekend, and drove a almost brand new Ford Fusion yesterday for about 5 hours straight... I am surprised with the smoothness of the car, never expected Ford to be this smooth... will write more when I am back !

Blogged by Chaibaaz Chandan (चायबाज़ चंदन)

Blogged, originally uploaded by Chandan Dubey.

Please welcome a new member to the Chaibaaz Family.. Chandan Dubey (चंदन दूबे )

She is from Banaras and currently based out of Hong Kong and has a blog called Girl About Home. Go to her blog and you would be able to effortless wander around all the text and photographs that she has there... Something to look at whenever you need to view some refreshing colors ! Needless to say, the same thing is true about her flickr stream too !!

Welcome to the Chaibaaz Family Chandan :) I kind of like your name like this :चंदन चायबाज़

And, finding members for the Chaibaaz family is something that I really like to do.. .Random thing number 1 :)

kate lee by चायबाज़ रोनोदिप (Chaibaaz Ronodip)

Enjoy this picture from a Tea Shop in Calcutta, India... a city that I love to love... I think after Delhi, Calcutta (or Kolkata), the city that I have walked the most in...

I am in love with Kolkata and would love to spend a week (maybe more) just walking around the corners and streets... I feel that city still has a lot of character and its old age charisma to share... I still remember walking around Hawrah, taking that ferry to BBD Bagh, walking from there to Chaurangee, and then to Robindro Shodon and finally taking a shared cab from Exide to Korunamoi. You can view the pictures of my date with the city (14th Oct 2006) here.

About the photographer... Ronodip or Rawnie as he likes to call himself is the younger brother of my darling friend Tanu (who happens to put life and soul into every picture that she takes herself). Her excitement knew no boundaries when Ronodip got a camera, and Ronodip really has not disappointed with his pictures either... From what I have observed he likes taking high contrast pictures both in color and b/w and is doing a fantastic job in capturing moments from around him. You can enjoy more of his work here.

With time and the right direction he is going to go places for sure!

Welcome to the chaibaaz family Rawnie !

Chai ki dukaan: by Chaibaaz Sunny (चायबाज़ सन्नी)

Chai ki dukaan: The tea shop, originally uploaded by SunnyWinterZ.

Time for some more Chai :)

The picture comes from a small tea stall in Banaras, UP, India... The city of a million and more stories, located at the bank of Ganges and said to be the oldest living city in the world... Banaras. Also known has Varanasi or Kashi.

Sunny, who has taken this picture is one of the very few people who proves that its not really the camera but the photographer who takes pictures. He is capable of producing excellent pictures, using his basic point and shoot camera and is a source for inspiration for many!

Click here to enjoy some more of his work.

2008, the year that was !!!

This is a long post... I would recommend reading along with the pictures but then if you just want to have a look at some pictures, scroll on !!!




While I was getting ready for the new year...


I thought, why not write about what all I have been upto in 2008...

I was at the Chai ki Dukaan


I was in Air



I was in Water


I drove

I traveled in Trains


I travelled in Buses


I relaxed



I walked


I was with friends



I was with Family



I was alone


I saw rains



I saw clouds



I saw Snow


I saw Sunsets and Sun-rises



I saw buildings that man made




I saw caves that man decorated



I saw some Art



and made some myself


I started cooking


I spread some smiles



met some great new people



and let go of some !!

Took more photos of nature

and even more of people

I realized how much I love B/W, both in Life and Photography...

I even had an exhibition in New Delhi :)


I got closer to my country
And I stayed far far away from it too...



All in all, this has been such a remarkable year for me that I could not have imagined !!! Lets hope that I come out a winner in 2009 as well...

Amen !

And now !

I should get back to work :) I have spent more than 90 minutes on this post already :P



But you keep visiting Chai Ki Dukaan !!! It feels great to have company here !!!