Banaras : Chai

Paan, sweets, kachori are talked about when one talks of the streets of Banaras ~ I have often wondered why Chai gets left out ~ This when there are pockets in the town where Chai stalls remain open round the clock ~ Our walks and cycle rides are more often than not guided by the locations of these Chai stalls ~ 

This is from a Chai stall at Sarnath ~ A destination as crucial as the ancient remains themselves ~ A parking place for our cycles ~ And much more ~ 

This, like many other stalls functions from 4 am to 10 pm ~ More than once, here, I have remembered Sydney Smith : 'Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea! How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea' ~ 

Such fun, these buns ~ This is one place where, besides butter, one has also options of having them with either malai or rabdi ~ My limited English skills cannot describe what these combinations do to the taste buds ~ 

Complicated it is ~ This is at Chowk, on a chill winter morning ~ On the morning I was the first customer I saw the initial cups offered to a deity nearby and the fire which helped prepare the Chai ~ 

The kullads are ready ~ Being friendly to the earth is a practise, a way of life ~ 

This is one of the few places where one still gets toast with white butter or safed makhan ~ At 5/- or 10/- for a kullad this street Chai's beat other options hands and legs down ~