By Nayeem Showkat Khan,
“Tod diya ray.” You may surely be used to this line if you have attended or visited Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Every hour, at least one chai (tea) glass is ‘broken to death’ at some dhaba located somewhere in the vicinity of varsity and dhabawalas keep on repeating the same line.
It wasn’t surprising, few years back, when some friends here quoted Naseeruddin Shah – an alumni of AMU – by saying while sharing his experience about the Aligarh days: “Aligarh kay bachcho ki ragho main khoon nahi chai daudati hai (Not blood, but tea circulates in the veins of AMU students).” This statement is enough to give one an idea of the quantum of chai sipped in Aligarh.
(Photo Credit: Asif Raza)
Students in groups gather at their favourite tea stalls and keep on sipping chai from their glasses. Chai is always accompanied by long lasting discussions about the Muslim issues. The chai and gossiping ‘never’ ends. Many students spend a quarter of the day at the chai stalls.
Purani Changi, a few hundred yards from the famous Mualna Azad Library, is the epicentre of special tea. New visitor would find this place very filthy and unorganised. Cycles, scooters and rickshaws ply on the road almost round the clock. A major part of the market rests under the shades of Banyan trees. The place seems left far behind when compared to the modern streets of cities such as Delhi.
But Purani Changi is not the only place. There are too many other places where best chai is served. Unlike the essence of drama, chungi reflects the reality of one’s belongingness. Different types of chai, at different rates, are available here. One could find student folks having tea even in scorching heat.
The University Gate divides the market into two parts. As you drive towards Jamalpur, a few meters near ‘Gulmarg Hotel’, a chaiwala sells some 400 cups of tea from 6 pm to 10 pm.
The nameplate of the hotel ‘Gulmarg’ seems a ‘cold weather sailing’ condition in these dry summers. A feel of Gulmarg – at an altitude of 2,730 m (8,957 ft), about 56 kms from Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar, Gulmarg has a breathtaking picturesque and weather – with hot tea, long and short drags of smoke, and musical plethora, traffic noise included, sets the ambience.
Leaving far behind the concept of inequality, this chaiwala, like many others, is a living example of equality. He hardly does any discrimination with students on the basis of one’s age or degree. He calls everybody as ‘Dr sahib’, no matter if that Dr guy is yet to clear his SSC exams.
On the left side of the Gate, on the same road, as you drive towards the Shamshad market, you will find few more chaiwalas busy preparing and selling chai. A chaiwala whose shop hoarding reads ‘Hussain Tea Stall’ is the largest distributor of the chai on that part of the University Gate border. There is an ice making plant next to his shop. It seems a small cascade. The air does a favour here. With itself, the air moves very cold droplets of water from this ice factory’s ‘waterfall’ and showers them towards the faces of those sitting nearby. Receiving those freezing water droplets with hot tea adds beauty to the life. It reminds one the beauty of Spring of Kashmir in the killing summers of the Uttar Pardesh.
Besides that, other university canteens also remain packed with the students for almost three quarters of a day. Tea is the most preferred fluid here. Tea does the job of medicine for students to kill restlessness. Students mostly keep narrating the role of Muslims in Indian politics and their up-liftment. The claims and counter-claims keep coming one after another like the cups of chai.
In India, chai is really not an ordinary fluid to drink. It has made careers of many. Chai politics played an important role during 2014 Lok Sabha elections. BJP opened tea stalls to hard sell Narendra Modi’s image of a leader rising from a humble background. They organised the most hyped programme called ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ (Discussion over tea) to discuss the politics. It resulted in favour of the party and a ‘chaiwala’ became the Prime Minister of India.
Now, it remains to be seen how paramount discussions regarding the up-liftment of Indian Muslims over chai here at AMU would benefit the Indian Muslims too.
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(The author is a research scholar at Department of Mass Communication, Aligarh Muslim University.)