Life style

Chai is tea, tea is Chai: India’s favorite hot drink

Published

3 years ago

2023/04/30

Thilina Walpola

Painting of Majuli Tea Estate, Assam by Bibek Kr Das

Indians took the tea the British were marketing to them, added spices, milk and sugar, and transformed it forever.

Chai can be enjoyed alone, but it excels in company
By Nupur Roopa

I remember jumping up to sit on the kitchen counter one afternoon. My five-year-old self wants to watch my mother making chai. She pushes me away from the gas stove but I am indignant and refuse to hop down, although I do move away a bit.The water bubbles. She adds sugar, then takes a flat steel grater, balances it on the edge of the pot and grates in adrak (ginger).

“Why do we add this?” I ask, watching the shreds fall into the bubbling water.

“Child, I have to hurry I don’t have time for your questions,” she says. I sulk but I know that, being a doctor, she has to get to the hospital on time. I will ask grandma, I tell myself.

The ginger threads dance in the water. Then she adds the tea leaves, turning the contents of the pot brown. Stirring, she adds milk and lets it simmer over a low flame, still stirring. After a few minutes, she removes it from the heat and covers it. I hop down to watch the next step. She strains it in cups, puts them on a tray, and carries it to the dining table.

I run out. I have no interest in tasting it but am proud, boasting to my friends: “I know how to make chai.” By the end of the day, I have memorized the process forever.I don’t want to ask to taste it because I know if I do, she will dilute it with more milk. “Children should not drink tea,” she would say. I hated that pale milky liquid.

The first time I tasted real chai, I was in grade three. I had scored good marks on a maths test and ran home that August afternoon to share the news with my mother and grandparents as they were having their chai. Basking in the appreciation and pats on my back, I asked if I could have chai. Mother refused, but grandfather smiled and poured some into a cup. I took it and breathed the aroma in deeply. I took one sip, then the second. The creamy, rich beverage warmed my heart and spirit and at that precise moment, I became a chai lover.

I yearned to make chai but wasn’t allowed. “What if you spill the boiling water and get burned,” my grandmother would fret. Finally, when I was in grade five, she reluctantly allowed me to make it under her supervision and soon I was making it alone.

Prerna Kumar and her family enjoy a mug of steaming chai on a chilly day

I felt so accomplished, measuring water, grating ginger, and scooping sugar and tea leaves to add to the boiling water. Watching the tea leaves spinning with the ginger. Then adding the milk and watching it lighten the chai and simmer, steeping the flavours. “A good cup of chai needs a slow fire,” I was told, something I follow to this day.

Fast forward a few years, and I am on my way home on a bitterly cold January evening in Indore. The sun is on leave and the wind drills into my bones. I enter a silent, cold apartment – my mother isn’t back from the hospital yet and my grandmother has moved to live with my uncle since my grandfather passed away.

I need chai. Soon, I’m sitting with a hot, steaming cup, sipping it slowly. I close my eyes, savouring the sweet milk, sharp ginger and cinnamon. By then, I was experimenting with spices and adding what felt right at the moment – cinnamon, fennel, green cardamom and more. I would add lemongrass, holy basil and peppercorns if I had a cold or sore throat.

Chai can be enjoyed alone,but it excels in company

Chai is tea, tea is chai

Chai in India is a drink for no reason and for every reason, morning, afternoon, evening and night. It lifts your spirits while studying for the maths paper or learning chemistry formulas. It spices college gossip and fans rumours. A welcoming or parting drink, to convince friends and family to stay longer to share more stories.

It brings everyone together. It is served in homes, board meetings, college canteens, cafes and at weddings. “Chalo chai ho jaye,” (Let’s have tea) is heard every day.

Tea is chai in India. When, where, and how the first cup of chai was brewed is still up for debate, it is our elders who gives us an idea about the evolution of this delicious, addictive beverage.

Prerna Kumar, founder of ChaiVeda and purveyor of medicinal blends, says: “The early reference to tea is found in the Buddhist texts where the monks drank some kind of tea while fasting and meditating.

“They made tea from foraged tea leaves and perhaps added certain flowers to the decoction to help them feel calmer.”

But how did tea become chai and give birth to chaiwallahs (chai sellers) and chai drinkers?

I remember sitting with my grandfather and a history book in grade 10. He could make history dance in front of your eyes but I wasn’t enthusiastic about that day’s lesson. It wasn’t about kings or queens or battles, but the dull history of the everyday drink. How interesting could it be?

Grandfather pushes the book away and tells me to just listen.

“Tea,” he began, “comes from China.”

With that, he launched a history

lesson replete with scenes of Britishers drinking tea, tea traders at seaports and expansive green tea plantations in Assam.

India is the largest consumer of tea in the world, the second-largest producer and the fourth-largest exporter – about 80 percent of its production is for domestic consumption

The English were introduced to tea when the Dutch East India Company began to import it into Europe in the 17th century, and its popularity gradually grew. By the 18th century, the English East India Company was importing enough tea from China that it was considered one of the company’s main assets. But there was worry over China refusing to renew the English trade

monopoly and a search for alternatives began.

English botanist Sir Joseph Banks suggested that the English in Assam grow tea there in 1778 after it was discovered that the Singpho tribe in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh drank a wild tea plant. But there was little interest until China broke the monopoly in 1833; two years later, tea growing in Assam began, food historian Mohsina Mukadam from Mumbai elaborates.

The Assam Tea Company was formed in 1839 and started marketing in Europe. Tea wasn’t a widely known beverage in India and it wasn’t until the start of the Great Depression in 1929 that the company looked at the Indian market to move its perishable stock, Mukadam added.

They started mandatory tea breaks in factories; tea-making demonstrations in markets and in homes where women could watch from the purdah (a screened enclosure); film screenings in villages to dole out free tea samples. Free tea on the purchase of saris. Tea sold at railway stations. But tea still wasn’t becoming as popular as hoped.

“The British were overconfident about changing our food habits,” grandfather smiled. Indians were wary of this new beverage. “We took it, added spices, milk, and sugar, transforming tea-making forever.”

Now I’m completely fascinated with the tea lesson.

Author and chef Sadaf Hussain, a lover of food history and stories, tells me later: “Britishers gave us the habit of tea but … we Indianised the recipe to suit our taste.

“We were used to drinking ‘kadha’ [herbal decoctions] for ages and we innovated tea into something similar by using spices, milk, and sugar. The addition of milk was … to increase the quantity as tea leaves were expensive and, India being an agricultural country, milk was easily available.”

Today, India is the largest consumer of tea in the world, the second-largest producer and the fourth-largest exporter. According to Tea Board India, the country produced 1.34 million tonnes of tea in 2021, about 80 percent of it for domestic consumption.

The best chai is inspired by the masala dabba, a quintessential presence in Indian kitchens

Masala chai

Basic masala chai is tea boiled in a mixture of milk, water, sugar, and any or all spices, like cardamom, cinnamon, clove, ginger or black pepper.

Every family has a special chai recipe. “Some like a mild version, others enjoy it strong,” chai-making is personal, Sadaf says. Some like ginger or cardamom, or both or neither, he explains.”There are around 20,000 ingredients that have been added to tea around the world,” shares Prerna. “It is mind-boggling … Anything that can be added to food can be added to tea.”

Masala chai can include herbs, spices and flowers – black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, ginger, holy basil, liquorice, nutmeg, rose petals and more. The best chai is inspired by the masala dabba (box of spices), a quintessential presence in Indian kitchens. Ginger and black pepper are good for digestion and warming. Cloves, with their antiseptic properties, are good for sore throats and cardamom can elevate your mood.

I will never forget my Mumbai neighbour Sumathy Aunty’s masala chai. A new bride, I had reached Mumbai early that morning and was taking my stuff upstairs when the apartment next door opened and a lady draped in a sari dashed out, smiling over her shoulder in the way people in Mumbai do when they need to get somewhere.

I was new to Mumbai and wasn’t aware of what a feat it was to catch the trains crisscrossing the city. Every second counted and could delay you. That evening around seven, Sumathy Aunty knocked and asked me over for tea. What blossomed thereafter was a unique friendship between me, recently married and in my early twenties, and Sumathy Aunty, who was in her late fifties.

We would sip chai with farsan or chivda (fried lentil and flat rice spiced snacks) and sometimes, on rainy days, I would make mangodis (spiced lentil fritters), a speciality of central India, where I’m from. We exchanged recipes and cooking tips from our home states and she shared life skills to survive in Mumbai, a city that, for a small-town girl like me, was quite stressful.

Her chai was a caramel brew that always made me crave more. It had ginger, fennel seeds, cardamom and lemongrass, but there was more to it. When asked how she got it to taste this way, she attributed it to a mantra she chanted.

No two chais are the same, even the process and the mindset of the person making chai play a huge role, according to Prerna. “My husband is able to discern a difference if I am unhappy with him for some reason while making tea,” she laughs.

‘If you’re Indian, you must like tea’

South India has been a coffee stronghold for many years but things are starting to change as the humble chai made its way into people’s hearts and chai shops serving a variety ranging from ginger to masala and lemon hold pride of place along with “Kumbakonam coffee” houses, writer Chandrika R Krishnan shares.Every day is Chai Day. May 21 was declared International Tea Day in 2019 by the United Nations, but every day is Chai Day in India.

– Al Jazeera

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Life style

Grace, grooming and confidence

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/29

Thilina Walpola

The leadership team behind the academy at the head table

Ramani Fenando’s new Image and Etiquette Academy

In a world where first impressions speak before words, Sri Lanka’s beauty icon Ramani Fernando has taken a bold step beyond the salon chair to shape confidence from within. Her newly launched Etiquette and Image Academy is designed to refine not only appearance, but presence, poise and personal power.

Step into a space where confidence meets sophistication, Ramani Fernando Academy is redefining how Sri Lankans approach personal branding ,offering a unique blend of ettiquette, style and communication mastery.

Her newly launched personal branding and EtiquetteAcademy was unveiled in a simple ceremony at the Galle Face hotel. This marks a bold and timely step into the realm of confidence leadership, presence and modern social grace.

Colombo’s social elite, corporate leaders, fashion insiders and longtime clients gathered in celebration of a vision that seeks to shape not just appearance but cofidence building.

Ramani, in her opening speech, said “our courses are carefully designed to meet with international standards, ensuring participants recieve training that meets both local and global expectations.

Ramani Fernando – shaping confidence

Professional face of etiquette training

Faith Launders who is the Director of Etiquette and Protocol in the Academy pointed out this personal branding and etiquette programmes will help participants cultivate grace, confidence and refined personal style through expert guidance. A former Miss Sri Lanka beauty queen, with experience in aviation, will contribute a creative and professional lens to the Academy’s curriculam.

Invitees from the world of fashion gathered to celebrate the occasion

Carolyn Jurie

Chalana at the helm of beauty

She brings professionalism, poise and a strong commitment to cultivate confidence and promote refined social skills among students. Known for her approachable style and inspiring presence, she strives to create an inclusive learning space where students can transform into confident individuals to navigate life with dignity and elegance.

For decades, Ramani has been a transformative force in Sri Lanka’s beauty industry.

and now this venture signals a natural evolution from external refinement to the art of personal distinction.

The programme blends traditional etiquette with contemporary relevance, offering personal branding and professional image building both in social and corporate etiquette. These are some of the programmes:

= Communication skills and body language, grooming, style and wardrobe alignment.

= Digital image and social media conduct.

= Platforms or in social events the ability to command attention with confidence has to become an important tool.

In today’s hyper connected world, impressions are formed in seconds often long before a handshake, whether in boardrooms, diplomatic circles or in the media.

The teaching staff consists of industry experts trainers amd adminitrators led by othe senior professionals

The Managing Director, Lakmini Lenagala, Training and Administrative Manager, Ramono, Navaratnarajah, Personal Assistant, Merisha Aserappa and Chalana Munasinghe are all industry professionals who have experience, theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

They are experienced instructors with hands on expertise in grooming, etiquette, image building and communication.

While the vision of the Personal Branding and Etiquette Academy belongs to Ramani Fernando, its strength lies in the collective expertise of the professionals who bring the programmes to life.

By bringing together specialists from diverse fields, the Academy offers participants a rare opportunity to refine every dimension of their public and private persona under one roof.

Sessions cover skin care, hair, make up, wardrobe planning and colour coordination.

Communication and public speaking recognising that presence is also conveyed though voice and expression, the Academy offers training in articulation tones, posture and body language.

The training also includes table manners, event conduct, professional courtesy and cross cultural awareness. This Etiquette Academy us designed for both women and men offering guidance on grooming, communication, professional conduct and social confidence.

The Academy acts as a transformative space – one that equips individuals not merely to succeed but to stand out with authencity and grace. The institution reflects Ramani Fernando’s belief that true elegance is a way of being not simply a way of dressing!.

By Zanita Careem

Pix by Thushara Athapatu

Life style

From rescue to rewilding, Kalo’s journey continues

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/29

Thilina Walpola

World Wildlife Day 2026:

He arrived at the Elephant Transit Home in Udawalawe on March 23, 2024, barely eight months old. Kalo had spent an unknown number of days trapped at the bottom of an abandoned well near Galenbidunuwewa in Sri Lanka’s Anuradhapura District, separated from the herd he had lost. When wildlife officers from the Department of Wildlife Conservation pulled him out, they found a frightened calf, but also something else: resilience.

Today, nearly two years after his rescue, Kalo is no longer the fragile elephant calf who arrived at the Transit Home alone. He is growing steadily, eating well, and has fully integrated into a group of calves preparing for eventual release. His progress is measured not only in size, but in behaviour like social bonding, herd interaction, and independent foraging skills that will determine his readiness for life beyond human protection. Since his arrival, Kalo has grown from 125 kilograms to over 300 kilograms. The wounds he sustained before rescue have fully healed, and he is no longer on any specific medical treatment instead routine management only. He is, by every measure, active, playful, and thriving.

The Elephant Transit Home, also known as Ath Athuru Sevana, has operated within Udawalawe National Park since 1995. It is not an orphanage in the traditional sense. There are no rides, no performances, no human dependency. Human contact is limited strictly to feeding and veterinary care. The rest of the time, the calves are left to bond with one another.

That philosophy is intentional. Elephants are deeply social animals, and calves that grow too attached to humans struggle to survive in the wild. The daily play, the hierarchy, and the formation of peer bonds are all part of a structured rehabilitation process designed to prepare them for rewilding.

Since its establishment, more than 200 orphaned elephants have passed through the Elephant Transit Home. Over 100 have been successfully released back into the wild. In July 2025 alone, six young elephants were returned to Udawalawe National Park during the facility’s 26th release. If all continues as planned, Kalo will follow that path in 2029.

On May 8, 2024, less than two months after Kalo’s rescue, Sun Siyam Pasikudah formalised its long-term commitment to his care through the CarePhant initiative under Sun Siyam Care. The resort pledged ongoing monthly contributions to support Kalo’s nutrition, veterinary care, and daily rehabilitation needs through to his planned release.

Sun Siyam Care is the group’s overarching sustainability programme that integrates environmental stewardship, biodiversity conservation, community engagement, and long-term socio-economic value creation across all Sun Siyam Resorts in the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Through Sun Siyam Care, we invest in initiatives that protect marine and terrestrial ecosystems, reduce waste and single-use plastics, improve resource efficiency, support renewable energy and local sourcing, and promote awareness and participation among guests and communities alike. Kalo’s journey from rescue to rewilding is one example of how Sun Siyam Care extends beyond hospitality, connecting responsible tourism with meaningful environmental and wildlife conservation impact.

“We are delighted to embark on the CarePhant project and become stewards of Kalo’s well-being. Sri Lanka’s elephants are not just a conservation issue; they are part of the living identity of this island, and we feel a genuine responsibility to play our part in protecting them,” said Arshed Refai, General Manager, Sun Siyam Pasikudah.

For Chaminda Upul Kumara, Sustainability Project Manager at Sun Siyam Resorts, the commitment reflects the deeper purpose of Sun Siyam Care. “Conservation is not a single moment. It is a process that requires patience and consistency. With Kalo, we committed to being part of that journey from rescue to release. Every month of support is an investment in his return to the wild,” said Upul.

In the month that marks World Wildlife Day, observed on 03rd March, Kalo’s story serves as a reminder that conservation is not abstract. It is individual. It is long term. And it depends on partnerships between public institutions and responsible private sector actors. In a landscape where habitat loss and human–elephant conflict continue to threaten Sri Lanka’s wild elephant population, sustained commitments like CarePhant demonstrate how responsible tourism can contribute to tangible, measurable conservation outcomes.

Sun Siyam Pasikudah, which holds Travelife Gold Certification and operates under the broader Sun Siyam Care sustainability framework, integrates conservation, local sourcing, and community engagement into its daily operations. The CarePhant project builds on that foundation by linking responsible hospitality directly to wildlife protection.

Three years from now, in 2029, Kalo is expected to walk beyond the protective boundaries of the Elephant Transit Home and into Udawalawe National Park as a young wild elephant. Every veterinary check, every month of nutritional support, and every bond formed within his herd brings him closer to that moment.

“When Kalo walks back into the forest in 2029, it will mark the completion of a journey that began in crisis but was sustained through commitment,” added Arshed Refai. “We are proud that Sun Siyam Care is part of that long-term promise.”

Until then, Kalo continues doing what young elephants at Ath Athuru Sevana are meant to do: growing, learning, and preparing quietly for a life in the wild.

Life style

Pakistan’s 86th National Day celebrated in Sri Lanka

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/29

Thilina Walpola

The High Commission of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Pakistani community based in Sri Lanka celebrated the 86th National Day of Pakistan with traditional flavour and resolve to make Pakistan a strong, vibrant and progressive democratic welfare state.

The day commemorates a defining moment that led the foundation for the creation of Pakistan.

The ceremony commenced with the raising of their national flag, fluttering proudly against the morning sky, symbolising faith, unity and discipline, the ideals upon which the nation was built. Dignitaries, members of the diplomatic corps, community leaders and guests gathered in silence as the national anthem resonated creating an atmosphere charged with emotion and national pride .

Cultural elegance added a distinctive charm to the occasion, with traditional attire and warm exchanges reflecting the rich heritage of Pakistan. Guests were later invited to partake in light refreshments, providing an opportunity for cordial interacton and celebration.

Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan, Zunaira Latif unfurled the Pakistani flag to the tune of Pakistan’s national anthem in a ceremony held at the Pakistan High Commission

The National Day of Pakistan is celebrated on 23rd March every year in remembrance of the historic 1940 resolution passed in Lahore, calling for a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent that ultimately led to the creation of Pakistan on August 14, 1947.

Special messages by the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan were readout, in which both the leaders highlighted the importance of the day and paid tributes to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan in her message on the occasion said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka continue to maintain their traditionally close and mutually beneficial relations, based on mutual respect and trust. She said that the strength of the Pakistan – Sri Lanka relationship lies in diversified engagement in many fields such as trade, defence, science, culture, and education. She also extended sincere greetings and best wishes on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan to the government and people of Sri Lanka.