An Unforgettable Experience

Most of you are aware that Facebook has a Timeline and one can trace back to the date you started sharing and receiving information of friends and relatives. You can also ruminate through the various anecdotes and photographs you would have uploaded and I am sure these bring back nostalgic memories.

More recently I happened to lay my hands on my passport and while leafing through the first booklet issued to me in the year 1993 my eyes fell on the German Visa issued for a month long stay in that country. Incidentally, a passport can be compared to Facebook's Timeline, albeit a hard-copy one, with a time stamp of our international visits in a chronological order. Anyway, this was the first Visa stamp on my passport and I distinctly remember that it felt great to travel out of home country at a point in time when there were many travel restrictions imposed on Indians by our Government. It meant travelling to an alien land and resorting to sign language to make ourselves understood. You see, the Germans in smaller towns and villages did not have any need for knowing English. My travel to Germany was organized by BMD Industries Ltd. – I had joined this company when I stepped into Bangalore after my 10 year long stay at Kolkata. BMD was known for its Foundry Machinery Manufacturing expertise and as part of forward integration, they had tied up with a small entity ‘BMD-Garant’ to manufacture air pollution control equipments. My assignment was to learn and transition the technology to BMD India. How did I do this and how long it took to transition, is an entirely different story and something that is not in the scope of this short essay.

What I set out to talk about was a comical episode that still brings a smile on my face whenever I recall that incident. The manufacturing unit of Garant was situated in a small village Friesenheim, tucked in the southern tip of unified Germany and close to the Swiss border of Basel. After landing in Frankfurt, we took the underground metro to Frankfurt Central. We were scheduled to board an express train operated by Deutsch Bahn or German Railways that would take an hour and half to reach the nearby town, Offenberg. None of the express trains halt at Friesenheim as it is truly a tiny village with a population not exceeding 10,000 people in the early 90’s. Thankfully we were informed that a gentleman would receive us at Offenberg station and take us to Friesenheim – the final destination being hotel Gasthof Krone. Typically like most Indians who take pride in weathering any storm in scant warm clothing, my colleague Ramkumar and I travelled wearing just a simple cardigan and a wind cheater. Although the weather was biting cold at minus 4^o one does not get exposed to this extreme temperature while changing from planes, trains and buses. We got our taste of the cold atmosphere, the moment we landed at Offenberg – the station is designed similar to our small town stations in India, not enclosed and open to general atmospheric conditions. The temperature was a couple of degrees lower than in Frankfurt and we just got frozen the moment we set foot on the platform. Being the only two Asians around, it wasn't difficult for our host to spot us and quickly usher us into his car with heater turned to its peak! For a pretty long time we could not utter a single word as the lower jaws were uncontrollably chattering…

Having had a taste of the extreme cold conditions, the following morning we set out by foot to BMD Garant from out hotel which was just half-a-kilometre away. This time we were careful and had completely en-caged ourselves in layers and layers of warm clothing, mufflers, monkey caps et al. Being a tiny hamlet, the town is built around the National Highway,called Autobahn. Our hotel Gasthof Krone was situated very close to the Autobahn and we had to negotiate a signal crossing to cross over to the opposite side and walk towards the factory. So far so good…both Ramkumar and I came to our end of the zebra crossing waiting for the signal to turn green. Being a highway, cars are restricted to 40 MPH within village limits, but it is still a tad too fast for us to attempt bolting across in the typical Indian style. Wanting to place our best foot forward and show these Germans how disciplined we Indians are, we decided to wait for the signal to turn green. And unbelievably, it remained red. We were dumbstruck and were mentally cursing the German traffic engineers for having provided a zebra crossing but no opportunity to use it! Between the two of us, we even tracked the pattern of traffic lights to see how traffic flow was regulated and at what time intervals the signals turned red or green. While we were oblivious, a young kid from his room in upper floor of his home on the opposite side was watching us from the glass window and was equally puzzled why we were standing at the same spot for such a long time. The smart kid however guessed that we were not aware about the pedestrian override button provided at the signal post and started waving his hands wildly trying to convey a message that we had to press the green switch provided.

The kids frantic gestures caught our eye no doubt, but we mistook that to be an enthusiastic greeting and waved back in acknowledgement, wearing a guarded smile. You can imagine the frustration of the kid when we failed to follow what he intended to convey. Looking at our sad plight, the kid came down from his home, walked to his end of the pedestrian signal and pressed the green switch meant for the pedestrian ‘override’. Only then did we realize what the kid was trying to convey through his frenetic gestures.

We thanked him profusely, waited for the signal to turn green for us to ‘Walk’ and walk we did, into our future…

Chai-Tea

Dear Friends,

I bet all of you know the origins of the humble cup of “Chai” or “Tea” happened around 1500 BCE (Before the Christian Era). It was more used as a medicinal drink than as a refreshing drink or a stimulant. The earliest credible record of tea drinking happened around 3^rd century AD. Thanks to the British for making it a popular drink somewhere around 17^th century AD and also, let us give the British the credit for having brought it to India in order to counter the monopoly China had over Tea.

Today, the top 4 nations produce 3.3 Million Tons per annum, with China at 1.6, India at 1.0, Kenya at 0.35 and Sri Lanka at 0.35. This accounts for almost 75% of world production of 4.4 Million Tons. The word “Chai” in Hindi comes originally from Cantonese “Cha” and Persian “Chai”. What is less known is that the leaf size is the chief criterion for classification of tea plants. The three primary classifications are Assam type characterized by its largest leaves; China type with its smallest leaves and Cambodian type with its intermediate size. Blended tea can be done from plants in the same area of cultivation or with teas from different areas. The aim of blending is to get a superior flavor of the expensive variety with inferior taste of tea that is less expensive. With additives and special processing, these days one can find endless range of scented and flavoured variants.

Tea is the second most consumed liquid on earth after water. In India tea is one of the most popular hot beverage and is made with milk and sugar, with or without spices. Most often referred to as “doses” it is generally served with biscuits and people love eating their biscuits dipped in chai before consuming the brew. In the northern regions of India the piping hot tea is poured into the saucer provided with the cup and slurped directly from the saucer – sort of instant gratification as the larger surface area of the saucer allows the chai to cool down to acceptable levels of the tongue. In the eastern region, tea is served in small earthen pots called “Khullad”. The taste of Chai served in Khullad is truly heavenly – this reminds me of the 2 hour train journey between Howrah (Kolkata) and Durgapur in the evening rush hours. People (myself included!) would eagerly wait for the Coalfield Express to make its 2 minute halt at Panagarh station, just two stations away from Durgapur. A middle aged gentleman would enter with his freshly made Chai in a shining aluminum kettle and a shoulder bag with Khullads. In the late 70’s a Khullad of this heavenly brew would cost half-a-rupee and I would end up making the person linger for a few minutes more to have at least three helpings. Of late the tea bags, plastic and paper cups seems to have robbed the Chai of its original taste. What we get in the name of tea is sanitized hot water with the flavor of tea which can certainly fool the nose but not the tongue which is better hard-wired to the brain and its memory block!!

Hence, when my good friend Ganesh Prasad offered to take me to a small chai shop called “Chai Point” in Ulsoor, I was a bit skeptical not knowing what to expect, although he promised me that the experience would be pleasant. It turned out to be pretty elegant – the shop, a 10-by-10 square feet space was splashed with yellow all around, set with modern day equipment’s that churned out a variety of chai. This being my first visit, I settled for the most common version “normal” Chai (with milk & sugar but without spices) and surprisingly, it reminded me of the same taste that I used to enjoy in my regular weekly trips to Durgapur by Coalfield Express at Panagarh station. The only difference was the chai here was served in a glass made from real glass, much like the ones used in Mumbai and the rest of west. The piping hot tea went very well with small snacks (masala cookies) that is sold in these Chai Point stores. The biggest surprise however was not in the taste of Chai but the use of modern day technology for making the payment as well as the cost of a glass of Chai! While a glass cost Rs. 15, certainly much-much-more affordable than the coffee at Café Coffee Day, Chai Point has provided its customers with a MobileApp and the bar-code reader at the shop recognizes the bar-code on your cellphone and deducts the billed amount from your deposit amount. Depending on your drinking habit, you can charge Rupees one hundred or in multiples thereof through a few clicks using your link to the personal bank account. With Chai Points dotted across the city, drinking your favorite hot beverage will never be a problem again – definitely affordable and with a hassle free payment facility.

A quick look at the people who started this chain in Bangalore in 2011: Amuleek Singh Bijral is the Founder and CEO of Mountain Trail Foods Pvt. Ltd., and the owner of the brand “Chai Point”. With an MBA from Harvard Business School, he found in Mr. Tarun Khanna a mentor and funding investor in Chai Point. Tarun currently teaches at the Harvard Business School and is also the Faculty Chair for HBS activities in India. Presently Chai Point has 19 outlets in Bangalore and 3 in NCR of New Delhi. If Café Coffee Day caught the imagination of Indians with its catchy slogan – “A lot can happen over a cup of coffee”, Chai Point states in a matter of fact manner: “India Runs on Chai”!! Perhaps the only two beverages in the world today that can unequivocally state: “Drink and Drive”!!

Go ahead folks…try it…you might love it!!

Cheers!!