“The Chai” at Laitlum Village
Embrace yourselves with a chai made out of unadulterated, locally grown tea leaves & tons of love. A story of tribal family who gave me a customized Chai and their managing excellence between life and work .
During my recent visit to Meghalaya as part of my research on tea, I had an opportunity to meet a tribal family and there are few incidents that compelled me to share with the world about this family.
Food has been always our integral part and many of us are pure devotees of its authentic taste. Accept it!
This story of “Chai” by the tribal lady who lives in Meghalaya will leave an unforgettable taste in our minds.
“Apbor & Poibang” are 9 and 4 years old who lived in the Laitlum Village, Meghalaya with their parents.
“Apbor along with her mother wakes by 5:00 am and will be on her work (plucking the tea leaves from the nearby village). They return home by 7:00 am or 7:30 sometimes.
Every day their mom (forgot her name ;)) picks up the old-styled tea kettle and pours some water that was collected from the nearest water supply & stored. (Tribal Villages in Meghalaya still don’t have a proper water supply & they still depend on the weekly water pump).
The water gets boiled slowly on the clay stove and then she adds the dried & freshly hand-pounded tea leaves along with few herbs (will share the recipe very soon) to this. It takes nearly 20–25 mins to brew this and she then add some sugar to the glasses before adding the brewed tea.
Little Poibang serves the tea to all his family members and the whole family (a total of 7 in the family) sits and drinks. They talk, laugh, kids play and shout and get back to the daily chores.
Can you guess how much time they spend for the tea?
It’s approximately 1 hour-20mins!
Just for a tea? Yes, they spend the time enjoying it with their family & friends. Indulging in the great conversations and living to the core. They have no complaints or no regrets about spending more than an hour for just a glass of tea.
Work- Life Balance?
“As I have a habit of having porridge early in the morning, I thought that I have no option other than to drink the milk-less tea, but it was not so, Apbor father daily got fresh cow milk for me to add the tea and she made a great “Chai” for me specially and it took additionally 10 more minutes for her to do this”
30 mins she spent daily for me in making “Chai” and without a penny.
Yes, they sell corn & tea every day from 10:00 am — 3:00 pm to the visitors. But they are clear with the statement “No work during personal hours”. They sell a glass of tea at Rs.25/- (hardly 25ml) and each corn at Rs. 30/- . You might be thinking its too costly right? Yes of course but they don’t even allow you to bargain. After 3:00 they completely wind-off and rests back at home and what ever they do after 3:00pm and before 10:00 am are not at all considered as business.
Yes, they have their own planning for everything in their lives. They laugh, they eat, they spend with family and they work but with consciousness, they are not just messing up things and have a very clear work format.
Though it might be a “Chai” through which she could earn 150/- per 6 glasses she didn’t consider it as business before they left for work and during their business hours they didn’t allow you to bargain a penny.
No ill-health all these years
Apbor’s father & mom claims that they were never ill and didn’t even know what a headache is! They usually get wounded during their work and for which they take medicine made by themselves.
This “Chai” had a real impact on me and my work pattern during those 3 days and thought of sustainability more than usual.
The theory of first principles can be applied even in your lifestyle, prioritizing what matters to you and fragmenting while paying equal importance. As that now you are an entrepreneur it does not mean that you need to sacrifice family or you are a family person you need to compromise your career.