Ramjibhai's Guide to a Perfect Cup of Chai

Ramjibhai on his way to deliver happiness into our mugs. Photo courtesy of author.

Meet Ramjibhai, support staff here at VIKSAT. He’s a warm friend at the office who always knows where to find things, spends more time walking around the office than in it, and makes a delightful cup of chai. Hailing from Banaskantha, Gujarat (coincidentally my main field work site), Ramjibhai began his career in Mumbai in the diamond polishing sector, after which he shifted to Ahmedabad with his family. He remembers his time there fondly, boasting that the food was great– “it’s day and night compared to what you can get here in Ahmedabad, misal pav, vada pav, everything.”

Prior to working at VIKSAT, Ramjibhai managed labs for Science Express, a collaboration between India’s Department of Science & Technology (DST) and the Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre. Science Express was a science exhibition mounted on a 16-coach AC train that completed 9 tours all over the country on Indian Rail tracks– a total distance of 160,000 km and receiving 18.1 million visitors– from 2007 to 2017. Ramjibhai joined their team around 2011, and toured the country 5 times. His work involved handling the Kids’ Lab, where visitors had the opportunity to perform simple chemistry experiments, and handling general day-to-day operations. Dilip Surkar, Director of VIKSAT, was instrumental in coordinating and implementing Science Express.

Every morning around 9am, Ramjibhai starts his ritual of making us chai. Sometimes it’s accompanied by his singing, the hum of the kitchen’s feeble fan, and feeding the campus black cat excess malai from the milk bowl: “Aao beta,” he calls to it. “Come, child.”

One afternoon, I was lucky enough to join Ramjibhai to make cha (chai in Gujarati). Here is a bit of a painting of that process.

Kitchen station at the office, this is where cha is made. Photo courtesy of author.

We start with a bag of Amul Gold milk, which is diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio. This mixture is then brought to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Next, you add your desired amount of sugar and bring it to a boil once again. This allows the sugar to properly mix with the milk, as a syrup would. Keep stirring.
Your spices enter next. We start with a soft sprinkle of Everest tea masala. Ramjibhai also adds fresh pieced black pepper, and cardamom with the shell on (for fragrance). Usually there’s also clove, but we just ran out!
The tea is added next, Ramjibhai swears by Wagh Bakri tea.
The cha is given some privacy for a bit until it boils and bubbles to the brim of the pot, after which the heat is extinguished, and it moves straight through the strainer and into the serving pitcher.

Spices used for cha. They’re stored in reusable Nescafe containers. Photo courtesy of author.

Grinding spices for cha by hand in mortar & pestle. Photo courtesy of author.

Cha bubbling over, this is moments before the gas is shut. Photo courtesy of author.

Stirring and aerating the cha ensures the flavors are well mixed. Photo courtesy of author.

Ramjibhai pours the cha into a pitcher to bring it up to serve. Photo courtesy of author.

In his downtime during the work day, Ramjibhai likes to bring a chair out and sit in the courtyard under the sun. I borrowed this idea and brought my laptop outside to work on this piece. Just as he passed by moments ago, I apologized for taking his spot. “Koi vando nahi behn,” he said, “koi kisi ka jagha nahi- sab upar vala ka hi hai.” (No problem sister, the spot doesn’t belong to anyone, it is all God’s space).

Ramjibhai sunbathing, enjoying some scarce winter tadko.

Author

Ananya Chandra

Ananya Chandra (she/they) will be supporting sustainable livelihood programs as a Fellow at VIKSAT. Having studied Environmental Engineering and Environmental Policy with a focus in geography, Ananya is attuned to the intersectional dimensions of environmental issues, the necessity of equitable infrastructure, and the importance of science communication in bridging gaps between communities. She is passionate about civil service and has interned at the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as environmental remediation work with the firm Haley & Aldrich. Further, their research experience is extensive, and ranges from soil biogeochemistry analyses in a wet lab to GIS mapping of federally-funded water infrastructure, both at Syracuse University. Her undergraduate thesis examined the drawbacks of neoliberal water governance, analyzing global case studies to disseminate the role of the private sector, the state, and multilateral institutions in water governance. As such, Ananya is curious about global linkages of water and environmental issues, which they have explored through experience as an academic ambassador to the UN and staffer for Model UN. They are excited to be a part of the social sector as an AIF Fellow with VIKSAT, and contribute to impactful work on the ground to advance climate action and sustainable livelihoods.

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