My morning cuppa time is sacrosanct. It’s my time to really wake from slumber and catch up on all the missed conversations on social media from the day before and respond to them. It’s my time to reflect on the day and mentally plan out my day. Morning Chai time has also been my time to have conversations with myself, alone about life, the universe and far beyond if you get my drift. If you had to look at the journey of my life in the last decade or so, I think I could explain it all over my relationship with my morning cuppa time.
The Before
When I was running the rat race my morning cuppa would be a hurried affair or most often missed (thus causing me to have a miserable day.) However, in those hurried 10 minutes the husband and I would catch up on life, people, the news, the government, filmdom, gossip about work and just talk.
The morning cuppa would also be like a gun which goes off in a race where who finishes the cup first would determine who gets the rights to the shower and in turn first dibs on the hot, steaming water from the geyser.
And then I quit the rat race! I became a freelancer who called the shots on my own working schedules and locations (mostly the mall food court. Starbucks had still not spread its wings back then.) But what I acquired in return for dropping out of the 9 to 5 was a blissful cup of steaming hot and meticulously prepared tea. It was in this phase of life that my love triangle between coffee (blame the South Indian filter kaapi genes) and tea came to a conclusion and I belonged to chai forever. <3
My morning cuppa and I now looked forward to spending those 30 minutes together after the whirlwind that my husband left behind every morning had died down. This was my precious, precious time – sitting all alone in silence, slurping steamy tea (I like to drink it hot even before the steam has died down) and reading up and down my Twitter timeline. Yes, I was a twitter addict back then, got all my news, info, breaking headlines, gossip and entertainment there.
Then came pregnancy…
The After
Although most people avoid tea or coffee during pregnancy, I did not. I would probably die of headaches if I didn’t have my one cup of tea for the day. And so I continued having tea.
But pregnancy does weird things to you and some wiring in your brain goes awry.
I was crazy about having ginger tea. And not just any ordinary cup of adrak waali chai… I had to have it super spicy and adraki. This meant at least a 3-inch piece of ginger would be grated (not just chopped, but cleaned, scrubbed and lovingly grated into that pan of boiling water.) To the layman, it was super spicy and most people would break into a fit of hiccups with the gingery kick they got. Not me though, it was a swig of pure elixir for me. But this was probably why I never had any morning sickness at all, nope, not puked even once during my pregnancy.
Those were the good days…
And the ‘Now’
Aloha, now there was a baby in my arms. My whole life now was surrounded by all things baby. Now, breastfeeding, cleaning poop and cleaning messes were all that was on my task list. Tea? What tea? Oh you mean ice tea, yes I had it every day.
You see, motherhood made me go from being a girl who liked to inhale the gingery tea vapour to someone who was forced to relish ice cold milky chai. Plain simple ugh. It also meant whatever this concoction I was drinking was to be hidden from the active baby/ toddler lest he finds the poison, brings it to his lips and gives fuel to his dairy allergy to flare up. Milk and chai now had to bid a teary adieu.
Just when I was about to close that chapter of my life I discovered that it was possible to have chai without dairy. Yes with plant-based milk like soy or almond. And today I love soy milk tea. I cannot imagine drinking animal milk tea at all. I love the malty flavour that is supplied by soy. My love affair with tea has been rekindled. And we now have an offspring together – babyT.
My toddler son now joins in my morning cuppa drinking sessions – we eat our breakfast from the same plate. He even sips on the last of the soy milk tea that I like to leave behind. My solitary tea sessions now include lots of cuddles, kisses and tomato ketchup laced caresses.
Tea and I are back to giving relationship goals to the world, don’t you think?
This blog is a part of the Chai-a-thon blog train organized by ‘The Momsteins’
I would like to thank Rashmi from Asjith’s MomStyle for introducing me. I would also recommend you to check out my fellow blogger, and friend Tripti’s blog Explore with Tripti and read about her wonderful ‘ tea memory.’
we have all been there – that cup of tea after the baby. loved reading your tea time memory.
Lovely! Your relationship has really matured over the years ?
Such a well-written post. My Morning tea after kids totally lost its meaning. There are days when I take a sip and forget to have the rest. Great to know you share your lovely tea moments with your kid. Thank you for participating in this blog train.
I love how u take pictures for each of ur blog posts
Thanks. I try very hard not to put any stock photos. Thank you for noticing and appreciating ☺
Such a wonderful read!!
The before after and now chai-phases are pretty much same in every girl-turned wife-turned mom’s life!! ??
At home, I need my new found love – coffee. But when I step out I turn into this chai lover people dint know about. I love trying a different chai on the menu at every visit – but my favorites will remain the adrak chai and masala chai.
Hahaha cup of tea after baby! I used to love coffee to take a break from work! I don’t remember when I last had my last milky and hot coffee! And no, I don’t make it at home, I don’t like the homemade one 😛
I was never a tea person. Mostly coffee that too when I was a part of the ‘RAT Race’ . But then I discovered liqour tea. And now I have it in all flavors.
I am the type of person who likes to be left alone with my tea, so that I can truely enjoy it. So goes without saying I haven’t enjoyed it much in motherhood..hehehe Thats a nice morning ritual you have in place with the toddler. On another note my son had the same tee that Baby T is wearing here when he was baby 😉
Tea- the word itself gives me the zen-feel! With twins around I haven’t had time to sit back & enjoy my hot cuppa as yet, but my husband & I go on a chai-date once in a fortnight (the road side cutting chai types) and that makes up for all the misses!
I feel like having a cup of tea after reading your post. I can relate to so many things you wrote. I need my morning cup of tea no.matter what. Otherwise it’s not a good morning at all.
What a beautiful love story! Even I wake up earlier than the boys just to have my morning tea in peace. Actually it makes the start of the day great.
I am a tea person.If I dont have my morning tea then I am a grumpy person all day.
Even I didn’t avoid my tea during pregnancy. I love my adrakh wali chai.
I enjoyed reading your post.
I NEED my tea every morning and all day!
I am tea lover too. And no matter what happens I need my morning tea. I manage to have my first tea in peace by getting up early. As I have also seen those days when it was impossible to have it hot and steamy. It was a sweet read 🙂