It is part of everyday life and it is one thing that binds the city like nothing else. Wherever you are in Hyderabad and at whatever time, you can have the cup that cheers.
As the sun rises on the other side of the Musi, the pavement outside Diwan Devdi buzzes with life. A few news addicts pick up the day's paper and squint into them under the street lamps. Money changes hands, the conversation turns intense and the news vendors, brokers and circulation people keep walking into the 24-hour chai shop to fortify themselves with the beverage and step out with renewed vim. Deep in the cavernous tea shop is the kitchen where the secret of Hyderabad's fabled Irani chai keeps bubbling away in multiple bowls. "The tea decoction is boiled in this samovar," says Shaikh Ahmed, pointing to an odd-shaped vessel. "It has a narrow mouth and wide base and a mix of sugar, tea powder and secret ingredients are boiled in it for a certain period of time. Then it is poured into this," he says, pointing to a drum shaped vessel with a tap being heated by a gas stove. It is covered with a thin cloth that filters out the tea leaves. The milk that is bubbling away in another wide base vessel is almost brown. "Do kadak chai," shouts a waiter, and Shaikh ladles a few scoops of milk into the two cups he is handling and then opens the tap of decoction and the tea is ready.
It is called Irani chai, but has nothing Iranian about it. The samovar is a vessel that has its origins in Central Asia, the tea is an import from China where it was called 'chaa', and the bentwood chairs, that were such an integral part of Iranian chai addas were imported from Czechkoslovakia. And while the Irani cafes in Bombay and Pune were Parsi-owned, the ones in Hyderabad were Shia-owned. While the Iranians and Central Asians prefer their chai to be just decoction, you can find the milk and tea combination prepared in this particular way only in India. "This is different from the bandi tea also called Andhra tea where everything is boiled together," says Taufiq Ahmed at another shop near Madina. The bentwood chairs are no longer a part of Irani cafes, the only place you can find them is at a cultural centre in Banjara Hills.
Are the Irani cafes on a decline? Talk to a few Hyderabadis and they become nostalgic and talk about the older cafes that have made way for the other establishments. "This used to be one of the biggest tea outlets in the city with a huge poster of Ayatollah Khomeini. Now it is just a small hotel. It was five times bigger than this," says G Venkatesh, as he chats at a cafe near Secretariat. Incidentally, though most Iranian cafes were located in corners as they were not bothered about vastu, it is vastu that has affected this particular cafe. Once the gate was shifted from here due to vastu and our business was hurt in a big way. And I think that's the reason the cafe has shrunk in size," says one of the long time waiters at the cafe.
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