'Teetotaller' is a term whose meaning
is “the person who totally depends on tea”. Oh dear, don’t turn your head
towards a lexicon because all of them have erred on this matter. The true meaning
is what I have told you. No dictionary can challenge the wisdom of a Bihari
and I am one of them.
Yes, taking tea on roadside has a great
significance. I remember that I could not clear UPSC exam only because I was
not a regular visitor of Roadside Tea-booth. Some of those in my group who did
so, passed. Yes, if they can pass this exams by resolving the intricate
academic issues at JNU tea stall located at street roadsides, why can’t I who had access to numerous dilapidated tea
stalls at big main roads of Patna.
You know how to sit and of course,
how to remain standing in a most space-efficient manner if you are on a roadside
stall. You know how you need to be alert all the time just like a soldier at
Indo-Pak border. Protruding well inside the borders of footpath is most common
for the vehicles of Bihar.
Everything goes side-by-side. You
show alacrity, you show
your practical knowledge of spatial economy, you let
the whole world benefit by your really "out of the box" solutions of
delicate problems pestering the humankind. You sip tea and solution of all
issues spring up from your tongue just like a fired bullet. View of beautiful fuming
panorama and escalation of your hygienic resistance are added advantages.
Beyond any caste, creed and class, cronyism
evolves in its pure natural form as all of your chums get together on that spot
in a most unconstructed manner. The manager-cum-frash (glass- cleaner) is
compelled to learn one extremely difficult skill i.e. Debt Management . He upholds the
flag of ‘Single Entry System’ of Accounting in his books called “udhaar
khaata”.
If a particular buddy disappears without
any notice for a considerable number of days, you come to know that his account
has fattened and one who is visible day and night there even after his
tea-sipping ceremony, you get to know that the atmosphere in his home is very precarious
nowadays. I am yet to understand why people see the tea-booth visitors with suspicion
and relate them with men of dubious character. After all, they can’t close
their eyes on a sight of eves who prefer their ways deliberately beside these
tea-stalls to many shorter routes.
