Lipton at Ten

Hakeem Irfan
A hot cup of tea spilled over in a scuffle with my younger cousin in our ancestral downtown house. My cousin was hurt as the hot tea sneaked under his legs like a stream and his skin was badly bruised. What followed was his magnificent art of expressing things more really than actual. He was the child with congenital art of exaggerating and sensationalizing things. He was the exclusive choice for the modern propaganda industry.

I was waiting for seventh summer of my life and my cousin was two years less in experience comparably. It was the forenoon of spring 1991 Srinagar. The years of young revolution that was too delicate to be handled and dealt with.My Amiji (mother) remembers me what my Daadi (grandmother) said that day in reaction to our scuffle. All furious for my action of spilling the tea, she said in Kashmiri “goode baneuv ye noovey feeshenah dahe baje maadr chaay chen, shur tae karekh kharaab ame seeth, teeli aes soud doopharas bate khawaan” which means “This sugar tea at ten is a fashion now it never used to be like that before, it is spoiling the children as well, we used to eat food directly at noon.”Actually armed resistance and counter operation in Kashmir brought with it many new things into the societal fabric of valley.

Continuous Crack downs, curfews and hartals changed the working and eating schedule of every Kashmiri. Men of our society were always looking for the engagements within the four walls of their houses as moving out was synonym to call the angel of death many a time.Having sugar tea around 10 in the morning is the fixation of those days. Most of the people liked having the hot tea as it favored the climate as well which is mostly dominated by the cold chapter.

Kashmiri’s developed a sort of affair with the sweet tea. It was a transition from traditional salt tea (Noon chai) and Kehwa (sweet water with special spices and saffron) that was the specialty on unique occasions. Sugar tea in common parlance is called Lipton tea. As my Abbaji (Grandfather) told me that in those days only one brand of tea was available in the market and it was of “Lipton” that is why the sweet tea became famous by the name of “Lipton tea”. It is still in vogue, when scores of brands are available in the market.Lipton tea is the creation of 90’s and I still remember the days when we used to take thermos of Lipton tea to our family males many a time who were out in the crackdown for hours together under the naked sky. Tea served as a support in the situation when a single buzzer from a gypsy standing by for identification decided the apparent future.Lipton at ten then became the craze.

From carpenter to the elite family eating schedules; Lipton tea paved its way. This carved niche for a special kind of bakery in Kashmir as well. People started having sweet biscuits with the tea which snow balled into what is now a multi crore business of short bakery and confectionary. Off late cakes, pastries and kulchas became the daily consumables.We are now witnessing a boom in tea stalls and restaurants offering “Lipton tea”. This culture has even crept in the government and private offices now. A tea is served to an official immediately he or she steps in the office for the days’ work.