A Tea Story

On our way back from Tawang, Denzil Nunes and I decided to take the road less traveled between Dirang and Shergaon. The road was in a bad condition for around 25 kms which is why people used the main road going via Bomdila.

After riding for a couple of hours we reached a village. It was time for a break, but we couldn’t find any restaurant anywhere. We badly wanted a cup of tea.

I stopped by a house and asked the lady standing in the compound if there was a restaurant close by. She shook her head indicating that there wasn’t. The road was so less traveled that we had come across absolutely no sign of commercial activity whatsoever.

“We are looking for some tea”, I said.

“There is no tea here,” she replied back.

I then gave her my most innocent smile and said, “Can you make us some tea? Please…”

She was a little startled by my request at first. Then she smiled and said, “Park your motorcycles. I’ll make you some tea.”

After a while she returned with a tray with two nice piping hot cups of tea. As we sipped on them, we got talking about our ride, where we were from and the places we had ridden. When time came to leave, I asked how much I owed her for the tea. She smiled and said, “You have come from far. You are tired.”

I tried to persist. But she flatly refused to accept money for the tea. So I asked her if we could take a selfie with her. I said, “I want to remember you and your lovely tea.” Thankfully, she obliged.

As I rode away I wondered if some stranger had stopped outside my house and asked me to make a cup of tea for him, I would most probably have set my dog after him.