Names on the notebook
The pages are damp, slightly yellowed. They are scrawled with black in Hindi } but the writing is such that only its writer can understand the words.
This is just a notebook, but it is as exclusive in this big wide world as one’s own finger print. It is a tea stall’s account book. “It’s my hisaab (account), detailing who are the people who owe me and how much on any given day,” explains stall owner Rajkumar.
Tucked in Gurugram’s Sadar Bazar, Raja Tea Stall is like an installation of objects. Start with the silbatta or the grinder to crush the ginger. It looks like one of those polished stones that picnicking children pick up from river banks as a collector’s item, and bargain with friends for some precious comic or toy. “In the old times, people actually picked up stones from rivers to use as a silbatta,” says Rajkumar. He, though, found his in a warehouse nearby.
The establishment includes the gas burner, the many pans and other knickknacks that go into the making of a chai stall. Rajkumar is patronised by a number of shopkeepers and labourers in the area. He frequently leaves his stall, delivering rounds of tea to his regulars.
The stall’s only furniture, beside the table, is a chair. Passers-by often settle down on it almost unconsciously, sometimes while chatting on their mobile, like passengers drifting towards an unoccupied chair in an airport lounge. While the young labourers in the bazar often greet Rajkumar, saying “namaste uncleji”, and touching his feet out of respect.
The stall’s most mysterious object is a small steel trunk. It’s locked. “The sandook is empty at the moment. I fill it up with chai ka samaan (tea things) while closing the stall in the evening.” Rajkumar now walks out carrying glasses of chai for his regular clients in the next street. On returning, he keeps a sprig of ginger on his account book for a still life. Later, responding to a request, he reads aloud names of some of the customers he has jotted on a particular page of the notebook: “Raju, Bal, Gopal, Vijay, Payu, Munna, Surinder, Bobby, Kapoor, Amit, Jaggi, Nandlal, Govind, Mushtaq, Honey… they all are my regulars.”