Saturday 3 October 2015

C is for Chai


Hello Hello,

Its detention day at The Alphabet Club and the letter for the month is C.

C is for Chai(चाय) - It may not be an exaggeration if I say Chai is national drink of India. Every guest is treated to a cup of chai  in Indian homes. Chai is Hindi word for tea and can be prepared black, with milk, without sugar, etc. This comes from the Persian چای chay, which originated from the Chinese word for tea chá.

Until a few years ago I thought tea or chai is native to India ...ha ha the bliss of ignorance. It is prepared in many ways across the country ,here is the recipe my mom follows:

Makes two cups of tea:

1. Boil 1.25 cups of water. Add 2 spoons of sugar . Once the sugar dissolves add 1 teaspoon of chai.

2. Once the chai leaves its essence(the color of water will change ), add 0.75 cup of milk.

3. Bring it to a boil . Sieve the chai and serve.

This is the normal milky sugary version of chai which you will find being served in tea stalls in India . Various ingredients like ginger, cardamom, tulsi are added to it while boiling to add to its taste. Masala chai is one of the popular versions .

C is for Chandrama(चन्द्रमा)- Hindi word for moon. Also called as chand (चांद)  in Hindi and Urdu.
Moon is considered as epitome of beauty hence its common to compare beauty of your female partner with the moon. Also its looked upon as  a sign of simplicity. Children all over India and even elders call it affectionately as "Chanda mama". Mama means the maternal uncle in both North Indian and South Indian languages.

C is for Chakda - This is curious vehicle used to carry passengers in North western state of India, Gujarat.

It is improvised from a Royal Enfield with diesel engine, some sort of shaft  drive and arrangement to seat people. Its decorated with colors and pictures and can be seen being used for carrying passengers in rural Gujarat.

Image source:Internet
C is Camper Van - This is a piece I stitched for DH on request. He selected the design and asked me to stitch for him. Look at the VW logo--My first attempt at back stitching. VW may sue me after looking at this ...lol. Finished it using old magazine papers and it now hangs next to his desk.





Looking forward what others TACers are talking about.

9 comments:

  1. Lovely camper van!! C is for cross stitch too:)
    I am seeing that Chakda for the first time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your camper van is too cute!! And the Chakda looks like a fun way to get around :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do love masala chai, especially when drinking it in India. Preeti is right -- c is for cross-stitch. Lovely van. One of these days I'll stitch something again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Mini,
    Thanks for visiting my blog. You didn't leave an e-mail so I couldn't reply to you directly. But if you come back to my blog, there is a link in my sidebar to "Vonna's Altoid Tin Finishing" that will show you how to cover the Altoid tin. I'm not putting the link here because sometimes that will make a comment appear to be spam and you might miss it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Mini
    Thank you for the lovely comment on my blog (sorry I couldn't reply directly as the comment came in without an email) :o)
    I love your "C" post. I have never tried a Chai Tea - I love tea and drink gallons of it but I don't really like milky or sweet tea which is why I haven't tried a Chai. One day I really must be brave and try it....
    Hugs xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great C post, lot of interesting news, love your camping van too. Amicalement. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great alphabet club post. I love the Chakda, what a strange vehicle!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Haha... Now that I've figured out how to comment on your blog, look out for a flurry of comments from my end :D

    Great TAC post! Chai yummy chai... with biskoot/vada! Reminds me of college hostel days :) And chakda is new to me too.

    Great little camper van project! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love receiving comments from you .
      Thanks for your appreciation.

      Delete

Hi, it's me!!

Hello Blog world, Its been two years since I posted on this blog, not sure if anyone follows me now.  Its a new year, best time to start /re...