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Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Refreshing tea ~ positivity of tea vendor

 

This morning got up a bit early – and took stroll till my compound gate !  - this post is about the man whom I saw with a ‘kattai bag’



Morning as one gets up – it is usual to have a cup of hot drink ie., Coffee for most South Indians – some have tea too !  A cup of piping hot water with a few tea leaves in it, some sugar and a few drops of milk – doesn’t it sound refreshing like anything else in the world? And now if you replace a cup of piping hot water with a cup of iced water and remove milk (which makes the perfect recipe for iced tea), it sounds equally refreshing, right?

The Centre Saturday reconstituted the six empowered groups formed for COVID-19 management to make 10 panels, expanding their ambit to look after issues like availability of oxygen, vaccination, emergency response and economic welfare measures, PTI reported. According to an official order, the issues related to oxygen production, import, establishment of PSA plants will be dealt with by an empowered group, whose convenor will be the Secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and it will have 10 members.

Countries and territories around the world have implemented enforced lockdowns of varying degrees throughout the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization recommends curfews and lockdowns be short-term so as to assess how to reorganise, rebalance resources and protect health services. Express.co.uk has compiled a full list of all the countries in lockdown. India, meanwhile, showed a decline in daily cases and reported 173,790 new Covid-19 cases and 3,617 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am on Saturday.

Keeping the coronavirus situation in mind, the Tamil Nadu government on Friday extended the lockdown restrictions in the state till June 7. Issuing an order, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the essential services in the state will be exempted during the lockdown period. The development comes just a day after, the CM  expressed dissatisfaction over the results of the lockdown in the state and said that he would take a decision on whether to extend the curbs later. “The present situation is partially satisfactory but not completely satisfactory. We will think over it and make a decision later,” he had said. While announcing the lockdown, the chief minister also urged the people of the state to get vaccinated and said that vaccine wastage was less than 6% in the state. Last week, the Tamil Nadu government had extended the lockdown for another week till May 31, citing growing coronavirus cases in the state. Notably, this was the full lockdown without relaxation in the state.

The other relaxations extended for this week will continue, including sale of vegetables and fruits using vehicles in all the districts by the departments concerned. From May 31, provision stores will be permitted to sell essentials in vehicles/carts in the neighbourhood after necessary permission from the local bodies concerned. Home delivery can be done between 7am and 6pm in respect to the orders received online and over phone. The government also decided to allow railway, airport, seaport operations, and all activities relating to basic essential infrastructure sectors like, power, water supply, sanitation, telecommunication and postal services. 

Tea, the dried leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis, is the most popular beverage, consumed by over two-thirds of the world’s population. Different types of teas available in the market are black (fermented), green (non-fermented) and oolong (semi-fermented). These are classified based on the levels of oxidation that the leaves have undergone. Drinking tea has been promoted to be a health habit since centuries – not sure of the modern scientific research basis for this belief.  

For many of us, the  quintessential office tea round represented a social element in the workplace, boosting  camaraderie as well as healthy and wellbeing. Today we find this has been replaced by Zoom type virtual meetings where you dial in with your cuppa in hand!

To conclude – the man looked ordinary and at first sight could not sight his enterprise.  The kattai bag he was carrying was neatly cut exposing the snout of the tea container enabling him dispose hot cup of tea at ease.  When asked why he was here at his hour (my mind Q was who in this area would come out to buy tea from him ?) – he said, generally securities in building might buy one and to him every cup counts !



A bow to his positivity and innovative thinking – might look simple, but instead of complaining about lack of opportunities in social media, circulating them in WA and FB – here was a man who provided me inspiration with his refreshing attitude! – bought a couple of tea from him for our watchmen.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
30.5.2021

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