TEA   

          Tea (chaay) is an integral part of India daily life, except in the southern regions of the country where it is replaced by coffee. In India, tea is automatically served with both milk and sugar. Therefore, if you don't like sugar, you should say "chaay, chini nahiin" (tea without sugar) such a request is so bizarre for most Indians that you may be asked " kyaa aap diabetic hay?" (Are you diabetic?) . 

          Possibly the best tea is to be found in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where it is made with buffalo milk and still costs only one rupee (2p). There are many variations on the basic type of tea 

Masala chaay   " spiced with cardamom "

Special chaay  " made with more milk and / or spices "

Adrak chaay    " ginger tea, popular in the mountains  "

Duudh paati     " milk tea, made with milk and sugar with no water at all  

          Then there is butter tea, black tea with old butter, drunk by Tibetans and Ladhakis, which is more like thin soup than tea, but excellent for that icy cold, dry climate. There are two kinds of kashmiri tea, one green and the other a spiced black tea, also available, though rarely drunk by indians, are kaali chaay (black tea without milk) and nimbu chaay (lemon tea). 

          Listen for the chaay waalas cries at railway stations: chaay, chaay, garam chaay! Chaay waala chaay! Burhiya chaay. (Nice tea, time pass chaay, or simply the word (chaay) stretched out to sound like " chaaaaaayiya! ".    

الهند