Kaapi, Kaapi, Tea, Kaapi......
All the talk about Coffee by AC, rekindled the fond memories of those coffee and tea vendors of the railway stations back home.
Its kind of an art form, the recitation of Kaapi, Kaapi, tea kaapi and so on. And yes, there used to be so many variations, tones, and tactics used for saying these two simple words to get the attention of the rail traveller. Not only just Coffee or tea, selling anything is an art form for these vendors. It used to leave me wondering.... A few times i have even called the vendors just to see what they were selling since i could not make out from their calls. One example was " skates" or something to that effect, on calling him closer i found he was selling biscuits . bonk
Language is no barrier for these vendors. Be it Chai, garam chai, garama garam in the North, to Kaapi.... in the south. Never mind the quality of the coffee or tea. Usualy made with some mixture of milk, water and condensed milk with nescafe added to it, or a tea bag
My most frequent travels used to be on the famous Dadar Madras express, and these vendors were good source of amusement, right from station one. Those were the good old days of train travel. Is it still the same. I wonder. Do you folks remember any specific rail vendor lingo? Do share it here
These days , i travel less by train due to time constraints, but I would give anything to hear a good old "kaapi, kaapi, tea...." May be next time :?
In the meanwhile, can we all imagine the immaculately dressed Singapore Airlines or British Airways Stewards coming down the aisle saying " Kaapi, kaapi, chai garam, garama garam kaapi....."
Its kind of an art form, the recitation of Kaapi, Kaapi, tea kaapi and so on. And yes, there used to be so many variations, tones, and tactics used for saying these two simple words to get the attention of the rail traveller. Not only just Coffee or tea, selling anything is an art form for these vendors. It used to leave me wondering.... A few times i have even called the vendors just to see what they were selling since i could not make out from their calls. One example was " skates" or something to that effect, on calling him closer i found he was selling biscuits . bonk
Language is no barrier for these vendors. Be it Chai, garam chai, garama garam in the North, to Kaapi.... in the south. Never mind the quality of the coffee or tea. Usualy made with some mixture of milk, water and condensed milk with nescafe added to it, or a tea bag
My most frequent travels used to be on the famous Dadar Madras express, and these vendors were good source of amusement, right from station one. Those were the good old days of train travel. Is it still the same. I wonder. Do you folks remember any specific rail vendor lingo? Do share it here
These days , i travel less by train due to time constraints, but I would give anything to hear a good old "kaapi, kaapi, tea...." May be next time :?
In the meanwhile, can we all imagine the immaculately dressed Singapore Airlines or British Airways Stewards coming down the aisle saying " Kaapi, kaapi, chai garam, garama garam kaapi....."
Total Comments 21
Comments
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Hi Bhargavi,
Train travel in India is a fun experience for kids. Especially when all those wooden toys sellers come with their wares too...Posted 15th November 2007 at 07:33 PM by Vandhana
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Hi Vandana,
Yes kaapi kaapi kaapi, Chaai Chaai Chaai are the main thing that we listen too when we travel by train. Infact inbetween comes the sound of Paal soodana Paal and Idly Vadai soodana Idly Vadai.
But it doesnot stop with ther, my uncles used to tell us a story, there was once a man who used to sell something on the street, and all he sounded was Adichi podi, podi kalai,udai kaalai, and all that he was selling was Arisi Pori, Pori Kadalai and Udaicha Kadalai.
Now a days I listen to the sound of one waster paper man, and my son has got the knack of imitating him so well and whenever he comes giving that sound, my son too gives that sound. He calls out pazhaya paaaaaaaaapeeer.
It is not the product that they sell but it is the way they sell the product that is so entertaining.Posted 15th November 2007 at 09:30 PM by rajmiarun -
Hai Vandana,
That was a great blog. I am logging into IL after long and I saw the blog feature and was thrilled to read few blogs here. Your this blog excited me the most.
Oh...tea, kaapi, kaapi, tea is something everyone who has travelled by train in India would be familiar. My neice had travelled by train a lot from Chennai to Bangalore during her early childhood and whenever at home someone said coffee, she will immediately start saying 'kaapi tea kaapi kaapi' exactly like those sellers. See how much those men sold their selling style just not their products.
Interesting blog...give us more...
KanmaniPosted 15th November 2007 at 10:55 PM by kanmani -
Dear Vandhana,
That is a nice blog.... I used to frequently travel between Delhi-Chennai... There we get the Garam Chai.... Also while travelling in south kaapi.... It was great... You missed out few more... "Soodana samsa, cutlet, bajji,bonda".... "Snakes, snakes".. (Snacks actually with biscuit/choclate wafer etc..).. Though ther is no language issues... the taste of the tea coffee, varies from station to station... Though they will be using the same ingrediants... There are some places certain things are very special... Like in salem station milk used to be very good... Coimbatore.. Idllies used to be good....
It is always pleasent to travel in train and enjoy the journey... when you are in a relaxed mood... Especially, I enjoy it with my kids... My son will ask for everything to each which comes ... Shan will be shouting... I and my kids will enjoy... Thanks for rekindling those golden memories...Posted 15th November 2007 at 11:36 PM by Vysan -
dear vandana,
my father a railway engineer so a lot of travel in train in childhood days and how about our kova paal kova of the chennai howrah sector,when u mentioned wooden toys near waltair we have those wonderful toys, rajmundhry dry aam sheets packed in packs are also too good to miss, and the mundiri [cashew] in the andhra sector is too good such large ones bright and white and smooth to chew into,in the bilaspur sector, central india we get only milk water and elaichi to keep warm in matka,and chivda in the bombay bangalore section, nearing kolkata in mecheda the chai is in a very small mud cups but heavenly near kharagpur, luchi and aloo in the morning is a must...skPosted 15th November 2007 at 11:39 PM by sunkan
