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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Dear Gita Madhu,
Your following sentence sums up train travel so well:" Indian train journeys are Indian life in a nutshell-everybody bonds and shares and sings and eats-we all become one big family and never mind any amount of discomfort"
Everyone willingly shares what ever they have. Rotis and subji traded for puliyogare, theplas traded for idli molagapodi and so on.... it is one huge Pot luck affair so to call. I have always enjoyed everyone of my train travels. especially since i used to travel alone most of the time, i used to get extra special treatment from all the co passengers!!Posted 16th November 2007 at 12:38 PM by Vandhana
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Garam vada pav-Khandala special! Chikki Lonavala Chikki!!!
Everytime the train passed Lonavala-Khandala, this was a familier cry.My brother & I waited for this cry for it meatn garma garam Vada pavs with a chilli or two thrown in.All washed down by hot cups of Masala Chai..
The experience of traveling in Indian railways is something unique.You make friends on trains, in one instance a lady came up to my mom to ask for some talcum powder..They got talking & soon realised they were cousins....
I yearn for those days now it all travel by air.Posted 16th November 2007 at 07:52 PM by corallux -
Hi Vandhana,
Somehow missed this blog earlier....enjoyed reading it.
I recall my school days in Dindgul, when we used to often travel by vaigai express to Chennai. In the dindgul rly station there was a vendor who used to sell tea coffee and bonda...As soon as a train came to a halt in the station he would start his unique recital...coffee bonda tea...coffee bonda tea...it used to sound like coffee pondati...
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Ur imagination of attendants in the flight with kaapi tea kaapi was interesting.Big Laugh
byePosted 8th December 2007 at 04:20 AM by Saraswathipv -
Dear Vandhana,
I just usually do not get time to go through the blogs. Only today I saw your Kaapi kaapi ... I was just taken back to my young days when we used to travel by train. After that we were travelling by car and I missed everything. Nowadays even if I travel by train it is just to palakkad and there are no vendors in the night time. Only in the morning, that too when we reach Palakkad only, they start, so I miss out on these things.
Thanks once again for taking me back to those happy days. It was a hilarious post Vandhana, and very very interestingPosted 14th December 2007 at 04:08 AM by Eljaype -
Had a nice laugh. I recently travelled by train and its all teh same. I wonder if they have some induction or training for vendors. Now there is the silent.. cd, dvd. so discreet..Posted 3rd August 2009 at 06:08 PM by Meerasan78
