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 Vandana,
Nice humourous blog on kaapi. I am almost baffled by the fact that in India a hot country people like to drink hot hot coffee while in western cold countries I have seen people eating ice-creams. I thought it should be the other way. I would like to hear your comments on this.
Regards,
TDUPosted 15th November 2007 at 03:11 PM by Tamildownunder
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Dear Vandana
Most Hilarious blog so enjoyed reading it. Ofcourse I remember kaapi kaapi tea chai garam garam chai chai .... and such. Also how about Idli idli vadai suda idli vadai and then even fruits like oranges and other seasonal ones. In some of our northern travels I have had tea or chai in a mudka pot small one put the taste and flavor so much nicer. I can agree with you that just to hear this we will make time and travel by rail transport. Like you mention language is not a barrier so they can always sell any thing. Sometimes its even woven mats, woven baskets, earthware pots and the inevitable earrings and hairclips But kaapi kaapi is a long forgotten song and still sounds pleasing to the ear.keep blogin..Posted 15th November 2007 at 04:07 PM by Anandchitra -
You bought my memories of my travel in trains while i was in India.
But my daughters experienced those 'coffee, coffee, tea' when they travelled to b'lore, rameswaram and so on during the last summer break. They love travelling in our trains and they are also excited!
sriniketanPosted 15th November 2007 at 08:12 PM by Sriniketan - TDU Sir,
I think here too the culture of drinking coffee is there as well as eating ice creams in India. But I think as far as vendors selling icecream, it all comes down to how to keep the ice cream frozen in the hot climate!!
Thanks for stopping byPosted 15th November 2007 at 08:30 PM by Vandhana - Yes AC,
Idli vadai, then we have the famous vada Pav and Chikki up in Mumbai. All part of the Rail food. So also the kalanda sadam packets.
Yes I too have had the chai in the matkas. Infact they were so cute, i have seen people collecting them as keepsakes perhaps??
I think train travel is by far the best way to see how people interact with each other.Posted 15th November 2007 at 08:32 PM by Vandhana
