Aunty ki chai
Aunty Ki Chai
As the night kicked in, on came a woman on the streets of SB Road who guaranteed she sold the best chai in the whole of Pune. 17 years later, nothing’s changed. Let’s meet, Sunita Pramod Agarwal urf Aunty Ji, a brash independent woman who’s earned her fanfare and a living sitting on the same side path of SB Road selling tea from 11:30 pm – 5:00 am.
The story of how she came about to being that Aunty Ji we all love, is a rather Bollywoodish Tale. Married 40 years ago, a frail baniya woman from Agra shifted into Nanapet, Pune. A few years into marriage a family feud cropped up which eventually led to her and her husband moving out of that home. It’s then that her husband started selling breakfast at the same spot and when income wasn’t enough she began to sit through the night selling tea. The rest as they say is history.
But besides all of this there were 2 other questions I didn’t have answers to, A. What was so special about a glass of Chai especially when she sold it at Rs 10? B. She set herself up at the same spot every night but not even the police ever bothered her, or so I had heard. The former was answered the minute I tasted her garam adrak ki chai, and the latter took a while to surface. Finally she spoke; “Police ke saath sambandh ache hain, aur aaj main jahaan hoon sirf unki dua se. Hum unki izzat karte hain, aur woh humari.” After her husband passed away 5 years back the police told her “Vidhwa ke aasoon poch, aur kaam kar” (Wipe these tears of a widowed and get back to work). And, thus started this relationship, which quite honestly is very surprising in today’s times.
When asked about competition, she overtly says that there is no competition what so ever. And why would there be? Every customer there vouches for the fact that the chai has no water content. She uses only Chitale milk (priced 10 Rs higher than Amul for every litre.), the best of sugandh elaichi and a lot of love.
Bobby aka Aniket Nigam, a proper aunty loyalist
As the night kicked in, on came a woman on the streets of SB Road who guaranteed she sold the best chai in the whole of Pune. 17 years later, nothing’s changed. Let’s meet, Sunita Pramod Agarwal urf Aunty Ji, a brash independent woman who’s earned her fanfare and a living sitting on the same side path of SB Road selling tea from 11:30 pm – 5:00 am.
The story of how she came about to being that Aunty Ji we all love, is a rather Bollywoodish Tale. Married 40 years ago, a frail baniya woman from Agra shifted into Nanapet, Pune. A few years into marriage a family feud cropped up which eventually led to her and her husband moving out of that home. It’s then that her husband started selling breakfast at the same spot and when income wasn’t enough she began to sit through the night selling tea. The rest as they say is history.
But besides all of this there were 2 other questions I didn’t have answers to, A. What was so special about a glass of Chai especially when she sold it at Rs 10? B. She set herself up at the same spot every night but not even the police ever bothered her, or so I had heard. The former was answered the minute I tasted her garam adrak ki chai, and the latter took a while to surface. Finally she spoke; “Police ke saath sambandh ache hain, aur aaj main jahaan hoon sirf unki dua se. Hum unki izzat karte hain, aur woh humari.” After her husband passed away 5 years back the police told her “Vidhwa ke aasoon poch, aur kaam kar” (Wipe these tears of a widowed and get back to work). And, thus started this relationship, which quite honestly is very surprising in today’s times.
When asked about competition, she overtly says that there is no competition what so ever. And why would there be? Every customer there vouches for the fact that the chai has no water content. She uses only Chitale milk (priced 10 Rs higher than Amul for every litre.), the best of sugandh elaichi and a lot of love.
Bobby aka Aniket Nigam, a proper aunty loyalist