Drinks

My room in Kathmandu was dark and dingy, the opposite of palatial, and the morning trip of getting out onto the streets and into the bazaar for breakfast became quite a ritual.

I can still smell the streets, feel the morning heat, and see how people would listen keenly for the voices of the mobile vendors moving through main streets and alleyways chanting ‘Chai!’, ‘Chai garam!’ or ‘Lassi!’, proffering drinks for a sweet hit or a refreshing bout of sourness. And why not? It was lovely and social, and there was always a theatre and show by the vendors. And a train journey across the Indian subcontinent would not be complete without masala chai — they go hand in hand.