A Techie Puller for his Tea! in Technopark!!!

TechnoparkToday.com(March, 2014): Meet Rajesh – the Numero Uno Tea Maker in Bhavani building of Technopark or may be in technopark itself .He is the Chai-Wallah in AVJ peppers in Bhavani food Court, he serves 600-700 tea’s in one usual afternoon between 3.30pm to 5pm.

A native of balaramapuram in outskirts of the city , learnt funda’s of trade from his father who also has a tea shop. Much like any successful tea vendor, rajesh relies on his ability to splash tea from 5-6 ft height to his kettle . After 2 rounds of splashing, tea is served hot with foam on glass mouth.

He uses a medium kettle, which would serve 5 teas and is the usual size of tea gang. Balamurugan,(employee of an MNC in Technopark) a regular customer of pepper’s tea says “if rajesh is not at helm : I go some where else, There is a mojo he alone can provide to the tea”. We can say boling milk and water, good tea powder and an artist at helm makes an exquisite tea.

Not only milk tea, he serves black tea, black coffee, milk coffee, lemon tea aka sulaimani as well. All of them provided in various combinations, strong , medium, light, less sugar, medium sugar, more sugar or no sugar. Tijo,(employee of an MNC in Technopark) an avid fan of “pepper’s tea” says, you don’t have to tell him each time what combination you require. I like a medium tea with less sugar, he gives me the same every time, rajesh never fails in remembering his customer’s choices. It is no wonder that he has a spectrum of customers from fresher’s to veteran’s of industry.

Many heads of IT corporates in Thiruvanthapuram take their break with sipping tea in pepper’s. A typical sight in Peppers during an afternoon is 20-30 techies waiting for their turn. Rajesh serves all of them with patience as well as in fast pace. He makes an eye contact, acknowledging each of his customers.

Anju (employee of an MNC in Technopark) an everyday tea taker from rajesh says “my day in office is incomplete without a tea from here”. I mark an attendance here in the morning and afternoon without fail.she continues “There is enough quantity of tea here, unlike some other vendors who provide tea in spoon sizes with exorbitant rates”. Rajesh says there is a reduction in takers of milk tea as there are health concerns and Black tea offers less scope for his skills. he feels very happy when people acknowledge him for his tea and he is happy to make their day better.

-Anoop Varghese Kuriappuram