GO S SIP MASALA CHAI

GO S SIP Masala Chai

What is Gossip? The wikipedia has a very tame definition for gossip – idle talk and much to my surprise there is mention of Gossip aiding social bonding in large groups. There was a full fledged study done at Stanford to substantiate it. 


In fact, the study further goes on to say that Gossip can help improve social behavior. Now I am thoroughly confused and surprised! I have always considered Gossip to be a total waste of time, besides I end up with a guilty conscience.  Thankfully, malicious gossip is considered to be bad -  it is called Slander. My earliest memory of gossip is one of women sipping chai and talking in whispers about their other missing friend, before I could lean in closer and hear all the details, I would be sent to either do my homework or on a rather unimportant errand  like collect all the clothes from the washing line and fold them, that didn’t seem that important at that moment.

As I grew older, whenever my mother’s friend dropped by, I would be sent off to the kitchen to make the all important masala chai, which had to be (and still is) served rather ceremoniously in  pretty little cups neatly arranged on tray with some Glucose biscuits (cookies) in a small floral plate and namkeen (salty  indian trail mix) in another matching floral plate. Of course the women would giggle and gossip while sipping their chai.

Thanks! to the numerous TV Channels, internet news channels and tabloids, there is no dearth of gossip. Celebrity gossip is pretty popular. Other than the usual  stuff about their marital affairs,  there are plenty of other areas of gossip, their clothes, the expression on their faces, the appearance on the red carpet ( and there is a green carpet also), the plastic surgery and botox in various parts of their body. Now that people have access to gossip at their fingertips, perhaps the need for gossiping on a regular basis has diminished although could be a matter of opportunity presenting itself.

A lot of celebrities have already taken to Twitter and Facebook to keep their fans abreast with their activities on a regular basis,  sometimes the fans have the fresh piece of news and media is reduced to reporting the “stale” news, and increasingly so. Now, I am really concerned about the future of gossip especially, when I read the news about the governor, sorry the ex-governor, now an elected congressman of South Carolina – Mark Sanford, ranting about his personal problems on facebook.  It was a fresh piece of information that hadn’t been covered by the tabloids or the news channels. In fact no one was even looking to cover it.  It was a lot of  personal information, so much so that people didn’t even want to know all the details. Of course, he deleted the post the very next day but not before it was  splashed all over the newspapers.  

Has he managed to take gossip to whole another level more like a self-confession? I don’t know yet, but if every celebrity started to self-confess, then what would happen to celebrity gossip?  Will our tabloids and news channels be reduced to  merely reporting and contemplating on their self-confessions?  Or maybe they will  further expand their horizons and usher in a new era of debates between two celebrities who have accused each other in their self-confessions? Now, I am going to sip some chai while I gossip about the future of “gossip” with my friends who read my blog. What do you all think? Oops! I forgot! you need to sip your chai too!... So here is my recipe for Masala Chai.

Masala Chai ………………………………………. Makes 4 cups

3 Cups of water

2 Cups of milk ( 2% )

2 tsp loose black tea leaves or ( 4 – 5 tea bags)

4 pods of black cardamom

4 pods of green cardamom

2 inch cinnamon bark

1 tsp of freshly grated ginger

4 – 6 tsp of sugar

1.     Put the water in a 4 quart stock pan

2.     Heat the water on medium heat for about 5 mins

3.     Pound the cardamoms and the bark with mortar and pestle ( or a rolling pin)

4.     Add the spices to the water

5.     Add the tea leaves, I like to use Taj Mahal chai

6.      Let the water come to a slow boil, then add the milk

7.     Add the ginger

8.     Let it come to a slow boil

9.     Add sugar to taste

10.  Strain it into tea cups using a tea strainer.

ENJOY!!!