Cycling, Monsoons & Chai

Feet on the pedal, early morning drizzle and a few cups of chai. Sounds very romantic and makes me remember the song Amit keeps singing all the time “Chandiki cycle, soneki seat; aaochalein darling, chalein double seat”.

It does not end there a group of 31 people, loads of chatter, cycfies (if I can call them that) and filled with some gyaan on tea.

The above summarises the concept of the ride created by Speaking Wheels (Amit, Rahul & Nishant) and Eating Cultures (myself) together. The idea was to get a group of people to ride around town and taste various prominent teas of Pune.

Pune is famous; not only for its education infrastructure but Punekars are regulars at eating out too. Which explains the ever-full restaurants and the sometimes-endless queues to enter a restaurant. Apart from eating out the chai culture is well set in pune too. The amrutulya is a poor man’s meeting place for a quick sip of this hot brew and some quick chats.

 

Here we go!!!

The ride started from Nal Stop with a briefing about the route. Soon all boarded their cycles with Amit in the front and Rahul at the back. The third part of speaking wheels was driving the car and I was accompanying him. You thought, I cycled? Good you did not.

  

Tilak

The first stop was at the 50+ year old Tilak on Tilak road. Being in the heart of the city and close to many colleges, this is an ever-crowded place for the tea and a few snacks like bread pattice, poha etc. The tea here is nice and strong with loads of sugar, the right combination for a wake-up kick. A small trivia shared by Amit here was that Sharad Talwalkar (famous Marathi actor) stayed just round the corner. But, he did not like this place as it was always crowded and noisy and disturbed his peace. A quick round of introductions and a little bit of history about tea by yours truly; we were off to the second stop on the route.

Some Chai Gyaan

By the way, tea is not Indian.It came from China. This is not trivia; we all know that tea is also Chinese.But what bothers me more is what did the Indians have, before the Britishers brought tea to India? It must have been so boring to sit in the balcony, early in the morning, without this brew in your hand.

On to some Irani Chai

How can a tea ride pass without featuring an Irani Chai? Started off from Tilak for about a 6 km ride to M G Road and landed at Kohinoor café. The route from Tilak Road, Swargate, Golibar Maidan to M G Road was a breeze early in the morning. Maybe 20 mins for ride and we all reached Kohinoor. This café opens at 4am and it’s another place which 60+ years old. Sometimes, I wonder in the age where cafes open and shut down at the pace of changing seasons, how have these places survived for so long.  Famous for the bun maska and Irani Chai, it’s one of the gems of Pune.

We had our share of Bun maska and Irani chai. Some gyaan was shared about the chai and we started for the next stop in Kasba Peth. You can read more about the Irani cafés in Pune here.

We have sabudana wada

Shripad Idli center; this is my favourite stop for sabudana wada. This place is on the corner of the road which leads to Kasba Ganpati from Shaniwar Wada. One more place that has been existing for 50 + years and survives mostly on sabudana wada.

No chai here, just a quick hot and crispy sabudana wada. By the way, they sell sabudana wada by the kg here too. It costs just Rs. 7 per wada.

Moving on from Shripad to a phot session at the bridge near PMC and we move to the next stop just a couple of kms away.

Trupti

My friends stayed in the Police quarters in Shivajinagar, hence this place on Dyaneshwar Paduka Chowk became a regular for chai stops and long talks.

Trupti is easily 40 + years old and serves a very tasty brew of blended tea called Maara – Maari. At Rs. 25 for 2 cups it’s a nice strong flavoured masala tea with the thickness of the milk and not the water.

Maara – maari is a common term used for a brew which is blended coffee and tea. But Trupti has a blend of its own.

Paradise Café

Moving on it was close to breakfast time and cyclists were hungry too. We moved another couple of kilometres to Paradise Café on Karve road. Located opposite Sahyadri hospital, this place is easily missed.

A dark and quaint little place, where people would go and sit long hours for smoking, chai and discussions. Place where a lot of to be creative artists have come and spent their time.

It’s one more Irani Café of Pune again about 60 years old and serves the Irani chai and bun maska and the omelette.

Ended with a long talk on Irani café and some bun omelette. The sweet bun with a lot of butter, stuffed with a double egg omelette. You can read about it more in another article on my blog.

That’s where we ended the ride. Happy cyclists with a stomach full and a little more knowledge about Tea culture in Pune. Ended on a high note, ready for the Sunday grill.

Do join us on our next events @speakingwheels and @eatingcultures.