Masala Chai

A new flavour is spreading across the continents. A poor third world country is slowly emerging out of the globe. An over populated, over polluted land in South Asia is starting to make an impact in the global society.

Many things Indian are entering the lives of the world citizen in a big way.

Yoga is changing the way a person thinks of health and wellness. Indian food is probabily the next big exotic cuisine. Indian music is a breath of fresh air in the world of grooves and loops. Indian spirituality is giving refuge to people injured by the tsunami of materialism.

My return trip to India after a month's stay in Chicago made me experience this new India phenomenon in subtle ways.

I was heading to the O'Hare International Airport, Chicago in a cab. The cab driver started a chat with me which went like this:

Cab Driver(CD) : Are you going to india ?
I : Yes, to Bangalore.
CD : Are you into computer business ?
I : Yeah.
CD : Your country has got the best school for that in the world !
(I was on the floor now)
CD : I saw that in a special TV program. I don't remember the name of the school.
I : Are you talking about IIT ? (I knew he was)
CD : Yes, now I remember !
I : Thats the Indian Institute of Technology (I was flying now)
CD : They said everyone who comes out of that school is really smart.

After reaching the Airport, I headed towards the Lufthansa counter, already thinking about blogging this incident...

Later, after a long sleepy flight to Frankfurt, I boarded the connecting flight to Bangalore. Around half the passengers if not more were Indian. Quasi-Indian food was served as expected. Then came the surprise - A flight attendent was serving 'Masala Chai', trying his best to pronounce it correctly ! I was delighted to the core.

A European airline was operating a flight to India and was offering an Indian beverage to please the Indian passengers. This thought made me fly in flight. This is no act of plain courtesy - it is business.

Every big company wants to do business in this 'poor' country. A natural consequence of this is the global recognition and acceptance of things Indian.

After centuries of slumber, India is waking up. And making an impact.