The Economics Behind Every Cup Of Chaaya

We all have our daily dose of tea and know at least one 'Chettan' who brews and serves it to us piping hot but have you ever pondered of the economics within these little cups?

- A Ankitha and Nimisha S

Its 4am and Lonappanchettan is cycling down a narrow badly tarred road from his home in Chellanam to his tea shop a few kilometres away. A large plastic bag carrying around 25 packets of milk hang precariously on one of the handles causing Lonappanchettan to loose balance every now and then. He reaches his little wooden hole in the wall ‘petti kadda’, chains his cycle to a nearly electrical post and starts ripping open the milk packets and pouring them into the large vessel in which he brews his tea. Once this flame is lit, it keeps burning all through the day, gently simmering the strong tea that will satiate around 300 or so customers who will visit his shop all through the day to sip on the tea and have a quick bite, or a cigarette.

Over the years, the landscape of Kerala has changed and the old tea shops look more swanky, and have even caught up with the times to ensure that they can even be found on Wikimapia, but the one thing that remains the same is their small glasses of hot milk tea and their four walls which house many a Malayali, who sits reading his newspaper, debating politics and economics, starting arguments and settling them and satiating their curiosity with a dash of gossip, and their thirst with a sip of tea. Not too long ago, the infamous