Dada's tea stall for years has been a symbol of attaining manhood...Every teenaged boy in the small sleepy town dreamed of his date with the rickety wooden benches of Dada's stall.The thought of having your own small group of guys and sitting with glass full of tea and samosas along with a cigarette was the dream of many who felt exercising such rights made them have a brush with manhood much early and gave a sense of recognition amongst his peers that he too has ultimately come out of the shadows of the parental care and restrictions...
It was also a place where rivalries ran high almost at all times, at times over the girls of the town but mostly because of the group you were associated. Some like us were lucky not to have got any blows but many went back home with swollen cheeks and bleeding lips often guessing what alibi to offer at home...But that did not deter anyone from experiencing the life that the stall offered..People from all walks, the older generation, the generation that had people like elder brothers, our contemporaries and the younger lot who waited their turn to take on the wooden benches all had their fair amount of tryst with Dada's stall...
The entire day was divided into slots that were meant to be frequented by particular group of people...The mornings were meant for the daily wagers, the afternoon for school students who cared little to attend schools, the evenings with guys like us fresh out of school and enjoying college life and at night by people back from offices and on their way back home...
I especially enjoyed a steaming glass of black tea with samosas and few drags of ciggrette hiding it form the view of passerbys and the charm of all this increased many folds on a rainy day..So many things were discussed on those benches that even today it makes me nostalgic...The first crush on someone, plans to help a friend propose his love to the most sought after girl at those times, or discussing where our career was heading..it all happened while squeezing ourselves for space in those benches at Dada's stall...
Even now when I go back home I make it a point to atleast visit Dada's stall once and relive those days...Also it gives me an oppurtunity to salute the spirit of Dada's stall that has lived over decades now.....
Nowadays it has changed though.Pink metrosexual walls,acid instead of tea and thankfully for you.......no MARK!
ReplyDeleteSimilarly you should also have some views about Sukriti and Upayani, those places are the Cult of Shillong, have been the famous Adda joints for thousands of people.....
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