Saturday, October 25, 2014

Growing up days – tea at Aminia


Growing up days in the 1960s meant a cup of tea at an always-busy restaurant named Aminia – it was bang opposite the Calcutta Corporation building and a stone’s throw from the famous cinema hall Elite.
The location was a prime one and, when I would arrive there, it would be around 2pm. At that time, all the tables would be occupied with the lunch crowd from nearby offices and the waiters, clad in white, would be flitting from table to table collecting orders of mutton rezala, mutton kebabs, parathas and firni. Simultaneously, they would keep an eye on the manager sitting at the cash counter and shout out the amount due from the patron who would have reached the counter to pay his bill.
Each and every activity would proceed with clockwork precision.
While others would order mouthwatering dishes, I would order a cup of tea – the cost was just 12-paise and the taste was so special that it would bring the patrons again and again. Rumors would float that the tea would have a special additive to make it so tasty - I have no idea about its truth but, suffice it to say that a cup of tea at Aminia was always worth its weight in gold. To be continued….)

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