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Net Gains (Mar 13, 96)
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We Indians are so hospitable - no sooner does a guest enter our home than s/he is made welcome with what is commonly known as "chai pani". Besides, tea drinking is so popular a time-pass method that "Chalo, chai maarenge" is a very common phrase anywhere in our city. But if you think that chai is popular only within our boundaries, you're sadly mistaken. While I was surfing the Net the other day, I was amused to find a Home-Page (the take off point for more information on a particular topic) dedicated exclusively to that brown beverage we term as chai !
If you look under the hierarchy, Entertainment:Drinks_and_Drinking:Caffeinated:Tea , you'll be taken aback. This chai home page and related sites are all about our chai, not the English tea. In keeping with this, the page has a visual of a glass of chai, and a picture of a dark-skinned guy lapping the stuff from a saucer, enjoying it. If the page had sound files, I'm sure we'd even be able to hear him slurp his garam chai !! The page has a whole list of synonyms for this "great spice milk tea from India" like - "Indian Milk Tea", "Masala Chai", and "Indian Railway Tea". I was the 5,478th visitor to this page. Wanna know the history of Indian Tea ?? Interested in the teas of India ?? Do you feel like adding your contribution about chai to ths page, or list places where you can get authentic Indian chai ?? Well, there's a "Chai Chat Page" to enable you to do so ! On a more informative note, there's also a "Chai Recipe Page" - which has a whole list of different ways to achieve our ishtyle of tea - making. Besides the noted Madhur Jaffrey's Masala Chai Recipe, there are contributors from places like Germany ( from an Indian cooking class out there). Someone else has even put up "My Mother's Chai Instructions". Zapped ?? I certainly was - to think something so common for us is so alien, so difficult to achieve for others.
Hajaar of our graduate students who leave home in search of greener pastures (and wallets) abroad, find themselves at a loss because they don't knowhow to cook real Indian lip - smacking dishes ?? No problem ! They can now go online and learn how to make anything from Samosas and Naans to Chana Masala and Baingan ka Bharta ! Listed under Yahoo, in the Entertainment:Food_and_Eating:Recipes:Countries_ and_Cultures:India catagory, there's plenty of tantalising stuff listed. THE GRADUATE STUDENT'S GUIDE TO INDIAN RECIPES, found there itself, is a collection of 58 recipes - ranging from Bhel, Kheer, and Upma to Pork curry, Gulab Jamuns and Rasgollas !! Hey, stop drooling all over the page - no more food talk, I promise !
A quick stopover at http://hulk.bu.edu/misc/india brings the India home page up with a clickable map of India ( which can be clicked on to get a more detailed map ). Besides the map, the Ashoka Pillar stands tall next to the Indian tricolour. Tourism , Culture and Fine Arts are a big part of this very well put together site, that lists detailed information about India, and related topics, like the Education institutions, Indian music, Indian religions, Indian News Servers, and Information on Indian Languages. Check this site out !!!
The AT&T sponsored IndiaHorizons is yet another site containing a lot of India-related information. This site gives you an opportunity to send free "chithis" (cards) to pals . There's also "samachar" to be read, and a cryptic puzzle called "Tijori" to play enabling you to win a cordless phone and $25 worth of long distance calls !! For those abroad, they also have a list of Indian organisations, clothing stores, grocery stores, beauticians, and restaruants in the neighbourhood. And if you're feeling a bit too lazy, you can visit their on-line Virtual Art Gallery which has on display, a lot of Indian paintings.
"Saare jahaan se aachha, Hindustan hamara !" holds true. Even in Cyberia !