High tea

I would have happily called it "chai pe charcha", if not for the phrase's recent history as a political cracker right up there alongside Marie Antoinette's citation of other teatime items like cakes and breads. So let's just call it a 10-minute digression over a styrofoam cup. I had to wait for a bus and had sauntered over to the stall at the depot. The dispenser of the sweet syrupy tea was an overly talkative fellow and it wasn't easy not to be drawn into a dialogue.

"Sirji," the man began as he adroitly handled two boiling kettles, a primus stove, a tin of sugar, a pouch of milk and a stone slab on which he crushed ginger for the tea, "so Modiji has come to power."

"Yes," I responded carefully, "people yearned for change, and Modiji was a strong alternative."

"So, sir, you tell me, will things improve now?" he asked, as he raised the kettle high in the air and poured a steaming stream into the cup.

"Well," I ventured. "Free market forces will be happy with Modiji in power."

"Oh," he said, as he handed me the cup. "Free market, huh, sir? That's good news. With rising prices, we did need some free things urgently for mere survival."

"It's not exactly getting things for free …" I said, then decided that getting into an Economics 101 lecture at a bus depot tea stall wouldn't get me anywhere. "But everyone is hoping the government will now do things that will help our economy and help check some worries, like the current account deficit…"

"Really?" he cut in excitedly. "In all the speeches of Modiji, and yes, I listened to a lot of them on TV, I never heard him promise a cut in current accounts. Only that Aam Aadmi Party fellow had promised to do that. This is really good. Free stuff plus a cut in current bills." His eyes were gleaming.

"No, no. Current account deficit is not about power bills," I hastily said, but he didn't hear me in his excitement.

"Tell me more, sir. You seem to know more about what Modiji has promised than I heard on TV," he implored.

"Well, there is the foreign investment in retail…" I said.

"What is that? Is it good for us?" he asked.

"See foreigners want to come and open shops where people will buy groceries and other stuff. But Modiji will probably not allow that right away. The government wants to step in for the kirana shops."

"Amazing, now government kirana shops. Sirji, this is good news you are giving me. I must call my wife and tell her. She too doesn't know about these things. So, sir, it must be at these government kirana shops that we will get our free things, no? But I hope we don't need ration cards for these government kirana shops. You know how difficult it is to get a ration card, you have to pay bribes … And also, sir, I am sure Modiji will now give orders to bring the prices down."

"Well yes, the government will surely look at rising prices," I confirmed.

"I voted against Manmohan Singh because he didn't order price reduction for vegetables. BJP has promised to control price. When is the order coming, sir?

"Modiji can't order a cut in prices," I informed him. "Prices are not controlled that way. What they will probably do is to look at supply-side reforms."

"Oh, ho, it is getting and better," the good man smiled. "Now we will have better supplies for lesser prices. My vote didn't go to waste."

I had finished my cup by then. I left for the bus, leaving behind a happy chaiwalla. Who am I to decide whether people voted for the right reason or wrong?

Free Run is a fortnightly look at alternate realities joel.rai@bsmail.in