Is it tea time yet?!

Back in 2011, I was placed in a small industrial township of Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO), a unit of the mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources Plc. Little did I know that life in BALCO township (situate in the town called Korba in the state of Chhattisgarh) would give me an insight like none other.
As a fresh graduate lawyer, I was raring to go. Having been roped in by one of the top multi-national corporate houses, I assumed that the way of working would be fast paced. And it was.

BALCO had been a public sector undertaking (a PSU i.e. a government enterprise) up until its disinvestment in the year 2001. In 2001, the government decided to disinvest 51% of its equity and management control to a private entity (Sterlite Industries India Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vedanta Resources plc).
Before the disinvestment took place, all employees were employees of the Government of India. Post disinvestment, it was agreed that the existing workmen would continue to be governed by the Wage Settlement Agreements (as per original Government policies) whereas the Executives would be switched over to the HR policies of the new entity (being an industrial unit, there was a classification of employees as Workmen and Executives).
The idea was that the older workforce (from PSU time) would eventually retire and the company would consist solely of the more newly hired employees.

In the legal department (where I belonged), we had a Legal Assistant Mr. Shukla. He was of the generation that gave their loyalty to just one company, and one company alone. He had started working with BALCO and was due to retire in the next one year. An extremely meticulous man, very sharp; he was pretty much the only person in the whole of legal department who knew not only of the files and the cases but also all the stories behind each litigation more than anybody else. And he was not even a lawyer!
But of course, he was not without his quirks.

He believed in dedicated "tea times". And he observed the tea times very religiously. Having started his work day at 8 am, he believed in taking a tea break at 11 am. That was his time to discuss the politics of the country, the state and the company with his colleagues (all from the pre-disinvestment era)! 11 am, he would explain to me, was just the right time after breakfast, and before breaking for lunch at 1 pm! In winters, he would be seen soaking some sun at 11 am with a newspaper in one hand, and a cup of tea in the other. He and his work friends would stand in a circle and confer on the pressing issues of changing times with much enthusiasm!

The next tea time was to be at 4 pm, when you are feeling sleepy after having a wholesome lunch but are still left with some time to go before the work day ends. This tea time he would usually observe with the Legal team (and that included yours truly). All of 23 in my first job, I was not habituated to any form of caffeine intake (thankfully, I am still not!). But Shukla ji would insist I have a cup of tea as well. Sometimes I would indulge, at others times I would decide otherwise. Irrespective of my mood swings regarding tea, he would still be dedicated to the cause of tea!

There were times when we had deadlines and we would be desperately looking for Shukla ji to sort us out. But alas, if it were tea time, it were tea time. And during those times even if the heavens were falling apart, he would still resume work only after he had finished his cuppa tea! As a next generation employee, I would label this tea time obsession and a resultant languid pace of work to be a hangover from the PSU days.


Cut to 5 years later. On 23rd September 2016, Google dedicated an animated doodle to mark the 358th anniversary of tea. The associated articles in The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/23/the-history-of-tea-in-britain-and-why-google-is-celebrating-it-w/) and Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/history-of-tea-in-the-uk-google-doodle-today-a7324506.html) gave context to Shukla ji's tea time.
Digging up on the 358th anniversary of tea, I figured that not only is drinking tea considered Britain's national past time (fast losing its sheen though) but it started off as a form of day-time socialising. It was meant to be an activity enjoyed in leisure, and not hurried through like a shot of espresso.

Shukla ji's (and his generation's) habit of tea time was not a PSU hangover, but went deeper being a colonial hangover. India's colonial past had clearly percolated through that sieve and was being served to us through a cup of tea!

Interestingly, an anecdotal account mentioned in the Independent was very similar to my experience at BALCO.

"In the summer of 1976, Lucas was shooting the first Star Wars in England's EMI-Elstree Studios, chosen for its enormous empty studio space. He had a hellish time, writes J.W. Rinzler in The Making Of Star Wars. The English crew had little respect either for Lucas or his peculiar film involving light sabers that kept breaking. And while Lucas admired the crew's technical skills, he was bewildered by their work habits. Work began at 8:30 a.m., stopped for an hourlong lunch and two tea breaks at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., and ended at 5:30 p.m. sharp, after which the crew promptly went to the pub. When it was break time, filming would stop dead, even if things happened to be mid-scene."

Today, on 21st April, the UK observes National Tea Day. Here's to enjoying that hot cup of tea (and the delicious cream, and scones, and cakes), and not jumping to conclusions! :)

P.S.: When my mother stayed with me in Oxford, she absolutely loved the English tea tradition in its entirety. So much so that she took back a few of those lovely colourful English teapots!

Mum pouring English tea from one of her treasured English teapots at home, New Delhi (India) 

Mum and I enjoying a lavish English cream tea at the Vaults and Gardens Cafe in Oxford, overlooking the beautiful Radcliffe Camera!

Tea, anybody?!

Relieving ourselves of some pre-exam stress with English tea and delicious cakes at my favourite Oxford cafe (Barefoot, Jericho) with my favourite Swiss, Martina