Water may be scarce but Mallus tea flooding Chennai!

Chennai, July 8: It goes with a tinge of humour about Malayalees' job-oriented migration that Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the Moon, spotted a tea shop there and the fatigued astronaut was served a 'hot cup of tea'.

Leave aside the exaggeration, Malayalees' affinity to teashops is indisputable.

Chennaites may not be aware of Kerala's status as one of the leading exporters of coffee and tea. However, they admit one thing, Malayalees are good at running tea shops.

Chennai, a city dotted with their tea shops, is a home away from home to Mallus, who deal in a wide range of business here, thanks to the geographical proximity and cultural similarities with the Tamil brethren.

Running a tea shop or at least working there is dubbed as a first choice for many Mallus, who have left home on job hunting! As a matter of fact, now a staggering 70 per cent of tea stalls in Chennai are owned by Keralites.

According to Chennai Metroplitan Tea Owners Association President V C Damodaran, there are 4214 tea shop owners registered with the Association. The registration is renewed annually. Apart from giving them organisational assistance in bad times, it serves as a welfare unit extending humanitarian services. Local government hospitals had been its beneficiaries.

About the predominating number of people from north Malabar region of Kerala in this business, he said ''it might be due to cultural proximity. This helps them feel at home in Chennai''. And about finding workers he says, ''over the years it has become difficult to get employees. The Tamils, who constituted almost 80 per cent of the work force, are now slowly replaced by Gujaratis. They detest working for 12 hrs that too beside 'constantly' burning stoves.'' Normally, the workers change jobs very frequently and do not work in a shop for more than two years. However, Ponnuswamy, who is an exception, proudly says, ''it is my 26th year in this shop''. He joined the shop when he was a boy of 12 years.

K Gopal, now 69, reminisces the late 1950s when he sold tea at One Anna (6 paise) per cup. It has now gone up to Rs three. Tea stalls were too few in number, say hardly two shops for half a km.

Obtaining a licence to run a stall was risky with long and time consuming procedures starting from obtaining Police Licence.

This was, however, revoked by the then Chief Minister in 1999. Until recently, the shops were not licensed to serve snacks other than biscuits.

People like tea preferably brewed in a particular shop.

Murugesan, a regular tea sipper at a tea stall said, ''I drink about ten cups a day. I am addicted to the tea prepared here. It gives me an additional refreshing effect''.

In every lane, nook and corner one can spot a tea stall now.

Interestingly, many of them are named 'Corner Tea Shop'.

For a first-time visitor to Chennai, with little or no command in Tamil, a tea stall would be the ideal place to bump into a Mallu', who might willingly take up the job of a travel guide.

UNI