There's many a slip.............

Twixt the cup and the lip. For me for a hot cup of tea. I am a tea lover, ok maybe an addict. The first thing I look forward to when I get up in the morning is my freshly brewed cup of tea. I like it hot, just little less than scalding hot and the difference, in my opinion, is a fraction of a degree. I also like to boil the milk a lot with the tea leaves. Don't prefer brewing - not strong enough for me and also not hot enough by the time you finish  adding milk, sugar etc. Ginger, cardamom, clove, jaggery -  love to flavour my cup of tea with these.

When I was working, tea breaks were fun, a group of us off to the chai wala downstairs and take legitimate and much needed breaks from work. Sometimes, share a packet of Parle G and the mandatory office gossip all around. Meetings with chai were most welcome too!! Now its tea and gossip sessions with friends occassionally. Believe me I would rather invite people over for tea than for any other meal. Maybe because I am not a very confident cook for dinner menus but decent with snacks. After the kids, its been quite difficult to drink tea without rushing through it or w/out a couple of reheats.

The first cup of tea marks the beginning of my day -  promising, with endless possibilities. I sit by the window looking out on to the bits and pieces of nature outside and just be. No plans, no lists, no chores, no chorus of thoughts, just plain being, enjoying the sounds of silence before the rest of the house gets up and the flurry of activities begins. After the kids and hubby are at school and work, and I have made a reasonable progress with my own set of activities, I sit to enjoy my second cup of tea, often reading and commenting on your blogs and sometimes updating my own.

So far, so good. As the day progresses, the process gets more challenging. Once kids are back from school and the saga of changing, feeding, updates from school etc done with I feel the need for another cup of tea and therein begin the challenges. I like to give the kids milk at the same time, but they refuse. Ok, I go ahead with mine then. Mama, can I have my milk now?? not even before I have made a passing contact with the sofa. Mama, need to do kaka, goes another voice, so I run to get a diaper. The little one refuses to be potty-trained!!! Ok, tasks done, tea is cold, so reheat and then the elder one wants to go to the loo. So  leave it half-way through and escort her to get the job done and come back to a cold cup. The whole satisfaction of drinking tea is lost.

Hubby comes home and I serve his tea and maybe sit with him to enjoy my 4th cuppa. We sit in the study, I have impromptu made my cornfalkes chiwda and kids are outside watching some TV. Look forward to a 5 minute conversation before he is lost to twitter, or goes out to the gym. Mama, look lil G is hurting me, no shouts the other. Chaos, confusion, squabbles all figure  in the small time-out I take from being out of the vision of my kids. Tea cup forgotten, I come out to solve the issues. Sigh, until the next time!