Cup of tea: Tea hotel industry takes off again

Hotels that had shut down due to violence in the city have reopened.


The tea hotels business is back in bloom as they are no longer being targeted. As closed hotels open up again, their popularity is almost back to what it once was. PHOTO: AYESHA MIR/EXPRESS

KARACHI:


As the violence in the city has subsided, the 'Quetta hotel' business is thriving once more and they can be found at almost every busy commercial and residential street.


The tea-stalls, colloquially referred to as chai dhaba, are mostly owned by the Pashtuns hailing from Quetta. Over time, these tea stalls have replaced the famous Irani cafes in the city that once served as the courtyard of literary activities and political debates.



The 'hotels' are famous for their strong tea and kehwa they also offer malai paratha and dhood patti in traditional green chainak [teapot] or small cups, depending on what you ask for.

While the hotels are a hit with almost everybody, they seem to be particularly popular with the Urdu-speaking community. "They like to spend their free time outside their home and our hotels provide a cheap option," said 28-year-old Mohammad Ashraf Tareen of Quetta Didar Hotel of Keamari, who has been cooking parathas for more than a decade. Tareen blames the heat of his stove and the demanding nature of his job - which sometimes starts at 5am and ends at 2am the following day - for making him look older than his age.

Four types of workers run the hotels - the table men, the tea maker, the paratha cook and the barwala [delivery boy]. The barwala gets a 20-per-cent commission on his sales while the rest get monthly salaries ranging from Rs5,000 to Rs15,000. The barwala's job, although more difficult, is more lucrative. "I make around Rs500 per day but sometimes people flee without paying and I have to pay their bill out of my own pocket," said Barat Khan Kakar, a delivery boy at the same hotel. "But sometimes people pay tips as well."

The violence

In 2008, when the city was suffering from waves of ethnic violence, these tea hotels were often the target of attacks. Dozens of hotel owners, workers and customers fell prey to target killings and as a result, a number of people shut down their hotels.

In September 2010, one such tea hotel located in Malir was attacked and the owner was shot eight times. He miraculously survived. "Around 9pm, I was sitting in my hotel, when two young men opened fire at me," said the owner, a 37-year old man who has been associated with the tea hotel business from a young age. "Three of the bullets hit me on the head, four pierced my arm and one hit my hand. The attackers fled."

He was later taken to Quetta, his home town for treatment only a day after the incident, for his own protection, where he managed to make a speedy recovery.

"I have now reopened my hotel as people kept asking me to do so. Though its popularity has diminished as compared to before, I am still able to feed my family with it," he said, adding that he has never had any political affiliations and he does not know why he was targeted or who the attackers were.

"These hotels were mainly closed in Malir, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Korangi, Baldia and Orangi," said Tareen. "Some of the owners shifted their hotels to safer areas in the city, others moved to rural Sindh, while some have resumed their businesses again in the same places."

All Quetta Hotel Welfare Association representative Noorullah told The Express Tribune that over 2,200 tea hotels were closed because of the attacks. "Around 1,800 of them have resumed their work, either in the same location or in nearby areas," he revealed. "However, no attack has taken place since 2013."

What is required to open a tea-stall

A dhaaba needs utensils, furniture and a small shop or a wooden hut. It costs between Rs100,000 and Rs120,000 to open one. The amount depends on the area’s property value.

The utensils used in making and serving tea are all available at Lea Market. It includes a samovar to keep hot water for green tea that costs between Rs7,000 to Rs10,000 and a tawa to cook parathas that comes for around Rs7,000. The dhaaba also needs four to six pieces of silver mugs or tea-pots to cook tea and those cost upwards of Rs300 each,  depending on the size. It also needs 100 cups, 30 teapots of different sizes - from one-cup teapots to five-cup teapots, a stove stand that costs around Rs50,000 and also some furniture.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2014. 

COMMENTS (2)

gp65 | 9 years ago | Reply @goggi (Lahore): Your reference to Aana as a currency has me feeling nostalgic. No one uses terms like 4 Aanas or 8 Aanas any more. I recall drinking Coke for 4 Aanas in early 70s
goggi (Lahore) | 9 years ago | Reply

In early 70s "aadha cup chai" in Irani cafes around Tariq road cost only 2 Aane and one plate of tasty biryani sirf 2 rupaliaN!

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