Shayi (Tea) - "Thanks"............ "No thanks" - Cultural Faux Pas - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post - 47.

The team was quite puzzled by the colourful and artistic muggulu (rangoli) that adorned the entire portico. The only lady in the inspection team bent down and traced the lines. She was visibly impressed (5% expression!). 

She asked for the details and was astonished when Padma told her that they were handmade and that no machine or instruments were used. She was astonished to know that the entire set of muggulu took Padma hardly two or three hours to draw.

This was a big crowd. They all entered the house. There was very limited seating space. Some of them including the Vice President (VP) sat and some were left standing. It was definitely embarrassing!

The officials started peeping inside the rooms and started making a silent appraisal of the things. This frightened Sahithi. She was intimidated by the cops. She hid herself behind her mother and peeped out apprehensively. She was most tense when they looked at her toys. Pranav as usual was very stoic and looked on impassively.

I pulled aside the VP’s personal assistant and asked, “Do you think that we could offer some snacks?”. He pulled at his beard before answering, “Most of us are fasting today and we would not eat anything!”. Seeing my disappointment, he added, “We would not mind having Shayi (tea)”.

This threw us off gear. We did not have enough milk. Padma with Sahithi tagging along went to our local milk-man. It was a difficult ten-minute wait. The VP was chatting with me and all the time, I was desperate to see Padma returning. She arrived breathless. I could see that she did manage to get milk.

Meanwhile the inspection was in full swing. I told the team that we did not have a dining table. And that there were no racks or a platform in the kitchen and that we were not provided with an electric oven. All what I said was noted.

The Superintendent of Police was all smiles. He assured us through an interpreter that we were safe and that he would take any complaint, very seriously. We were impressed. He asked us not to put anything outside. He told us that Ethiopians are good climbers and that our compound wall was a pushover for intruders. Our house owner assured him that he would soon build a concrete wall.

Meanwhile the war was ragging in the kitchen. The Shayi was getting prepared. Padma made Pranav to go to Chidambaram’s house and get some cups and saucers. Even they had very little cutlery. Somehow Shayi was prepared on our kerosene stove.

The Shayi was served. Every one including the VP took a double take. The VP’s secretary drew me aside, “What did you do? What did you do?”. There was a sense of urgency and desperation in his voice. “What did I do?” I asked. I was perplexed.

“You served us this” he pointed an assuring finger at the cup. I peeped inside. There was nothing even remotely harmful. All I could see was innocent looking and tasty smelling tea!

“You want us to break our fast” he was wailing. The VP was all smiles. I am sure that he was well travelled and understood the situation more easily than his more tradition bound secretary.

“Not to worry” he assured me, “It’s a minor irritant only. We Ethiopians consider anything that comes out of the body of an animal as animal food and you served us Shayi with milk and Orthodox Christians while fasting do not consume any item that has animal content including milk and dairy products”.

So innocently Padma and I almost broke their fasting regime! I quickly apologized and offered milk less Shayi (black tea for Indians). “Dr. Aneel, we will come some other time and sample your hospitality” the VP said with a huge smile.

Needless to say we passed the inspection with a straight A+. Of course I gave A+ to the university for providing us with a house and excellent facilities. What did we do with all that offensive tea with milk? Your guess is as good as mine. A human mind tends to remember the incident and skip the details. I guess I should have maintained a more meticulous diary. The devil is always in detail.