A new picture

After years of using an image that I randomnly filched off the net it is finally time to actually post an original picture for the Chai Chats with the Eichers masthead.

Many thanks to the anonymous person whose image of a tea cup we have been using till now.

It is time to change. Besides the issue of originality, there is the question of authenticity. Though none of our gentle readers ever pointed it out - the tea in the tea cup was definitely not chai!

Take a look at the dark coloured liquid in the picture. It maybe black tea - or black coffee for that matter - but our boiled-to-carmel-milky-cardomon-flavoured chai it certainly is not!

Enter the joy of the new.

This weekend we had a lovely visit by Martin and Saro Abraham. One of the gifts that they brought were two miniature tea cups which Saro had made from paper.

Now the hard part.

Which image to use.

These cups were really, really small.

They are hand-made by Saro using strips of paper and glue.

And lots of care and attention to detail.

How many 'cups' were made and discarded in the process of crafting these two little jewels? Saro - with the humility that comes from a true craftsman - said that making them was quite simple...

Take a look at them next to a 1 rupee coin!

The tiny coin looks as if it were a dinner plate!

We were just smitten with the tiny whisp of steam coming out of the cups.

The tiny twosome have been stored safely out of harms' way - but after the mandatory photo session.

What really tickles me is that they were made especially with the Chai Chats blog in mind.

Martin and Saro have been reading Chai Chats from the very beginning (Saro I think only since she married Martin - but that is also a number of years ago now!). Their gentle words of encouragement have been greatly appreciated over the years.

And though we live in the same great sprawl of greater Mumbai - when do we actually get time to talk over chai?

This weekend was one of those precious moments we did.

What a joy to see grace and happiness pour out of our friends. As we talked while drinking our cuppas Martin and Saro were just radiant. Two people full of the glow of a life-well-lived.

Its friends like these who keep us going. People who have been quietly helping us out over the years in myriad ways. Far from the lime-light and the applause of the big stage.

These two small cups are a reminder of their love.