Still wrapped up in her shawl on this chilly morning, she stoks her duni (fire) and makes her first batch of masala chai (spiced tea). The chai is made by brewing tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs, milk and sugar. Often in chai-shops if you ask for no sugar "chini nee", not believing that you really do not want sugar, they give a little extra:)

Chai the generic word for tea in Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, was adopted however into British slang as "cha" or "char", my grandmother always referred to a "nice cup of cha" .