Found a gem again ā Our Chai Wala Uncle ā
Tea breaks in office are rarely about tea.
Itās about getting away from work for ten minutes, dragging your colleagues along, random conversations, and the familiar comfort of someone handing you your usual drink.
And our chai uncle?
He usually carries a smile the moment he sees us.
Not the forced customer-service smile.
Justā¦ warm.
But one day, we noticed something strange.
When customers were around, he smiled and served as usual.
But in those tiny gaps ā when nobody was there ā he looked completely different.
Dull.
Heavy.
Like if no one walked in for a little longerā¦ he might just sit down and cry.
Later, we came to know he was dealing with financial problems.
Trying to manage.
Trying to hold things together.
One person from our team asked him something simple ā
"Why didnāt you tell us?"
His answer stayed with me.
He said he didnāt want his customers carrying his burden.
That upsetting himself in front of customers would affect his work.
And somehowā¦ that hit harder than expected.
Because he wasnāt just serving tea.
He was serving people with the same warmth anyway.
The same smile.
The same way of saying things.
The same effort to make someone's small tea break feel normalā¦ even when his own life wasnāt.
And honestlyā¦ we felt low after hearing that.
Because here we are.
Many of us, still leaning on parents, comfort, backup plans.
A minor inconvenience happens ā and the world suddenly feels unfair.
But this man?
Heās running a household.
Managing responsibilities.
Carrying worries he cannot simply pause.
Probably having no real place to āput downā everything heās carrying.
Yet he still chose not to let his breakdown become somebody elseās burden.
Not because he had no pain.
But because life didnāt pause and work still needed him.
I went there for lime tea.
Came back thinking about resilience.
Not the loud kind.
The quiet kind.
The kind that shows up, smiles, serves, and keeps movingā¦ while fighting battles nobody ordered with their tea.
