Chai Lie

Nah. Chai is so un-swadeshi that Gandhi & other Indian nationalists actively fought against it. 💁🏽‍♀️

In the early 1900s, tea was inextricably linked with colonialism and indentured servitude.

To cultivate tea, the British Raj forced indentured laborers from Central and Eastern regions to go work the tea plantations in Assam. The reasons why they preferred to use migrant workers vs. local workers are complex, but boil down to racism, classism, and capitalism. These indentured servants endured inhumane working conditions and would frequently face violence in the form of beatings, whipping, and sometimes even murder.

Because of the brutality and wealth inequality,* swadeshi activists (a key voice in the independence movement) campaigned AGAINST chai.

So the painting above is actually a piece of colonialist propaganda put out by white corporate interests, who were trying to brown-wash tea & drive demand 📈 in South Asia.

I guess they won, since the vast majority of us associate chai with Desi culture and authenticity 😬

*It should be noted that the middle class benefited from the system. However, the vast amount of 💰💰💰 went directly into the hands of the white planters.*

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Many sources used, but key one is @utschcs professor Jayeeta Sharma's phenomenal paper “‘Lazy’ Natives, #coolie Labour, and the Assam Tea Industry”

Obtained the glorious poster from @scroll_in article "The glorious history of India's passion for tea"