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A chaiwala is a person who prepares, sells or serves tea on streets or small roadside shops in Pakistan and India. Literally, chai means tea in Hindi and chaiwala is the one who sells tea. They boil a mixture of water and milk, add tea leaves and then strain the tea into containers or a tea kettle.
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Chaiwala tend to come in from different parts of India and run small businesses in major cities. Chaiwalas usually serve tea in a small glasses or unglazed clay teacups (kulhar) but in recent years they have started to serve tea in plastic cups. Traditionally chai was made in brass vessels; however that appears to be changing in some places. Some regard the methods of brewing tea to be unhygienic, however often it is regarded to be safe since the tea is boiled.
Chaiwala in popular culture
In the 1955 classic film Shri 420, the hero (Raj Kapoor) brings the heroine (Nargis) to a road-side tea stall. The chaiwala insists on receiving a payment of two annas for the two cups. In the 2009 drama Slumdog Millionaire, the lead character, Jamal Malik (played by Dev Patel), is a chaiwala in an Indian call center.
Arshad Khan (Pakistani Chaiwala)
In October 2016, a young Chaiwala from Islamabad became an internet sensation. A picture of Arshad Khan taken by a local amateur photographer Jiya Ali went viral on Facebook and Twitter, and Khan became an overnight sensation in Pakistan and India. He appeared on numerous morning shows and received a modelling contract.
Narendra Modi (Indian Chaiwala)
The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is a former chaiwala. He occasionally used to serve tea to the customers of his father's tea-stall outside the Vadnagar Railway Station. During the 2014 Indian general election, Modi hosted a series of "chai pe charcha" ("discussion over tea") events at tea stalls across India, in an attempt to emphasise his humble background.
Modi's chaiwala background was mocked by Mani Shankar Aiyar, a senior leader of the then ruling Congress Party. Former Chief Minister of Bihar and RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav also claimed to be a former chaiwala.