Tea and RedBull

There is a smallish railway junction near Kolkata called Naihati.. It is now a junction for suburban trains. But before partition it used to be on a trunk route to north bengal and assam through what is now bangladesh.. and it was this route which many of the wretched "coolies" took to reach the assam planations from the bridgehead of Brahmaputra. But I digress.

In Naihati station there is [still is] a tea stall as ancient as A H Wheeler books stalls which was licensed to be opened at least 70-80 years back. That tea stall has a large signboard in bengali which lists out "The Benefits of Drinking Tea" a) It stimulates the body b) It gives energy c) It is healthy d) It energises the mind

Those were early days of tea marketing in India [most of the tea before the second world war was for the export market] and simple marketing techniques worked on simple folks and the result is for all of us to see... bengalis at least have become prolific tea drinkers in the last 70-80 years and even today coffee is considered to be a treat in most of bengal to be had only on special occasions in the winter [I am discounting the consumption pattern of the Coffee House type Calcuttans here!]

That was way back in the past. Today, I had the pleasure of having a lovely thali lunch at a small restaurant in Worli quite literally at the heart of capitalist Mumbai and while I was savouring my rasam, an odd laminated poster drew my attention... Coloured in Blue and Red it was a RedBull advertisement, and guess what it said? Yes you are right... Alomost word for word it was same as the Tea advertisement I mentioned about... If you do not believe me you must pay a visit to Kalpana at Worli Naka and have a look for yourself:)

Is it true then that more things change more they remain the same?

By the way, in case you have missed it... Tea is marketed by the tea board now as a happening drink... teak drinkers are supposed to be smart, quick witted and fleetfooted... not stuffed shirts like the coffee drinkers... So choose your drink carefully