Chai has been synonymous with socializing in India, especially within the middle class. We take a break from work and drink a cup of chai, we meet friends and there is some chai. For some of us it has been Indian filter coffee and in the last couple of decades green tea has gained ground, but chai and coffee have been a social mingling ritual.

In the last 10 months chai has changed.
It has become a solitary affair of comfort and assurance of good health, sometimes even soothing the throat with overly strong notes of spices and turmeric. A sudden transformation from being the perfect brew, the social ritual to a private one of comfort punctuated with medicinal and immune boosting spicey notes, ranging from cinnamon and cloves to lemongrass and tulsi.

Each home had their favorite CTC tea brand, now they have their favorite kadha chai.
Kadha was the unpleasant medicinal concoction that you consumed only when forced by circumstances, the flu or inflammation, now the kadha has invaded our everyday chai.

There are different varieties of green tea and herb-spice blends assuring immunity and we are guzzling them all day. There have been cases where people who consumed too much of the spice and herb concoctions caused toxicity. Spices like turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon are part of some of the herbal medications that have been reported to have been consumed in excess out of fear and desperation.

While numerous food businesses have suffered the lockdown and economic depression, several start-ups have blossomed with herb and spice teas branded as immunity boosters and antivirus concoctions, trying to reassure their consumers on product safety while trying to keep their businesses afloat.

The shift has been enormous.
We switched to wearing mainly pajamas, the worktable was assembled near the most pleasant window, and we have tried to shake off the sudden uncertainty of our work situations with the chirping of birds.

Sipping medicated teas and tisanes became a routine and the dining table saw more and more organic real foods. We washed our hands of most of the junk foods that provided instant gratification.

Nutritional foods and supplements, medicinal herbs and spices, immunity boosting formulas are the new coffee that fuels our day. Food businesses that suffered initially and then re-invented themselves with take-aways, are also riding the wave of pure, healthy, organic foods and immunity boosting drinks while the packaging of these take-aways, are in multiple layers of plastic, single use pouches of hand sanitizers, napkins thrown in for good measure and contact-free food delivery being the norm.

Pranayama and Yoga are more and more aspirational; Ayurveda is the medicine that we rediscovered with a new zeal, or is it fear? Yoga teachers, fitness instructors and Ayurveda practitioners found new ways to connect with their clientele, zoom meeting rooms being the new classroom and bedroom balconies the new workout area. The popularity of podcasts, YouTube and IGTV videos by health professionals is like never before and it has become the most trusted way of getting medical advice.

The fear psychosis has played a role in the early days of the worldwide wave of panic and lockdown.
The same fear seems to have become cold and redundant, but the stress has become more persistent making people willing to escape to new hidden getaways. All remote holiday places across the country are running at full occupancy and have long waitlists, indicating that those who can afford it can escape all misery. Each hotel and boutique property now has an immunity booster welcome drink and a few immunity shots served at breakfast or even tea, along with a side of hand sanitizers and disposable masks.

Yet I wonder if there is any good emerging out of this crisis.

The initial lockdown induced a waste of fresh produce and dairy because of distribution challenges.

Afterwards, however, the organic farmers and distributors have found more genuine customers for their produce. Everything besides fresh produce is now being marketed online to allow even the most remote farmers reach out to interested consumers.
Some uneducated farmers in the remote areas of north eastern states of India received active help from well-meaning professional sectors, to help them to sell their produce all over the country. I personally bought a lot of unusual produce from far away corners of the country to support the farmers and witnessed how there are more and more people joining hands to make ends meet this way.

The regular consumer has become a lot more aware of the nutritional quotient of the food being consumed every day.
More and more people are cooking all their meals at home, using good quality produce that they source with personal interest. Baking sourdough breads at home, cooking gluten free meals and desserts, using alternative sugars like sugarcane, date, or coconut jaggery, including healthier natural fats in meals etc. has become more pronounced even though awareness and intent than there was previously.

More people are now fermenting probiotic supplements like kombucha, ginger ale, kimchi and sauerkraut etc. at home and educating themselves to their benefits.

There is a newfound interest in gardening as well.
Apart from being a recreational activity in extreme stressful times, growing even microgreens and some medicinal herbs gives easy access to the nutritional and immunity boost that one needs.
There is a desperate attempt to heal the body and to get immunity. The plant nurseries all over the country have been reporting that saplings of Tinospora cordifolia locally known as Giloy, are in excess demand and the prices have grown twenty times, the same plant is reportedly being harvested in excess from the forests too. Saplings of Holy Basil and Moringa have met the same fate. Many medicinal herbs that are now part of the new immunity and health boosting formulations have become expensive while their supply has dwindled.

There is a dichotomy in consumption patterns as well.
Well-known ayurvedic formulation for immunity, Chyawanprash became a permanent fixture on the breakfast table in many homes, good quality ghee grew into a whole new dimension as a healing medicine. Equally, the number of people who consumed a lot of junk food that the sales of instant noodles, biscuits and crunchies has skyrocketed. This has been motivated, in part, by overconsumption – caused by stress – and in part by the fact that these foods could be stockpiled.
Which means that such foods are essentially the indicators of stress-eating and addictive-eating.

Finally, if it is positive to observe a growing demand for locally grown organic produce that reflects a growing attention to overall ecosystem, on the other hand it’s impossible not to notice a contradiction in the amount of plastic being generated with the single use PPE kits, masks and hand gloves as well as multiple layers of plastic packaging of home-delivered foods.

This the dichotomy in our approach to the matter is becoming a deep pit. I hope the pit isn’t bottomless.