If you have any interest at all in travelling - buy this book. If you don't have any interest in travel - but have a few hours to kill on a bus or plane or metro - buy this book.
It's a lot better than any Chetan Bhagat novel you've ever read, a lot more value for money. And it's got that "thing" which for me separates a good book from the rest - after you've finished it, you feel you are richer somehow, you've gone on a trip, you've learnt something new.
But the best thing about 'Hot Tea across India' - is that it's so delightfully lighthearted. It's like a college buddy sitting across the table and regaling you with tall tales of all the places he's ever been to. You know some of the things he describes might be just a bit over the top - but he's so funny and so earnest - you laugh along anyway.
I used to read Rishad Saam Mehta in college - for the longest time, he worked for automobile magazines and newspapers - writing up travelogues of all the great places he'd been to. I read him for the detailed descriptions he gave of his cars he drove or bikes he rode (many times a trusty Enfield Bullet), the mechanical problems he faced and how he solved them. So mostly - guy reasons. Though I envied him just a bit for the lovely locations he landed up in.
But 'Hot Tea across India' - has nothing of those detailed accounts of gear shifts and engine oil changes and brake horse power. What it has instead as a common thread - is a cup of tea. Across the length and breadth of India, no matter where he goes, Mr Mehta manages to find at least one lone tea stall. Even in the most remote, most inaccessible, most dangerous places.
A cup of chai - can start a thousand adventures. And it does for Mr Mehta, a series of funny, dangerous, thought provoking, surprising adventures. I think all of them are true life tales, which makes the book even more special. Believe me - you ought to read 'Hot Tea across India'. I did and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Title: Hot Tea across India; Author: Rishad Saam Mehta; Publisher: Tranquebar Press; Genre: Travelogue, Non-Fiction; Pages: 191
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