Transcript:

SK: There is no such thing as what is better. It's just a preference. चाय और कॉफी क्यों लेते हैं लोग? Why do they drink chai and coffee? Have you understood that?

Participant: नींद उड़ाने के लिए?

SK: Yeah, the chai and coffee is simply a निमित्त, just a बहाना to sit around and chat and discuss stories.

In the old days, there was no Netflix or Amazon Prime or nothing, so janta would sit around the fire and say, you know, आज एक एंटीलोप था वो भाग गया मेरे से यार! तो दूसरा बोलेगा, अरे, तू footprint देखा क्या उसका? नहीं देखा? Then he'll tell a story ki you know दो साल पहले एक एंटीलोप था जो भाग गया। उसका मैं footprint follow किया तो ये ये हुआ… So that other person learns from that person's story because there was no written books or anything.

But there has to be something to keep them there. So there'll be a pot on the fire, which will have something brewing, and that would be normally chai or eventually coffee or daru or anything! It's just a — even beer and wine and all this stuff came about because in the social gathering, there has to be something; some mechanical action that you keep doing so that the stories will start flowing.

That's the thing. How much we have learned! What is the — I will tell you, in IIT, where do you think the most learning happens? It's not in the classroom! It is at the chai ka tapri!

हम लोग जब जायेगा Edge-7 में कटिंग चाय पीने के लिए, we didn't even have the money to have a full glass of chai, boss! We would have cutting. वो कटिंग चाय में इतना सीखा है हम लोग। वो senior बोलेगा, यें हुआ! वो हुआ! कुछ तो! Then we will tell the same story to junior. That whole IIT culture comes because of chai. Because उतना पैसा ही नहीं है to buy coffee, सोच! है ना!

Now after so many years, we have a legacy project; now in IIT Bombay if you go, there is a building called Cafe-92. It is like the go-to place because we set it up because how much we have suffered for not having a good chai place on the campus. Our whole batch after 25 years, we put in all the money and we built this whole Cafe-92. Where now janta can go and have nice chai with samosa or जो भी, Marie biscuit, या जो भी! Whatever. Because we know the importance of chai.

The studies at IIT don't happen in the labs, nothing. The learning happens over chai. I'm telling you, from my experience.