CHAI PANI SYNDROME.
Chai and Pani has definite role in the psyche of our people, both literally and economically. Chai is a regular drink in Indian homes and Pani need not be spoken about, the connotation in the local lingo is totally an anti thesis to the established literary meaning.
"NO PROBLEM YAAR! KUCH CHAI PAANI KA KHARCHA DHEDHE, THERA KAAM BAN JAAYEGA!"." Thera kaam ban jaayega, your job will be done," that is what is to be underlined here. If some believe that a mere payment of Rs. 3/- for a cup of chai will do the trick, well! Think twice! This particular value differs from person to person, place to place and on the nature of the work.
To get a copy of a document through an attender in an office, chai pani may cost about 25/-, while hastening a process through chai pani where just a paper is to be signed or dispatched may cost anything up to 100/-. Solutions to complicated cases through chai pani, the cost may shoot up, depending upon the complications on the plea that there are too many people who love to have chai. Thus it is like where you are going to offer, your chai pani, is it going to be in a road side tea stall, a hut, an irani or udipi joint or in a five star hotel.
The terminology also differs. For an attender and clerical staff, it is chai paani.For those who sweep the roads, work with electricity, water works, and sewerage, it is chai pani. Personally speaking, I don't mind paying a small amount to these people like those who sweep and clean, since most of them are contract labor and are generally under paid, but I do resist to offer chai pani to attenders and clerical staff, as I believe that their salaries are reasonable and secure.
The next bunch is from the hotel industry. The "TIPS' that we pay to the servers or stewards as addressed in star joints is also another type of chai pani. Chai pani being paid for a cup of coffee or tea in a hotel , Just imagine! Though 'TIPS' is an abbreviated form of "TO INSURE PROMPT SERVICE", what is not understood is "isn't the service not expected to be prompt?" Perhaps, this was a ruse of a few privileged ones to insure a prompt attention to themselves over the head of the others. I don't know if those who serve us in hotels share their tips with the table cleaners, particularly in udupi hotels, but at times, I feel that these people should also be given tips for the simple reason that these boys are also under paid. The only place where tipping is not a practice is in Irani hotels, where mostly the clientele is from lower strata, of course with a sprinkling of well to do also!
As the hierarchical ladder goes up, the term CHAI PANI modifies itself to various other notations such as a ghoos, bribe, haath mein pakadwa dhena, under table offer and at the highest level, it is captioned scam.
There is one person whom I have forgotten to mention. The one who bows and salutes at the entrance as customers enter and leave a star restaurant or even a moderate hotel. His physical contribution may be minimal, but there is an expectation in his bow and a salute. Should he be paid for chai pani may be debatable, but it is his economic condition that makes him offer a salute and a bow to one and the sundry to supplement his meager income and remember, it is not easy to bow and salute at the cost of human pride.
Chai pani is an evil necessity up to a certain level where it acts as a supplement to compensate a meager earning, but it needs to be looked in a different perspective when it becomes a payment for a favor to be done!
Perhaps the finance minister had this in mind when he insisted on a service tax to various services rendered.
