Gupta Tea House

Gupta Tea House is right there in Chembur, on the 22nd Main near R C Marg and Mahul Road, specifically by Vashi Naka. It’s a busy intersection, so there is always a lot of dust and noise from the trucks and buses passing by. I’ve been at this location for a long time. The shop is small and can get quite hot because of the tea stoves running all the time. We make tea throughout the day, and people stop by for a quick cup before heading to work or catching a bus. It's not a place where you'd go for a fancy sit-down meal. We have some basic snacks too, whatever is fresh that day. The benches are a bit worn out from all the use over the years. I don't really have a big team, just a couple of us handling the pots and the washing up. Vashi Naka is a rough and tumble kind of place, but it's home to us. The walls are stained with a bit of soot from the tea making, but that's just part of a tea house. We don't have a menu printed out; people just ask what we have. It’s simple and it works. Every morning I start the fire and wait for the water to boil. It's a rhythm I've gotten used to after so many years. The noise of the traffic on R C Marg never really stops, but you stop hearing it after a while. I keep the cups stacked up and ready for the morning rush.