Some chai, some gupshup at Kamla Nagar’s oldest teashop
For the last 50 years the place has been the heart and soul of thousands of cash-crunched DU students, reports Karan Choudhury.
North Campus, chai and gupshup. These words come together and take form when one reaches Moti Shop, a teashop in the busy market of Kamla Nagar. For the last 50 years the place has been the heart and soul of thousands of cash-crunched DU students.
Tea has always had a special place in the hearts of every Indian. Here in north campus, generations of students, faculty members and staffers have visited the shop to have the no frills but famous tea.
It initially started with tea and coca cola, which was just introduced in India. The owner Moti Lal still sits at the shop in the mornings. His son Durgesh Sambher said, “Every decade has its fad which catches the fancy of people. Right now it is the café chains, earlier it was milkshake and ice-cream parlours. But tea has always been there and fought its way through all these fads.”
He added that there used to be long queues in front of the shop and people used to patiently wait for their turn to get their prized cup of tea. Some of the now famous personalities and DU alumni like actor Manoj Bajpai and ace shooter Jaspal Rana also stood in these queues once, he claims.
Famous for its bun-butter and bun omelette for over five decades, the owner said: “Every morning students especially hostellers would turn up to have tea and bun omelette. We have been making it for the last 50 years and people still come to have such simple items.”
The shop also sells the regular fair of burgers, patties and other baked items. There are also a wide variety of milkshakes and juices available. Even in the time of sky rocketing inflation rates the place sells tea at Rs 5 and every other item at the shop is priced between
Rs 5 and Rs 25.