a chai wala · pune, india · est. ~2018
Five in the morning to nine at night. Six days a week. One hundred litres of water. A thousand cups of chai. One man who would rather be doing this than anything else.
this film has no words. notice what you notice. notice what you wonder. wonder out loud, and don't forget to notice what you feel, too.
a wordless film from reweave · hosted there in full · captions on reweave
Cultivating Dreams
"I feel a huge sense of joy and satisfaction in running something of my own. In being my own boss. Being what people call an 'entrepreneur'. No one can put pressure on me to do anything; no one can tell me how I should or should not do things. But I can still ask for advice, and I have complete freedom to think about and act on what I think is best. Best for the customer, best for the environment, best for the whole world, and best for me too. I am Shantanu, a proud owner of a tea business. But you can call me 'The Chai Guy'."
"I grew up in a village in Maharashtra with my parents and two brothers. I loved growing up in a village, but I always was excited to move to the city one day. Eventually, I made the move to the city of Pune and took up a job as a taxi driver."
"Being a taxi driver here is a tough job. I worked with a vendor who was a middleman between companies and drivers. They would find us jobs and companies would pay them. However, a very small proportion of the money was paid out to us. We'd often get paid late, sometimes 90 days after taking on a job. This put financial pressures on us."
have you ever thought about what it is like being a taxi driver?
what challenges might come with that work?
what could we, what could you, do about it?
"As a taxi driver, one of the things I really didn't understand was the amount of plastic used by the companies I provided my services for. One of the office buildings I worked at had no glass cups. None. Zero. Most people used 4 or 5 disposable plastic cups a day when they drank water. One day I asked the management if they could get glass cups so we could cut down on our waste and drink from cups better for our bodies and the environment. They said it was not possible. It was a set rule to use these plastic cups."
on a chalkboard, in his hand
"In the building I worked in, each person used about 4 cups a day. There were about 1200 people on each floor and there were 12 floors in the building. Can you calculate the amount of plastic cups our building used? There were about 28 such buildings in the area. The entire area? All of Pune? All of India? Our world?"
"I left my taxi driver role after a year and a half and took up a role as a transport supervisor, supervising other drivers. This was better, but it had its own challenges. I had a long commute to and from work getting through the traffic. But more than anything I felt I wasn't free to do what I really wanted and to make my own decisions. I then had the thought: 'why not start my own business?'"
"You just have to try. And try again. And again. And again. Continue to try, and just don't cry."
"From my experience, very few people in Maharashtra choose to start their own businesses. People from other states often come here and start all kinds of small businesses, selling food, drinks, different types of crafts and clothing. However few people from our state choose this path. I thought by starting my own business, I could also inspire others to do the same. Many people think it's too difficult to start something, but I don't think it is. You just have to try. And try again. And again. And again. Continue to try, and just don't cry. If you have the intention and the drive to do something, it will happen."
"For now I want to continue running and expanding my chai business. There are many other foods I can sell and I am enjoying experimenting and trying new things. Looking ahead into the future, I know I want to keep running businesses. I would like to stay in the 'hospitality' sector where I can serve people. Maybe even run a resort or a hotel. For now, I am excited to learn as much as I can."
Better Together
"Just yesterday actually, I received a call in the evening from one of my friends. He is a taxi driver in my community and he had a car accident. As soon as I heard the news I told him that if he needed me I would be there immediately. I would close up my Chai Stall early and support him however I could. My business is important, but these friendships matter most. After all, money isn't the main reason I have chosen to enter this business."
what does friendship mean to you?
how are you a good friend to others in your daily life?
"I have loved making friends with all sorts of people. People from the village and people from the city, young people and older people, people from all walks of life, from politics to business and even to education. People who work and people who are at home looking after their families. I love connecting with them all and I really enjoy sharing stories."
"This was the main reason I started a chai business of all things: to create a space for people to connect and build friendships."
"Chai is something that almost everyone drinks here in India, and my little cups of chai are something that almost everyone can afford. This chai brings people together in our community, and getting to know someone over a cup of chai is a very rewarding and relaxing process."
"I don't have a setup with tables and chairs or anything of that sort. But I have pulled together a couple of stools and repurposed a few containers that my customers in the community can sit on. They aren't in clusters or tables as you'd see in a restaurant or cafe. All the seats are together so that all my customers can sit together and get to know one another. I'm always thinking about how the space around my chai stand can be best used to build a community here. If it rains, I make sure to put up a sheet so that my customers can still stay here and connect with one another without getting wet."
"A couple of days ago the rocks that my cart stands upon had been moved around after some construction work and the ground was uneven. I saw quickly that a few customers were struggling to stand on the uneven surface, so I immediately called my friends from across the street, who are construction workers, to help me out. We quickly cleared the ground to make an even surface that would be most comfortable for my customers. I want to create an environment where my customers feel welcome, comfortable, and happy. A community."
a math question, in his hand
"Six months ago the average person who came to my chai stand stayed for about 10 minutes. Three months ago, the average stayed for 15 minutes. Today, the average is 22 minutes. Can you graph this growth? What might explain it?"
"My business is important, but these friendships matter most. After all, money isn't the main reason I have chosen to enter this business."
Junk Re-Thunk
"Running a chai business is great fun. It's one of the best jobs I have ever done. It's also fun working in the sun. Okay, I'll stop rhyming now. The best parts of the job? I love being my own boss, deciding when I work and how I work. I love meeting and getting to know my customers. I love thinking about how I can grow my business. And I really love to prepare tea and serve my customers. I am so grateful to be able to call this my job."
"Most of my days begin at around 5am. I wheel over my cart and set up my chai stand by 8 or 8:30. My day is spent standing. My whole day. Mostly nonstop until 8:30pm, as I serve my customers, and by 9pm I pack up and head home. I run the stall 6 days a week, and I take Sunday to relax, spend time with my friends, and also to learn and experiment with new foods that I could sell at my stand."
have you ever wondered what it is like to sell food on the street?
have you ever done it? as a job, at a festival, at a fair?
"If you asked me what was challenging about this work, I would struggle to give you an answer. Like I mentioned before, I feel there is nothing not to like about this work. If I had to tell you what I enjoy least I would have to say cleaning the glasses. But even that I have learned to really enjoy."
"You see, when I clean the glasses all my worries leave me. I am so focused on the task and don't think of anything else."
"And it's so important that the glasses are cleaned well. I need to make sure everything is clean and safe for my customers. But more than this, if the glasses are dirty I find I feel more tired. When the glasses are clean, I feel fresh and good. And when I feel fresh and good, my customers will feel fresh too. I want my customers to have the best experience they can. It's this feeling that helps me do every task well."
on water · in his hand
"Every day I bring 100L of water from my home to add to my chai and to drink. There is water nearby my stand that comes from the bore well, but the water I get at home in my taps tastes much better. So even though there is added effort to bring that water all the way, I still do it. I use an additional 40L of water a day for cleaning, which my friend brings from a nearby lane. How many cups of chai can I make per day? How about if half my chai is made of milk (which it is!)? I'm going to leave you to figure out how much chai each of my glasses can hold."
"I am always experimenting with new things I can sell. If a customer tells me they like a certain food, I always think about whether I could sell it. These days, alongside chai, I'm selling samosas, poha (a savoury rice dish), and cream rolls. I'm also learning a few new popular Indian savoury snacks including vada pav (a delicious bun with a potato patty). It's a continuous experiment in learning about my customers and trying new things."
"I am also very conscious of how much waste I produce. I strive to minimise the amount of plastic I use. It isn't good for the environment or for one's health to drink from plastic cups, so I avoid these as much as possible. And can I tell you something funny? Sometimes customers ask for plastic cups thinking I haven't cleaned my glass cups. They often assume that because it is a roadside stall, I might not care about cleanliness. I don't understand this, as it's even worse to drink chai from a melting plastic cup."
"I buy foods and ingredients in reusable containers, and once they are empty I clean and use them to store other foods like salt and sugar. And I always make sure I don't leave any waste lying near my cart when I have finished every evening."
a question, for you
"How might I run my business in an even better way? What other kinds of waste can you think of that I might accumulate? If I have about 200 customers per day, how much waste do you believe there might be per person? In total? Weekly? Monthly? Is there a way to generate less waste? What about no waste at all? Do you know anyone who runs a business or who lives without generating much waste?"
If you take nothing else away from this page, take these.
Shantanu spent years driving for middlemen who took most of his pay and delayed the rest by 90 days. He chose to own something instead. Even a small thing. Especially a small thing.
The stools are arranged together, not at separate tables, because the point isn't the chai. The chai is the excuse. The community is the point.
"When the glasses are clean, I feel fresh and good. And when I feel fresh and good, my customers will feel fresh too." Hygiene as hospitality, hospitality as love.
Glass cups, reused containers, water carried from home because it tastes better. None of it is required. He does it anyway. That is the practice.
His exact words: "You just have to try. And try again. And again. And again. Continue to try, and just don't cry." The most under-quoted productivity advice on the internet.
"After all, money isn't the main reason I have chosen to enter this business." Said by a man working fifteen-hour days, six days a week. He means it.
where this story lives in full
This site is a thread. The full tapestry is at Reweave: a documentary archive of real people whose work holds something true. Shantanu is one of sixty-six people there. Each has a wordless film, a story, and lessons for learners.