If our country ever needs another name, an apt consideration would be The Tea Republic. Everybody here loves ‘chai’. From an expensive cuppa in an air-conditioned lounge to the street stall with tinned roofs and bricks for seats, tea is the national drink. And it became more prominent when a Chaiwallah became the Prime Minister and started the Chai Pe Charcha to show the masses that he was one amongst them.
Anything related to tea sells in our country. An instance of this is the Somvati Mahawar, who became an internet sensation for a 15-second video where she urges her friends to have tea before taking a sip from her cup.
That 15-second video not only went viral, amassing millions of views, it also inexplicably ended up spawning a subculture of sorts. Her greeting, “Hello friends, chai peelo”, became a catchphrase, a greeting, a meme, all rolled into one.
She became so popular that even the Mumbai police tweeted with her phrase, urging riders with “Hello Friends, Helmet Pehenlo.” There have been international admirers who have imitated her, drinking tea on the streets of different cities from around the world.
While the internet works in curious ways, there is no explanation for why she became so famous. May it be it is her candid demeanour in the video, or her friendly gesture when everyone is surrounded by negative and fake news on social media, she has definitely gained some ardent followers.
Mahawar’s video proved to be a source of inspiration for memes, tweets and mashup videos, often with hilarious results. One of these videos combines her line with Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra’s equally absurd “Namaste, biscuit khao” dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Statistics show that 48 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. In this quagmire, why Somvati has become popular remains as mysterious as the popularity of Dhinchak Pooja or the Pen Pineapple Apple Pen guy.
Probably, it is just the Tea Effect of our country.
