Every city in India is at war with its chai tapris, and every city is losing. Thank god.
The tapri survives demolition drives, gentrification and the arrival of a café that charges 300 rupees for 'artisanal masala chai'. It survives because it does something no franchise can: it lets you stand there, unbothered, for exactly as long as you need.
At the tapri, the CEO's driver and the CEO drink the same cutting.
Urban planners talk about 'third places' like they invented them. India had them all along, balanced on a kerosene stove, three rupees a cup.