Fly in the Chai

I’ve been waiting for “Fly in the Chai” and I finally found it in the library today. This is perhaps one of the most light-hearted takes on the love for chai!

No, this book isn’t the typical intergenerational-let’s-make-chai-together books, nor does it dwell on the anatomical features of a fly. Instead, Zenia and Chaaya take you on a morning walk with Nanu and introduce you to the different greetings in India: Kem Chho, Shuprobhaat, Sat-Sri-Akal, As-Salaam-Alaikum (“Namaste” isn’t the only one – in my language, namaste doesn’t even exist!) and finally they reach the tea stall where in a laugh-out-loud moment, a tea-loving-fly dives straight into Nanu’s chai! Read and find out what happens next!

My favourite spread is the one where the fly introduces itself (with a play on the words “Makhi-Inder” – makkhi is the Hindi word for a fly)! This book reminded me of the popular series Fly-Guy but with an Indian twist!

On a side note, thank you Zenia for the perfectly transliterated greetings, especially the long and short a’s and digraphs and for not changing the spellings to suit the western tongue!