Cuppa chai, and a tale of two steaming Dollys
Amul is known for its wide range of products — and for its witty ads featuring the iconic Amul Girl. Last week, it came up with another smashing one that got us chortling — 'Chaicrosoft!' with the tagline 'Gatesway to taste!' It showed an Amul-ised Bill Gates and by-now celebrity roadside tea-seller from Nagpur, Sunil Patil, a.k.a. Dolly Chaiwala.
Gates crossed paths with Dolly during his recent visit to India to attend the pre-wedding festivities of Anant Ambani. Passing through Nagpur, he was taken to the best-known chai cart on Ravindra Nath Tagore Marg. With his signature style of brewing and vending tea from his mobile unit, his funky glasses, chains and accessories — not to mention his style-bhai enthusiasm for his craft — Dolly has some 1.5 mn followers on Instagram. He must have added at least a few thousands more to his kitty after Bill from Washington state shared the by-now famous video of his visit to Dolly Ki Tapri last week.
Dolly's chai is reportedly a concoction of tea leaves, milk, cardamom, and crushed ginger. Nothing too special about that — except the stylish way he serves it. He pours the milk into the saucepan with a flourish and then shuffles cups before handing them to customers. His fashion sense and antics seem to be inspired by Turkish meat artist superstar Salt Bae (born Nusret Gokce), whose technique for preparing, seasoning and serving meat in his restaurants across the world wowed the likes of Maradona and Devid Beckham. And it clearly works for Dolly.
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