Sonya is full of laughter and smiles. She’s all warm heart and light spirit. The mosquitos by her house love to bite me, and I have a series of nasty red bumps all up the side of my leg. She catches me swatting at them, and rushes over with a wet cloth for me to put over my legs. I’m not really sure what that’s supposed to accomplish, but it’s cool and soothing and provides another barrier between me and the mosquitos.
Giggling, she scampers off to the kitchen, where she dictates her chai recipe to me.
This is how Sonya makes chai:
First, take small pinches of the following spices:
- Cardamom pods
- fennel seeds
- cloves
- black peppercorns
Grind them as finely as possible and place them into boiling water.
Add black tea leaves
And some sugar
(“Only a little. Ok a little more because you are soooo sweet!” she says, pouring a ton of sugar in the water)
She allows the tea to boil a few minutes and then turns off the heat. She adds the milk last, fresh from her family’s cow. She strains the tea, and hands it to me in a small porcelain tea cup.
When I first met Sonya, her English was choppy but fearless. She’d laugh at herself when she couldn’t find the words. Now, still punctuated with laughter, she explains entire paragraphs of thoughts to me. It is uniquely her language.
She tries to teach me Hindi. Little phrases repeating over and over again until I get the intonation correct or at least close enough. She claps excitedly when I remember things from previous lessons.
I want to be fearless like her, strong in her small stature, bold but not offensive. All the girls instantly become her sisters. She teaches us how to bollywood dance, some of the boys teach her how to dougie. Her father looks on, and for a moment I’m concerned that he doesn’t approve. But he’s got a big smile on his face as he watches her with her new Western friends, chatting away in English.
“He wants me to learn.” She explains.
Sonya follows us out to the main road, and everyone hugs her goodbye. She runs after the cars a little ways, blowing kisses in our direction.