Tips to make a refreshing cup of tea

Tea is one of the most popular refreshing drinks across continents. There are various ways of making tea to make tea more interesting for your loved ones. Find out how to make tea, and different flavors of tea quickly.

1)      Normal milk tea

Boil some water. Add milk and bring it to a boil. Add tea leaves and boil till you get the right color or can smell the aroma of the tea. Add sugar, strain it and serve.

2)      Black tea

Boil some water, add some tea leaves (green) to it and keep it aside to settle down. Strain it, add some honey and serve.

3)      Simple Lemon tea

Boil some water, add some tea leaves (green) to it and keep it aside to settle down. Strain it, add some honey and a dash of lemon and serve.

4)      Ice lemon tea

Boil some water with two mint leaves, add some tea leaves (green) to it and keep it aside to settle down. Strain it, add ice cubes, some sugar/sugar syrup and a dash of lemon and serve.

5)      Spice tea

Boil some water with a bay leaf, three to four pieces of black pepper (crushed), and a crushed cardamom pod. Add milk and bring it to a boil. Add tea leaves and boil till you get the right color or can smell the aroma of the spices. Add sugar, strain it and serve.

6)      Milk tea with Ginger

Boil some water with crushed or dried ginger. Add milk and bring it to a boil. Add tea leaves and boil till you get the right color or can smell the aroma of the tea. Add sugar, strain it and serve.

7)      Lemon grass tea

Boil a lemon grass leaf in water. Add some milk and bring it to a boil. Add tea leaves and strain it. Add sugar and serve.

8)      Spice lemon tea

Boil some water with a slice of ginger, crushed black pepper seeds, black salt and sugar. Add tea and boil till you get the color. Add lemon juice and serve.

9)      Rose-petal tea

Boil some water with rose petals. Add green tea and leave it to settle down for some time. Serve without sugar.

10)  Fennel seed tea

Boil some water with fennel seeds. Add milk and bring it to a boil. Add tea leaves and boil till you get the right color or can smell the aroma of the tea. Add sugar, strain it and serve.

If you have time and want to treat your loved one with something special, try your hand on apple-mint tea.

IRCTC or tatkal tickets is a farce now, we are back to station counters and long queues

There is no such thing as the Government or the Private because both are driven by people. It is actually the question of values people live with. A person who looks at government jobs as no work, only money will kill the system. Such people will kill not only the government but also the private space. The best example is Railways, and the IRCTC. The objective behind computerization of ticketing was to facilitate speed booking, ensure transparency and prevent corruption due to the middlemen who hawk for the highest bidders.

IRCTC is a huge failure in terms of speed, transparency and corruption. You will never be able to book your tatkal tickets online during summer and diwali. But this was never the case till 2011 December. You will be able to log into the website 10 mins before 10 am. Moment the clock strikes 10, you are kicked out of the network. This tamasha continues till all the tickets are sold.

Within first 20 minutes you, you will never be able to book a ticket. After 20 mins, you get access which means waitlist on tatkal tickets has started. Now this continues for a week. You will be advised by your friends to go physically to the platform and book tickets. So this phenomena of going back to the counters and waste your productive line in long queues is back.

If you are able to manage a ticket through a broker after paying 700 rupees for it, you will get to know from your fellow passengers that they are also on tatkal tickets, and that they too have got their tatkal tickets from a broker while a few from the station. So where is transparency?

Then don't talk about food in Rajdhani. The tickets are costly but the food portion and quality are unsatisfactory. You get food from companies you have never heard of and the quantity of food is insufficient for an adult. So do not expect quality even if the system is privatized. IRCTC is a major failure.