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Gallery|Arts and Culture

Kolkata’s age old tradition of ‘bhar’ clay cups of tea

No one know how long the tradition of environmentally friendly clay cups can resist the onslaught of cheap plastic.

Bhar, small cups made of clay, are a traditional, all-natural alternative to disposable cups of paper or plastic. They have disappeared from most parts of India, but tea vendors on the streets of Kolkata still use them. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
By Jenny Gustafsson and Karim Mostafa
Published On 26 Oct 201626 Oct 2016
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Ask anyone on the streets of Kolkata how to have the best cup of tea, and the answer will include the word “bhar”. Bhar are small, handmade cups made of clay used for serving the sweet, milky tea that is sold on the streets all over India. There was a time when the clay cups were everywhere as well: at every railway station, street corner or shady spot underneath a tree. But plastic has rapidly replaced the clay.

But there is one place, Kolkata, India’s former capital and a place that stubbornly keeps one foot in the past, where the tradition has been preserved. Tea drinkers here, swear by the superiority of the clay cup. The clay, they say, gives the tea a rich and earthy flavour. It brings a ceremonial ending to each cup of tea as well. When the tea is finished, the bhar are customary thrown and crushed to pieces on the ground.

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The bhar, like small pieces of disposable art, are bearers of the age-old Bengali tradition of clay-pot making. Each cup is made by hand, from clay dug out of the Ganges river. Communities of potters, who have maintained the craft for centuries, sell them to tea vendors across the city, who operate their stalls from dawn until the late hours of evening.

But Kolkata is not immune to plastic and paper. Ready-made cups are cheaper and easier to handle, so tea vendors can sell them for a rupee or two less than the bhar. For now, many stick to serving tea from the environmentally friendly clay cups, but no one know for how long the tradition will continue.

The cups are made entirely by hand, from the digging up of the clay from the river, to the sculpting of the small, delicate cups, which are baked on an open fire. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
Many of Kolkata’s clay artisans work together, sharing the space of their homes. Aream Prajapatty, Pechan Prajapatty and Shaher Prajapatty are all related, and live next to each other in Ultadanga, a suburb in northern Kolkata. Shaher Prajapatty, the grandfather, is 90 years old but still works. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
The Prajapatty family live in a house with two back rooms and a big open space where they work. The grandparents, both over 100 years in age, moved to Kolkata from Uttar Pradesh in northwestern India, bringing their profession with them. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
Bhar making is an age-old craft, found across many parts of India. The cup has various names in different places, and styles and designs vary. In Kolkata and all across the Bengal, clay and terracotta has been used in art and architecture throughout history. It is still favoured for many household utensils, including pots, jars and pitchers. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
The houses in the riverside neighbourhood Ultadanga are all built closely together. The families who live here are all potters, and belong to the kumbhakar or kumhar caste, who traditionally work in this profession. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
The clay, called 'gangamati', is dug up from the Ganges river and arrives each day via lorry or boat. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
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One of the older potters in Ultadanga, who opted not to give her name, places cup after cup carefully in expanding circles, before lighting the fire underneath them for the baking process. Making bhar is a communal work, and many people are involved in the process. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
In most of India, plastic and paper have replaced clay. In 2004, India’s then-railway minister, Lalu Prasad, tried to ban plastic cups on the country’s trains, but the attempt failed. Littering, not least by plastic, remains a serious problem in India. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
Rajinadar Prajapatty, one of the bhar makers in Ultadanga, pauses to drink a cup of tea. Bhar is more than an item, says Diti Mookherjee, an environmentalist working to increase the use of bhar in Kolkata. 'It captures people's culture and traditions. Plastic comes from factories but bhar come from people, from the land where we live. We need these kinds of products to connect us to the earth and to life around us,' she says. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
Ajay, one of the children living in Ultadanga, is playing in the street. Many kids will follow in their parents' footsteps, and grow up to work with pottery and clay. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
The children of Pechan Prajapatty all go to an English medium school, which is considered to be better than government schools, offering a private tutor who makes weekly house visits. This education costs 3,400 rupees ($51) a month, more than the family can afford from making bhar, so Pechan Prajapatty works as a driver as well. 'I don't want my children to do this work, I want them to have an education and the opportunity to choose,' he says. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
Gita Dave, one of the potters in Ultadanga, stands at the entrance to her house. Up to 30-40 families lived in the area before, but after the neighbours complained about the smoke, only 15 have remained. The others have moved to find other places to live and work. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
Tea is an essential part of most people's lives in Kolkata and all across India. Many stop for a quick cup several times a day. The country's countless street tea vendors, chai wallahs, serve hot, sweet tea for only a couple of rupees per cup. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]
Adjaj Kumar, an employee at the luxurious Taj Bengal hotel in Kolkata, drinks tea at the street stall outside the hotel. 'I come here several times a day, the tea breaks are very important to me. Drinking tea from plastic? No, I don't. It destroys the taste and the experience,' he says. [Karim Mostafa/Al Jazeera]

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