Special Chai Time in Bengaluru

by Martin Moodie |
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Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

Now this might just be the best cup of tea I have ever had in an airport food & beverage outlet.

Not just any cup of tea – Masala Chai to be precise. And not just from any airport F&B outlet.

Welcome to Mitti Café, landside at Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru Terminal 1, where the welcome is every bit as warm as the Masala Chai. And where the beverage is simply bursting with goodness that goes far beyond the realms of taste.

It’s one of two Mitti Cafés at T1 (there’s another at T2) operated by Mitti Social Initiatives Foundation, an organisation set up by the extraordinary Alina Alam to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities. I visited it during my recent unexpectedly truncated trip to Bengaluru.

I have told Alina’s and Mitti Café’s story before but I will keep telling it again and again for it is, I believe, the bravest and most wondrous social initiative in the global aviation and travel retail world. For if an airport is to be a showcase for a city’s or nation’s culture, should it not also be a showcase for their values?

Immense credit goes to Bangalore International Airport Limited CEO Hari Marar (pictured below at the inauguration of one of the Mitti Cafés) and his commercial team led by CCO Kenneth Guldbjerg and Vice President Commercial Development Pravat Paikray, who were responsible for introducing Mitti Café into the airport world.

That breakthrough has since been replicated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai and Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, complemented by openings at some of India’s most venerable institutions, including the Supreme Court of India.

I chatted with Duty Manager Nandeesh (pictured centre below) as I sipped my Masala Chai. He didn’t know me or my work but his pride (and that of his colleagues) at my interest in Mitti Café was clear. Nandeesh knows he is part not just of a successful social and commercial enterprise but of a movement.

As the Mitti Café sign says, ‘Special Chai’. Way more special, in fact, than you can possibly imagine. ✈

Promoting the Magic of Abilities: (Above and below) The second Mitti Café outside Terminal 1