There I was, waiting for my flight at Kochi International airport, the world’s first airport fully powered by solar energy, when something completely off-grid happened. I was served tea in a copper cup and dabara. For a second, I thought I had time-travelled. Should I look around for my grandmother, yelling at someone for not boiling the milk twice?
Back in her day, this tea would’ve simmered over a firewood stove, in a well-loved copper pot that had seen more chai than some people see in a lifetime. Today, that same copper glint caught the light, not from a village courtyard, but from solar panels powering conveyor belts and charging stations.
It was surreal. Surrounded by touchscreen check-ins, automated announcements, and power-saving LEDs, there sat my tea, old-school, no nonsense, and possibly judging my beverage preferences these days.
It felt like tradition had sneaked into the future through a side door… wearing a mundu and humming an old Malayalam tune.
In that moment, sipping hot tea from cold copper, I realised something: innovation isn’t always about forgetting the past. Sometimes, it’s about circling back to it; just with a better carbon footprint.
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