Amit and Shradha Jain, founders of The Indian Chai, first met in a Yahoo Messenger Chat Room in 2000, and ended up dating for 10 years, before tying the knot. “One day, Shradha proposed to me. I said no. I knew my family would not accept an inter-caste marriage, but we decided to marry only with our parents’ permission,” recalls Amit, to which Shradha quips that she was drawn to his simplicity. “He did not show off to impress girls. He was always himself, a shy nerd. But now he is not the same,” she chuckles.
In time, Amit gave her a ring that she wore regularly. “At a family dinner, my father spotted the ring and asked my mother about it. She told him about us, and my father did not speak to me for a month. I was put under house arrest! He enquired about Amit and then went to his family with a marriage proposal. Both our fathers bonded well on the very first meeting and our marriage was fixed,” says Shradha. They got married on December 04, 2011.
After a Bachelors degree in Commerce, Amit helped in the family business. This continued after marriage, but the tea lover in him always provoked him to do something of his own. “I proposed an idea to Shradha, and The Indian Chai was born in 2016,” adds Amit. “To be honest, I was not very sure about it. But I decided to support him in every way,” says Shradha, a fashion graduate from NIFT, who helped him design the packaging and logo of TIC. “Now, she looks after our social media and online marketing, and I am the back office guy who looks after the creation of the blends,” adds Amit.
The Indian Chai offers types of teas ranging from wellness, herbal, black and organic teas in the form of tea bags, loose tea leaves, and combos. “For us, work is romance. But we always give each other space. If I am helping him in business, he helps me in household chores. You will be amazed to know that I rarely step in the kitchen, while Amit is an amazing cook,” shares Shradha, 33. She defines herself as being head strong and knows what she wants, while Amit can get sceptical at times. “But she forgets things, so I always keep telling her to write things down and hand it to me. Exchanging mail in the morning has become a daily ritual for us now,” shares the 37-year-old.
With good times, come the bad ones. “Like every couple, we also have disagreements. Initially, we used to not talk for days but as the relationship got strong, we realised there’s no point getting into a fight. Now, one of us steps back,” says Shradha. After work hours, both spend time with their 1.5 year-old son Krishay. “Every Saturday night is our movie night, where I cook, and she sits back and enjoys it,” Amit says.
Shradha feels that the pandemic has brought them closer. “We saw a major rise in sales, and in June 2020 we hit the sales benchmark for TIC. And we utilised this time to revamp our website and packaging. We have become more organised and planned for six months in advance. We just launched another venture that deals in all kinds of Ayurvedic herbs and powders.”