Hoshangabad to Pachmarhi, eight chai stops, each a different leaf, milk, masala. The road itself is the experience.
The road up into the Satpura hills passes a stall at roughly the interval at which you next want one. The tea is boiled with the milk, sweetened past argument, and handed over in a glass too hot to hold for the first minute.
The stops are the journey. Pachmarhi at the top is Madhya Pradesh's only hill station, a quiet cantonment town set in a saucer of sandstone gorges, caves and waterfalls.
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A British-era cottage at the Pachmarhi end of the drive.
