Chris was a guest at our institution. He had come to train the employees. He had sessions throughout the day.

Chris was fond of Indian chai. So, after his first session, he would come down to the room on the ground floor for his favourite cup of tea.

That day, he waited and waited and waited, but the tea did not come. Highly disappointed, with a very sad face looking downwards, as if he had not met someone he loved, Chris had a snail-like gait towards the room for his next session.

I was very upset that our guest, especially a foreign guest, did not get what he had so badly desired and needed. Many uneasy thoughts crossed my mind - what will this English man think about us, about our system, about our management, about our city, about our culture, about our country...Ufffff...too many draining thoughts. So I decided to find out the why of Chris's cup of tea that never arrived.

The day would have passed normally but for a few unusual twists and turns of events leaving Chris looking for his cup of tea.

The man, who made tea everyday for everyone, was absent. The clerk, who was asked to bring tea for Chris, told the peon to get the tea made and bring it to him. And it was this very day when her husband got himself locked in his own house - something indeed very strange - so she had to rush home leaving the message with the peon. The peon, in turn had to pick up some stationary from the stationary shop, so he passed on the message to the maid who was in the pantry at that point of time. Reminders were sent through another clerk who expressed her helplessness because the maid refused to leave the pantry since she was doing something for someone else there and said that the other maid was expected to make the tea in the absence of the man who made tea for all. So she went and passed on the message to the respected maid. Now when this maid, whose duty it was, was asked why she did not make tea for Chris, she innocently replied with some fear on her face that her immediate boss had given her another responsibility at that time, so her coming to the pantry got delayed.

I learnt this from the senior most office staff who could have taken up the responsibility to ensure that Chris got his cup of tea that day.

I called all of them for a meeting - the agenda being 'A cup of tea for Chris'. Each one had his/her own valid reason. But with a concerned irritation in my voice, I asked, "Whose responsibility was it? How could each one push the task to the other? Why was it that today someone had to run home, someone had to go to the shop, and someone was caught up with her own priority and someone did not bother to see that an important foreign guest had a small desire to enjoy his favourite cup of Indian tea?"

What could be done now that Chris had to go without his cup of tea? I thought I will apologize when I meet him after his session. So, I waited with an unknown apprehension about his reaction.

His second session ended and he walked into my room. As I began to apologize, he said, "O, it is all right. In India, I have had all sorts of experiences, this is only one more added. Don't worry. Let's have lunch now".

Though I had a sigh of relief, somewhere in the back of my mind this incident about 'A Cup of Tea for Chris' set me thinking - how do human beings work - was it shirking of one's responsibility or was it faith that the other person will do what he/ she is asked to do, or was it a genuine difficulty of the day that Chris did not get his cup of tea.

I wonder.

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