Catastrophic usage of kettles in the Blue City

 WE ARE STAYING IN a charming guest house in the heart of the old part of  Jodhpur (the aptly named ‘Blue City’) in Rajasthan.  Our comfortable bedroom is supplied with an electric kettle, tea bags, and instant coffee sachets. However, unlike many places where we have stayed all over the world, there are no sachets of powdered milk.

 

One morning while enjoying breakfast on the roof, we chatted with Mr Munni, the owner of the guest house.  He told us that he was about to add other ‘goodies’ to the rooms, including toothbrushes, fruit, and snacks.

 When we asked him why there were no milk powder sachets, he told us the reason. Normally,  when making a hot beverage with milk powder, hot water is poured from the kettle into a cup  which already contains a teabag or coffee powder along with the milk powder.

 

But things can go wrong as Mr Munni has discovered. He has found that some of his Indian guests were putting water and the milk powder INTO the kettle, and then boiling this mixture.  This wrecks the kettle. He told us that since he opened the guest house a few years ago,  he has had to replace 50 kettles because of ignorance about the correct use of milk powder.

 

So, this is why Mr Munni no longer provides his guest rooms with powdered milk. On reflection, most Indians probably do not have electric kettles to make tea in their homes. When they make tea, they usually use a saucepan and boil the tea together with fresh milk and water.

PS we have stayed in many places in India, but this is the first time we have encountered this kind of kettle problem!