Chai, the way my mother argued about it

Every family in India has a chai recipe and every family is wrong except yours. Here is mine, which is my mother's, which she defended against my father for forty-one years.

For two cups: one cup water, one cup milk. Bring the water up with a thumb of ginger, crushed (not grated, she was very firm), four green cardamom pods cracked open, a small piece of cinnamon, two cloves and three black peppercorns. Add two spoons of strong Assam and a few tulsi leaves from the pot on the windowsill. Pour in the milk and let it rise three times, pulling it off the heat each time before it boils over. Sugar to taste, then strain.

The first small cup goes to the little Krishna on my puja shelf. He has never once complained about the ginger. My father, on the other hand...