Tea! Aha!
Let me start with 2 stories:
I was in Vizag visiting some people and they offered me a
cup of tea. The tea was well boiled with lot of milk and sugar and little water
which was added more as an apology than anything else. The tea was served in a
big cup; it was thick brownish-whitish in colour and had a layer of malai on
top of it. It smelt just like buffalo milk! I couldn’t master the courage of
sipping more than once; but kept holding the cup all the time so that I don’t offend
the host. Then the dreaded question came: “how is the tea?” “mmmm... yeah it’s
nice... I just don’t drink tea like this” I managed to answer. “Oh! You like
those light teas is it? Well, that can’t be considered real tea, isn’t?” That
was 10 years back.
Last month I was in Darjeeling for a vacation with my
parents. The first think that catches anyone’s eye as soon as they enter Doors
or Darjeeling are the lush green tea gardens. The cold air of the area carries
with it the sweet aroma of Darjeeling tea and creates an unending urge of
sitting on an arm chair and sipping a hot cup of tea all day long. Walking
through the Makaibari Tea estate, the largest tea estate in the state I couldn’t
but imagine, how this 7000 hectare of tea garden produces the best and the most
expensive teas in the world (even the tea for Queen Elizabeth comes from here).
Our tour guide and driver, Subhas Chhetri, looked at me and said, “The British
gave us tea gardens and taught us how to grow and cultivate tea, but they didn’t
teach us how to make a cup of tea. I feel sad when I see what people do with
their tea leaves!” How true!
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