Summary of Tea from Assam NCERT Class 10
About the author: Arup Kumar Datta is an Indian writer and journalist based out of Guwahati in Assam.
Introduction to story: Pranjol and Rajvir are going to Pranjol’s home in Assam during summer vacation and Pranjol’s father is the manager of a tea garden in Upper Assam.
SUMMARY OF TEA FROM ASSAM
Pranjol and Rajvir are travelling by train and having a conversation, where Rajvir tells that over eighty thousand cups of tea is drunk in the world in a single day. Pranjol has been born and brought up on a plantation so he is not as excited as Rajvir who has never experienced this before. Assam has the largest concentration of plantations in the world. Pranjol tells Rajvir that the actual origin of the tea is unknown to all but there are many legends regarding it that follow. He first describes a Chinese legend that claims to discover the origin of tea.
A Chinese emperor was boiling water before drinking it and one day a few leaves of the twigs burning under the pot fell into the water and it gave that a delicious flavour, these were said to be tea leaves and that’s how according to the Chinese legend tea was discovered. The other legend that Rajvir narrates is an Indian legend, Bodhidharma an ancient Buddhist ascetic cut of his eyelids as he felt sleepy during meditations so now ten tea plants grew out of eyelids and the leaves of these plants when were put in the hot water and drunk kept sleepiness away.
Further he says that tea was first drunk in China in 2700 B.C and the words ‘Chai’ and ‘Chini‘are in fact Chinese words. In the sixteenth century tea came to Europe and was used as medicine. Pranjol’s parents were waiting for him at the station and they drived towardsDhekiabari a tea garden that was managed by Pranjol’s father, there Rajvir noticed acres of tea bushes and people with their bamboo baskets. Rajvir confirms from Panjol’s father if this was the second flush and this lasts from May to July and Mr. Barua seemed to be impressed by his knowledge upon this. Rajvir further exclaimed that there is a lot more that he wants to learn.