International Tea Day: How this brew was made popular in literature

The Hitchhikerrsquos Guide to the Galaxy DOUGLAS Adams sneaks in his fascination for tea through an episode in the iconic book Arthur Dent yearns for a cup of tea on the spaceship to take a moment of respite Instead he gets a liquid from the NutriMatic drink dispenser which is nothing like teaDouglas Adams Pic courtesyOpen CultureThere is humour in witnessing Dent try to reason with the machine sitting it down and explaining how the leaves come from India Ceylon and China All he ends up getting despite his best efforts is an undrinkable liquid from the machine that boasts of being able to produce any drink possibleIrrfan Khan and Tabu in a still from the movie The NamesakeThe Namesake Tea connects the Ganguli family in Jhumpa Lahirirsquos classic to home Ashima and Ashoke are immigrants in the US and find comfort in sharing a thermos of tea on a bench outside the MIT campus The two also bond with Bengali acquaintances abroad over shared cups of Lopchu tea which makes friendships easy While their son Gogol has no particular fondness for it earlier hersquos later found drinking tea with Moushumi his wife Gogol constantly struggles to find a sense of belongingness and tea becomes a quiet symbol that reflects his wrestle with a hyphenated identityAmbaiDeath of a Sarus Crane Tamil writer Ambairsquos detective Sudha Gupta begins her day with a cup of cinnamon tea She drinks from a coffee mug with a picture of a magnifying glass gifted to her by her daughter No case is solved without her tea Several exchanges and revelations take place over several cups No matter how many Sudha Gupta stories you read you will always encounter Ambairsquos endearing indulgence in detailing her detectiversquos routine of bringing the kettle to a boil and adding a bag of cinnamon tea to it before diving into the caseGeorge Orwell Pics courtesyWikimedia CommonsA Nice Cup of Tea George Orwellrsquos essay is a delightful read on what he considers to be his golden rules of making tea He gives us 11 points which include the tea leaves to be used the ideal container to boil as well as to drink in stirring or shaking the pot milk and sugar quantities among other things This makes for an interesting read alongside the rules for Earl Grey Tea written by Douglas Adams Read both to see which ones you find yourself nodding along toShona PatelTeatime for the Firefly Drawing on her own experience of being raised on a remote tea plantation in Assam Shona Patel gives us a story from the tea gardens of north India in the 1940s The protagonist Layla marries the Oxfordeducated Manik Deb who has taken up a managerial role at one such plantation in Assam He is one of the earliest Indians to have been assigned this role Most others live the life of tea planters under colonial rule Patel examines the economic exploitation and everyday challenges of the planters through the eyes of Layla and Manik Couple this with Mulk Raj Anandrsquos Two Leaves and a BudOscar WildeThe Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde is a master of writing scenes that navigate precarious situations over tea During a tea service in the play one of the characters Cecily makes a bad cup of tea for Gwendolen She deliberately adds four lumps of sugar and cuts a big slice of cake despite Gwendolenrsquos refusal of the offer The demeanour of the two characters remains poised but there is tension in the air Their jealousy towards each other does not go unnoticed Tea service becomes an excellent tool that Wilde uses to portray appearances kept by folks of the Victorian eraAvailable All titles at leading bookstores and estoresAlso Watch Citybased writer Hussain Haidryrsquos performance of his poem Chai CoffeeLog on to YouTubeatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params