ASSAM TIMES POST
Cheering Cuppa- the Magical Brew is a unique bilingual (English and Assamese) colourful book of compilation of tea quotes of poems, songs, sayings, proverbs, beliefs, speeches, excerpts, etc from all over the world by Dr. Pradip Baruah, a tea researcher of Eastern India with an association with tea for about thirty seven years. The book is result of painstaking effort of the author for almost three decades with collections from top tea growing countries of the world. He is also author of four valuable books in English and Assamese on tea industry of Assam and encyclopedia of Assam. The book is an attempt to present to the tea lovers of the world and the general readers tea from a different perspective of literary world in an attractive international standard of publication from Assam.
Tea is the highest consumed beverage in the world and its consumption is next only to water. Discovered in China about 5,000 years ago in 2,732 BC, the consumption of this beverage made from green leaves harvested and then processed to its final form has spread all over the world. Tea is not only a habit forming beverage of relaxation cherished by millions across the world, it has great medicinal properties proven by various scientific studies and it is now being recognized as a beverage of well being.
Tea has caught imagination of the people, the meditating monks, writers, academicians, politicians, technocrats, bureaucrats, and from common people to the elites. Literature are full of quotations on praise of tea. Noted personalities, may be author, singers, politicians, etc. have all made interesting observations on the beverage, written lyrical verse, prose praising the beverage. In the tea producing countries, the life style of the garden workers, people associated with it, their sorrows and pleasures find expression in the folk songs, poems. The book contains quotes of galaxy of authors, lyricists, celebrities, politicians, proverbs, folk songs and everything on tea collected from all over the world. It has tea quotations from Lu Yu of China, the sage of tea (733-804 AD), English writer, Sydney Smith (1771-1845) and many other writers and lyricists, etc around the world, Japanese chanoyu (Tea ceremony) to Indian personalities former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the present Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and also noted industrialist, Ratan Naval Tata, to name a few.
The production of tea in the world was 5,856.41 million kg, out of which India produced 1,338.63 million kg, and Assam’s production of 691.91 million kg is about 12 per cent of the world and about 52 per cent of India (2018). The small tea growers though started tea growing late, are a major contributor to India’s total tea production with a share touching about half of India’s production, and an estimated one lakh small tea growers exist in Assam who contribute an estimated about 48 per cent to the state’s total production, and it is constantly increasing. Assam being one of the places of origin of tea has the unique quality and liquoring characteristics of black tea recognized as the best in the world.
The bilingual book of tea quotes has an equally attractive Assamese section too. The life style of the tea garden workers of Assam is reflected in their folk songs jhumoir, and the book contains a good collection of them too in the Assamese part. The renowned singer and lyricist of Assam, Bharatratna Dr. Bhupen Hazarika’s numerous touching songs on tea garden are well collected in the book besides songs and poems of noted Assamese litterateurs. Existence of any other such book in the world is not known. THE MAGICAL BREW was released by the Governor of Assam Prof Jagdish Mukhiji at Raj Bhavan, Guwahati, today
