Tea Gardens – A Magical Journey

Tea Gardens of India have a charm of their own. A relaxed elegance lost in today's fast pace world. One feels forty years behind time. The aura of the Raj still lingers though a lot has changed.
You enter to a lush carpet of bushes which seems to never end. Green shade trees look on as sentinels standing guard over the fine spread below. You are in a different world. You have left the hustle and bustle of daily life and have entered a world of tranquility. The birds seem to beckon you on, and you are drawn into the serenity. Oh what peace there is in this land of tea? A few workers go by carrying firewood. Their day's work is over and it's time to enjoy the evening with a glass of their favorite handia, a rice wine fermented in clay pots.

A building comes into sight, it is big enough to be an office building but it's quiet. You realize that it is the manager's bungalow. A sprawling structure with huge manicured lawns in every side. It has some other structures in the distance but you can only guess what they are. You drive about half a mile inside the grand gateway to be welcomed by a bearer standing on the verandah. The mem sahib is in but the Bara sahib is in the factory.

The bearer in his pure white uniform runs in to tell mem sahib of your arrival, while you look around aghast at everything you see. The peace and quiet, birds in the bushses singing their songs and the lonely tiger starring at you from the wall where his head had been hung by some British Bara sahib ages past. Suddenly there is a slight noise and the mem sahib comes over to greet you and make you at home in this wilderness. Her beautiful smile is apparent as she majestically asks you to join her in the drawing room.

The drawing room is large and well furnished. You sit in an old chair which has been very well preserved and has an air of elegance and history. You are in a world by itself. Where not too many people have seen or experienced. She makes inquiries about your well being and your family. You wish everyone you know could walk in your shoes right now and take in all you have seen and experienced so far because outside this world people would have difficulty understanding it.

After the formalities are over tea comes in on a tea trolley that shows its grandeur and that of the tea set on it. The set is vibrating a little and it is the most divine jingling you have heard. The tea turns out heavenly, the true nectar of the gods. The sandwiches served with the tea are delicate with cucumbers and tomatoes.

After the tea is over you are invited to see the factory and finally meet with the accused Bara Sahib.