The Tea Leaves' Journey,,

I was returning from the factory of the Tea Estate that I work in, and the words were already forming, For the first time, I had an idea of what I was about to attempt to put down, in today's blog. In the factory, for the first time, I was taken through the intricate albeit precise process that goes into providing many of us with one of life's gretest pleasures, a hot steaming cup of tea. From the onset, till they are packed into bags, the tea leaves go through a lot of crushing, cutting, drying, rolling, and sorting, a lot of the process involving strainers of varying mesh, and the tea leaves have to pass through them before they are strained for a final tme, into our cups. The mesh of the strainers are responsible for the accurate grading, sorting and pricing of what was once the pride of the entire nation, 'Assam Tea'. This tea, even though, still popular with a lot of people, all over the country, is fast losing many of its International admirers, to the encroachment by Vietnamese,/ Sri-Lankan tea.

As I was going through the factory, I could'nt help but wonder, what a perpetual hub of activity it was, the machines never stopping for more than a few hours, till November, when the so-called season ends. Tea gardens are considered to be laid back, sleepy places, this factory soon dispells that particular fallacy. It is an untiring, relentless and precise process these people strictly keep an eye on, that results in a great cup of tea, and in this whole process, small, unprecedented, glitches can ruin a good produce. which merits the eagle-eye. On my way back, I could see the Hospital from a-far, and what a contrast it was, quiet, deserted and full of the sounds that make up an early spring night, which is exactly the way it should be. This doesn't mean I am a lazy lay-about, its just that too much of an activity in the hospitals does not signify a happy occassion, the only people who frequent these premises are the sick, ill and suffering, and an increase in the number of these people, is hardly desirable, right?

I will never be the owner of a flourishing nursing home, with an attitude like this, I know,,,,but you know what? I am happy just the way I am,

Till next time,, Cheers (to a cup of tea).