Page 2 - LN1- NOTES & SUMMARY

throughout the world” while Pranjol remains surprised on listening to it. Indeed,
tea is a popular beverage all over the world.

Billowing- moving or flowing outwards
Concentration- cluster
As the train was moving, next Rajvir saw was an ugly looking building with
smoke coming out of it. It was a tea garden! Rajvir got excited but Pranjol who
had seen all of it during his childhood didn’t match up to his friend’s level of
enthusiasm. Pranjol tells him that they have entered Assam, which is known as
the ‘tea country’. The state has the maximum number of tea plantations in the
world.

Before visiting the Tea country, Rajvir read a lot about tea and how it was
discovered. There were numerous theories and one of which was about a
Chinese Emperor who had a habit of drinking boiled water. Once upon a time
when he was boiling that water, few leaves fell into it and it tasted delicious. It
is said that those leaves were tea leaves.

Ascetic- characterized by severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of
indulgence, typically for religious reasons.
Banished- get rid of

On being asked by Pranjol, Rajvir told another story about an Indian legend
named Bodhidharma. He was a Buddhist monk who had cut his eyelids because
he used to feel sleepy while meditating. Eventually, tea plants grew out of his
eyelids which upon consuming after boiling with water helped in getting rid of
sleep. Further, Rajvir highlighted a few facts that stated that tea dates back to
2700 B.C. and was first consumed in China. All such words such as ‘chai and
‘chini’ have originated from Chinese language. Tea was introduced to Europe
quite late- in the sixteenth century where it was considered to have medicinal
properties.