Where is our tea?
Since childhood I am well aware of Sylhet's prominence as 'A land of a bud and two leaves', which refers to the tea, of course. We all know how tea is embedded in our Bengali culture and heritage. No meal, conversation and hospitality is complete without this hot beverage. It also plays an important part in earning valuable foreign currency for our country by being exported. Right?
But which country exactly is our tea exported to? The British are one of the leading tea drinking nations in the world. Living in London, I am yet to see the name of our country in any of the British tea brands, let alone Sylhet. How is it possible? There are 'Assam', 'Darjeeling' and 'Ceylon' tea among the leading subcontinental tea varieties but no mention of Sylhet in sight! In fact, there are 'English breakfast', 'Earl Grey' and 'Lady Grey' among the leading tea brands, all connected to the British colonial past. Yes, the British played a major role in developing the tea industry in the subcontinent. But isn't it about time our country had some fruit of the labour which is long overdue through marketing which the British are claiming by processing and packaging the tea?
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