TEA NANNY The origin of India's tea story

In January, the North Eastern Tea Association launched an year-long celebration to commemorate 200 years of Assam tea. For this is where the story of India's tea begins, with one man who features as a key player, and who, by virtue of being Indian and Assamese, allows us to claim our part in the story. Maniram Dutta Barua, a British East India company employee who eventually rebelled and is credited as India's first commercial tea planter.

- Aravinda Anantharaman

In 1823, Barua would have been a 17-year-old living in Bengal. Born into a family of Assamese aristocrats, his family had fled to Bengal following the Burmese invasion in 1817. Six years later, they returned home. The Anglo-Burmese war was on and the British won control of Assam. Some say Barua used his knowledge of the lay of the land to lead the British army into Guwahati.