Manjushree

What comes to your mind when you hear ‘Manjushree’? Most of you might say, it is the name of a girl.  True, but if I ask you anything more, some with little more imagination might say, ‘name of your best friend, favorite student, first love, so on and so forth! But I am sure, not many would say that it is the name of a tea brand! 

I come from a family of tea lovers.  Both my parents loved tea.  Not just his love for tea, but my father’s enthusiasm in offering tea to friends and relatives was well known.  Whenever a friend or relative passed by our house, he used to invite them for a cup of tea.  My mother was equally enthusiastic in making hot tea and serving the guests.  Not even once did I see my mother unhappy or angry on my father that he kept inviting everyone for tea and that she had to make tea at short notice! Growing up in this environment, me and my brother learnt to make tea at an early age.  My brother-in-law, Mr. Rajendra Bhat, will vouch for the quality of my tea, because whenever I am at Kochi, he comes home asking me to make tea for him and I always oblige wholeheartedly!

During my childhood, packaged branded tea was not very popular (at least in small cities like Cochin).  People used to buy loose tea from retail shops.  There was a Gujarati trader from whom we used to buy tea.  Though I remember him as a fair tall man with a thick moustache, I didn’t know his name.  Everyone called him ‘Setji’, which was a common name for traders belonging to Gujarati and Marwari communities.  His shop was adjacent to his house.  His shop was full of large rectangle boxes made of wooden boards, which were used for transporting tea.  The tea brand that he sold was ‘Manjushree’.  When a customer came, Setji would open the box, fill tea into a polythene cover using a scoop, weigh the same, seal the cover and handover to the customer.  His shop was always filled with the nice aroma of tea.  As time passed, branded tea invaded the market.  Slowly we moved to the supermarket culture, where the customer can pick from a large variety of brands.  Setji lost his business and closed his shop.  Those days, just like any other kid, I never bothered to ask why the tea was called Manjushree.  I had much better things to do in life!  Recently I learnt from Google that the name comes from the estate in which the tea is grown.  Today Manjushree plantations have estates in West Bengal and Assam.  The brand is available for sale in Amazon! 

If nothing else, I inherited the love for tea from my parents.  Till date, I religiously practice what my father used to say, ‘Anytime is teatime’!