The Portuguese came to India searching for spices. The British went one better and came here looking only to make money. Economics alone maps empires and economics took many places in India out of the wilderness in which they happily minded their own lack of business opportunities, and plonked them onto the map of the British Empire.
One such place is Palampur in the Kangra Valley, criss-crossed by streams and brooks which made Palampur pulum is the pahari word for water ideal for tea plantation. So obsessed were the British by the aroma of this leaf of Chinese origin that they began to plant tea bushes wherever land was suitable. The fame of Palampur lies in this British desire to have more tea than they could drink and export the rest back to a thirsting Europe.
The gentle slopes of Palampur do indeed produce a superior variety that is famous world over as Kangra Valley Tea under fancy brands like Malhar, Darbari, Bageshwari and Rahaar all names of classical Indian ragas. You can buy some in the markets of the town, or at the Tea Cooperative Society's processing plant, which you will pass as you drive into town.
To seduce you completely as you drive down the town's main road, the Dhauladhar Mountains rise dramatically just beyond Palampur, heralding your entry into the Tea County of Himachal.