The paan which people eat is a combination of different things. The paan leaf or betel leaf is poisonous to a certain extent, if consumed directly it will be many times potent than coffee, you can stay awake for a longer time. Bit traditional paan before the British came was made up of betel leaf, opium, betel paste called katha which is alkaline and choona,or chalk and crunched betel nuts which is called chalia/ Opium counter-acted the affect of betel leaf, the chalk was acidic it counter-acted the affected the affect of the alkaline betel paste which was alkaline. The paan was made on the principles of Hikmat. After occupying India, the British set their greedy eyes on China. They wanted to export something in return for tea. The tea from China was harmless but extremely popular. The British banned the opium from its use in Paan and replaced it with tobacco from the USA. The opium began to be forced on the Chinese, which never a tradition of consuming Paan. The opium resulted in wars...
My reactions and impressions about Pakistan and some other issues which interest me in particular. Many of the things I have written never see the light of day here because of excessive restrictions and outlandish censorship.