Nick Flittner
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| Nick with daughter Anna and son James |
A classic Indian Tea Chest came into my life on a sunny Tasmanian
morning in 2016. It was Friday January 1st 2016. I bought it off the
internet. I liked the look of it – I thought it would look good in my old
Victorian house in Launceston, the main city in northern Tasmania, which is the
smallest state of Australia.
It was a standard Tea Chest, the sort commonly
used for moving house years ago. My brother-in-law, a removalist, hated these
chests – they had metal strips along the edges which often caused cuts and
tears, and the owners always filled them too full so they were too heavy to
pick up. But I liked this Tea Chest – there was large stencilled lettering on
every side. The man I bought it from, John, didn’t know much about it other
than that he had bought it in September 2015 from someone in Longford, a small
town about 15 minutes away from Launceston.
From the lettering I quickly learned that this
Tea Chest came from Assam, and it was called Bordubi. I didn’t know what that
meant, or even where Assam was, other than in India somewhere. I went back to
the internet and discovered that Assam is a region in northern Indian where a
lot of tea comes from. And Bordubi is a tea estate there. I couldn’t find much
information, but I came across a photograph of the manager’s house on the
Bordubi Estate, on a website run by a lady called Shona Patel. I e-mailed her…
Hello Shona - I've just bought an old Indian tea chest, and it is
covered in writing. It's from Bordubi, and has a number - C06047B. On one side
it says It Pays To Buy Good Tea! It has the trader's (I assume - or grower's?)
name on it - George Williamson (Assam) Ltd, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Guwahati
781001.
I did a search on Bordubi and it brought me to your website. Can you tell me anything about Bordubi - does it still grow tea? Have you been there? What was/is it like?
I'm intrigued. I live in Launceston, Tasmania most of the time and sometimes in London. Or elsewhere. I've never been to India. That is high on my wishlist. In the meantime I have a little touch of India in my living room!
Hope to hear from you soon.
I did a search on Bordubi and it brought me to your website. Can you tell me anything about Bordubi - does it still grow tea? Have you been there? What was/is it like?
I'm intrigued. I live in Launceston, Tasmania most of the time and sometimes in London. Or elsewhere. I've never been to India. That is high on my wishlist. In the meantime I have a little touch of India in my living room!
Hope to hear from you soon.
And I did – Shona wrote back immediately:
Hi there Nick,
Yes I am familiar with Bordubi Tea Estate and am friends with the
current manager and his wife. Bordubi is located in the Tinsukia district of
upper Assam and makes very fine Assam Tea. It is a very beautiful tea estate.
Here is a photo of the bungalow:
Let me know how else I can assist you!
Happy New Year!
And from there I was put in touch with Sarita Dasgupta who lived
on the Bordubi Estate with her husband Ramanuj, who was the manager there.
Sarita told me all about Bordubi, and tea, and sent me photos of the people who
probably made the Tea Chest. We weren’t able to discover how the Tea Chest came
to Tasmania because the company records of the time were no longer available, but
it seems likely that the Tea Chest was sent to England full of Bordubi tea,
from where it made its way around the world probably as a packing crate for
house removals. There is hand writing on the side saying ‘breakable ornaments.’
This is the letting on the sides of the Tea Chest:
Bordubi C06047B George Williamson (Assam) Ltd Mahatma Gandhi Road, Guwahati 781001.
It Pays To Buy Good Tea
Indian Tea 4-1991
Bordubi C06047B (with MM stamped above)
And details of the shipment on the bottom - Gross weight 45.6kg
Nett weight 41.0kg
I have kept in touch with both Shona and Sarita and I now consider
them friends. Sarita’s husband Ramanuj sent me a bag of Bordubi tea, some of
which I put on the bottom of the Tea Chest. It is a Tea Chest once more!
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| The opening |
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| Putting Bordubi tea in the tea chest!
I am delighted to say that I will be meeting
both Shona and Sarita this year in person, which I am very excited about. We
are all authors and have kept up a regular correspondence since meeting over
the internet thanks to the Tea Chest from Bordubi. I have a renewed interest in
tea, and hope to visit India one day and have a look at the plantations myself.
Perhaps even get to Bordubi, the home of my Tea Chest where fine Assam tea is
grown.
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