We are delighted to bring you the first of Danny Pariat's stories of his life in tea. The stories that appear here on Indian Chai Stories are taken from the Koi-Hai website (please click on the name to go to the page) with the author's permission.
Koi-Hai 'has been created as a free service for those, irrespective of nationality, who lived and worked in North East India in the Tea Industry, Ferry Service, Oil Industry, ITA Administration, ITA Research at Tocklai, etc' - Editor
by Danny Pariat
Hamish Pirie, my first manager, was from Aberdeen, Scotland -- a very fine person who worked you hard but was always fair. He lived up to the Scottish reputation of having a fiery temper and many a time our head clerk was the butt of his anger (deservedly so, of course)!
The head clerk was always cool and calm in the face of blatant mistakes and one day, unable to take it anymore, Hamish said, ''Head Clerk, this office should be burnt''.
''Good idea Sir'' replied the Head Clerk.
Hamish then continued, ''and preferably with you in the middle of it'' !!
"Aah, very very good idea, Sir", nonchalantly replied the tried and tested Head Clerk.
Hamish Pirie was very fond of golf but was never a great golfer as such. Once, during a Doom Dooma club meet we were all at the bar telling stories and then singing away - and before we knew it, dawn was breaking and the sun was coming through. Hamish was playing golf and the tee off was very early, in fact he went straight from the bar to the tee -- we were feeling sorry for him knowing that his golf would be terrible but lo and behold, he played his best golf and won the tournament !!!! Hamish thought he had found the secret to success in golf and from that day on, made sure he always had a very late night before a golf match !!!
I remember the first story that Hamish told me soon after I had joined. This was regarding a planter at Bargang whose wife was expecting, and it being close to the time, she was being transported to Tezpur by car. Alas, while crossing the Bhorelli river by ferry ( no bridges then and the crossing takes quite a while) the Mrs. could not wait anymore and, with the help of the medical staff in attendance, she delivered a healthy baby boy! As he was born 'on' the river, the boy's middle name was given as Bhorelli -- Peter Bhorelli McQueen.
Coming back to my manager, his wife, who was expecting, was heading off to Calcutta for the delivery -- she was going by plane and her husband warned her that no matter what happened she was not to deliver on the aircraft -- she should hold on till they got to Calcutta.
Puzzled, she asked him why --- remember the McQueens of Bargang, he said, we don't want our child named after the plane you are flying in.
Name of the aircraft?? any guesses?? The Fokker Friendship !!!!
Hamish Pirie passed away many years ago and I write this as my way of saying Salaam to him -- he was a good human being and I learnt a lot from him. His wife lives in Aberdeen with her daughter (oh, yes her mum waited till they got to Calcutta).
Next, a story told to Danny Pariat by the late Peter Swer:
Hippies at Itakhooli!
Peter Swer was a very fine gentleman with many a story to tell and this is one of his many stories told to me when he was manager Itakhooli in the Tingri district.
One hot summer day Peter was surprised by a foreigner hippie couple when they landed up at Itakhooli with no prior notice. Apparently they had met one of Peter's friends in Delhi and when he heard that they were going to Assam to have a look at the tea gardens he had advised them that they should visit his good friend Peter at Itakhooli.
Peter being Peter welcomed them and told them to make themselves at home( the family was away and he was alone). The next morning, after breakfast, Peter went off on his kamjari after telling the hippie couple to feel free to use the swimming pool.
After his rounds of the garden Peter made his way to the office for some paper work and as he settled in his seat he got a bit worried when he looked out of the window and saw his head bearer running helter-skelter towards the manager's office. He got up and met the highly ruffled bearer at the verandah to find out what the kerfuffle was about. The bearer, out of breath, was urging his burra saab to quickly make his way to the bungalow though he would not say what the bother was all about, and highly puzzled, Peter thought he had better go and have a 'dekho'.
As he approached the bungalow, his anxiety increased when he saw that the plucking had stopped and that most of the pluckers were milling around one side of the bungalow, desperately trying to have a peek through the hedge!
As he got closer the mystery was resolved. What had happened was that, it being a hot day,the hippie couple,seeing the beautiful sparkling water in the swimming pool, had decided to swim in the nude and from time to time they came out of the pool to lie by its side, not knowing that they were causing chaos with the plucking challans plucking just around the bungalow. Peter,with his diplomatic tact, managed to get the couple inside and was very relieved when they departed the next day.
Meet the writer:
Born and brought up in Shillong, I graduated in Bsc in 1971 and soon after, i.e. Feb 1972, had joined at Koomsong T.E. in Doom Dooma. I married my girl from Shillong and we have two lovely daughters - Deanna is a doctor in the U.K. and Janice, author/writer, art critic, poet is teaching at a university near Delhi.
My work places varied between the south and north bank - started at Koomsong, then four years later went across to Pertabghur near Bishnauth Charali, back to Moabund near Jorhat from where my actings started then back for my first billet at Harchurah. Thereafter worked at Seajuli,Rupajuli, Margherita and Pertabghur. I finally called it a day in December 2004 and made it back home just before Christmas.
Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories!
If you've ever visited a tea garden or lived in one, or if you have a good friend who did, you would have heard some absolutely improbable stories! You will meet many storytellers here at Indian Chai Stories, and they are almost all from the world of tea gardens: planters, memsaabs, baby and baba log. Each of our contributors has a really good story to tell - don't lose any time before you start reading them!
Do you have a chai story of your own to share? Send it to me here, please : indianchaistories@gmail.com. My name is Gowri Mohanakrishnan and I'm a tea planter's wife. I started this blog because one of the things that I wouldn't want us to lose in a fast changing world is the tea story - a story always told with great seriousness, no matter how funny - always true (always), maybe a tall tale, long, or short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull. The blog is updated every two to three days. You will find yourself transported to another world! Happy reading! Cheers to the spirit of Indian Tea!
ADD THIS LINK TO YOUR FAVOURITES : https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/Indian Chai Stories
Koi-Hai 'has been created as a free service for those, irrespective of nationality, who lived and worked in North East India in the Tea Industry, Ferry Service, Oil Industry, ITA Administration, ITA Research at Tocklai, etc' - Editor
by Danny Pariat
Hamish Pirie, my first manager, was from Aberdeen, Scotland -- a very fine person who worked you hard but was always fair. He lived up to the Scottish reputation of having a fiery temper and many a time our head clerk was the butt of his anger (deservedly so, of course)!
The head clerk was always cool and calm in the face of blatant mistakes and one day, unable to take it anymore, Hamish said, ''Head Clerk, this office should be burnt''.
''Good idea Sir'' replied the Head Clerk.
Hamish then continued, ''and preferably with you in the middle of it'' !!
"Aah, very very good idea, Sir", nonchalantly replied the tried and tested Head Clerk.
Hamish Pirie was very fond of golf but was never a great golfer as such. Once, during a Doom Dooma club meet we were all at the bar telling stories and then singing away - and before we knew it, dawn was breaking and the sun was coming through. Hamish was playing golf and the tee off was very early, in fact he went straight from the bar to the tee -- we were feeling sorry for him knowing that his golf would be terrible but lo and behold, he played his best golf and won the tournament !!!! Hamish thought he had found the secret to success in golf and from that day on, made sure he always had a very late night before a golf match !!!
I remember the first story that Hamish told me soon after I had joined. This was regarding a planter at Bargang whose wife was expecting, and it being close to the time, she was being transported to Tezpur by car. Alas, while crossing the Bhorelli river by ferry ( no bridges then and the crossing takes quite a while) the Mrs. could not wait anymore and, with the help of the medical staff in attendance, she delivered a healthy baby boy! As he was born 'on' the river, the boy's middle name was given as Bhorelli -- Peter Bhorelli McQueen.
Coming back to my manager, his wife, who was expecting, was heading off to Calcutta for the delivery -- she was going by plane and her husband warned her that no matter what happened she was not to deliver on the aircraft -- she should hold on till they got to Calcutta.
Puzzled, she asked him why --- remember the McQueens of Bargang, he said, we don't want our child named after the plane you are flying in.
Name of the aircraft?? any guesses?? The Fokker Friendship !!!!
Hamish Pirie passed away many years ago and I write this as my way of saying Salaam to him -- he was a good human being and I learnt a lot from him. His wife lives in Aberdeen with her daughter (oh, yes her mum waited till they got to Calcutta).
Next, a story told to Danny Pariat by the late Peter Swer:
Hippies at Itakhooli!
One hot summer day Peter was surprised by a foreigner hippie couple when they landed up at Itakhooli with no prior notice. Apparently they had met one of Peter's friends in Delhi and when he heard that they were going to Assam to have a look at the tea gardens he had advised them that they should visit his good friend Peter at Itakhooli.
Peter being Peter welcomed them and told them to make themselves at home( the family was away and he was alone). The next morning, after breakfast, Peter went off on his kamjari after telling the hippie couple to feel free to use the swimming pool.
After his rounds of the garden Peter made his way to the office for some paper work and as he settled in his seat he got a bit worried when he looked out of the window and saw his head bearer running helter-skelter towards the manager's office. He got up and met the highly ruffled bearer at the verandah to find out what the kerfuffle was about. The bearer, out of breath, was urging his burra saab to quickly make his way to the bungalow though he would not say what the bother was all about, and highly puzzled, Peter thought he had better go and have a 'dekho'.
As he approached the bungalow, his anxiety increased when he saw that the plucking had stopped and that most of the pluckers were milling around one side of the bungalow, desperately trying to have a peek through the hedge!
As he got closer the mystery was resolved. What had happened was that, it being a hot day,the hippie couple,seeing the beautiful sparkling water in the swimming pool, had decided to swim in the nude and from time to time they came out of the pool to lie by its side, not knowing that they were causing chaos with the plucking challans plucking just around the bungalow. Peter,with his diplomatic tact, managed to get the couple inside and was very relieved when they departed the next day.
Meet the writer:
 | ||||||||||
DANNY PARIAT |
My work places varied between the south and north bank - started at Koomsong, then four years later went across to Pertabghur near Bishnauth Charali, back to Moabund near Jorhat from where my actings started then back for my first billet at Harchurah. Thereafter worked at Seajuli,Rupajuli, Margherita and Pertabghur. I finally called it a day in December 2004 and made it back home just before Christmas.
Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories!
If you've ever visited a tea garden or lived in one, or if you have a good friend who did, you would have heard some absolutely improbable stories! You will meet many storytellers here at Indian Chai Stories, and they are almost all from the world of tea gardens: planters, memsaabs, baby and baba log. Each of our contributors has a really good story to tell - don't lose any time before you start reading them!
Do you have a chai story of your own to share? Send it to me here, please : indianchaistories@gmail.com. My name is Gowri Mohanakrishnan and I'm a tea planter's wife. I started this blog because one of the things that I wouldn't want us to lose in a fast changing world is the tea story - a story always told with great seriousness, no matter how funny - always true (always), maybe a tall tale, long, or short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull. The blog is updated every two to three days. You will find yourself transported to another world! Happy reading! Cheers to the spirit of Indian Tea!
ADD THIS LINK TO YOUR FAVOURITES : https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/Indian Chai Stories
Delightful anecdotes...made me chuckle so many times !
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this. Hope to read many more from Danny.
ReplyDeleteHi Danny - nice memories of times long gone. Hamish and Shena sailed back to India from Liverpool on the same Anchor Line (MV Cilicia) as I did in 1964. On arrival in Bombay, we were then on the same train from Bombay to Calcutta, although during both the sea journey and the rail journey Hamish did not converse very much. On my temporary residence at Mahakali TE in Tingri district, I met up with Hamish and Shena many times at the planter's club there, when he was Manager at Itakhooli TE. As you have mentioned, Hamish really enjoyed his club nights at most of the clubs in Upper Assam, and being very much involved in the various sports at the Tingri club. Having enjoyed his Sunday morning at the club, it was quite humorous watching Hamish trying to play football!!
ReplyDeleteQuite a rib-tickler, this! Looking forward to many more. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteCan well relate to the lovely times in tea you describe here so nicely. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat stories Danny....only Tea could produce such men and women forged in steel to take all that life dishes out on their chins....
ReplyDeleteDelightfully entertaining and flowing as smoothly as the river in the story. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteDanny - Shena Pirie passed away on the 24th April 2016.
ReplyDeleteWow Danny so nice to read your write up here. I have always enjoyed your stories since The Camellia days. Please keep posting. you enrich the content.
ReplyDelete