Drama in Real Life

 by Anjan Roy

Hello friends! I'm delighted to welcome Anjan Roy to Indian Chai Stories. His first story is from the Dooars - a paradise on earth? Not quite, as you'll find out! 

The year was 1986 and the foothills of the Himalayan region in West Bengal were literally on fire with government Circuit houses and the Forest Department rest houses of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and adjoining regions torched by vandals as part of the Gorkhaland agitation. The political fire was lit by the separatist sentiments of a large population of Nepalese origin whose forefathers had been brought by the British in 1880s from Nepal to clear the dense forests and establish tea plantations in the hills of Darjeeling and the adjoining foothills of Jalpaiguri district.

The separatists were no secessionists but they wanted to be liberated from the yoke of the Bengali babu administering them from Calcutta or Kolkata, as is known these days, to assert their Nepalese identity, their language and culture . 

Author (in Nepali cap) with the members of his transport department  during the annual picnic ( all pix and captions by author)

It was a beautiful clear autumn day with the bright sun and mild onset of winter in eastern India. Lankapara Tea Estate was nestled in the foothills of Bhutan the Dragon Kingdom where I, a 20 year old, was serving as an Assistant Manager. The estate was owned by Duncans, the erstwhile London based tea conglomerate.

The time was 2pm and I was playing on my bungalow lawn with Zero, my pet Bhutanese sheep dog. It struck me that I was running late to attend the third leaf weighment of my workers in Badribagh division.

Motioning Zero to stay I kick started my 250cc twin cylinder Yezdi which had been sent all the way from Baroda in Gujarat a few months ago where my father Maj Gen B.P. Roy was the Commandant of Electrical & Mechanical Engg. School of the Indian Army. Zooming past Shanti club football ground, I reached the main road in a few minutes, and at the point where I was to turn towards the dirt track I was accosted by a terrified group of women leaf pluckers blocking my way.

Upon questioning their hysterical behaviour I was informed that Abhijit Dutta, my junior colleague, had been killed by two drunken men whilst he was undertaking patti wajan  - weighment of harvested leaf .

Kanchi Tamang, the prettiest of them, reached for the Yezdi key sticking up on the headlight console of the bike and threw it as far as she could in the thicket. The ignition cut off, the engine sputtered to a halt.

Throwing my new bike aside, I frantically sprinted 200 mts on the dirt track. On route I encountered many of my pluckers running in my direction towards the main road screaming murder of Bhogotay saheb ( nickname - meaning pomelo fruit - of the portly Abhijit Dutta ).

Author with Hitu Manger the senior lorry khalasi(crew) who was  perched atop the cabin on the day of the assault, picnicking on the  banks of river Diana a month prior to the incident.

Panting and out of breath, reaching closer, I saw the dilapidated Lankapara garden TMB Tata Mercedes Benz lorry parked in the open space meant for patti wajan and the aged driver Akum Biswakarma and his petrified khalasi crew of Hitu Manger and three others. They were sitting atop the cabin watching two drunken men with long khukris and country-made pistols in hand kicking the lifeless Abhijit, who was lying face down on the dirt.

I recognised one of the assailants to be Dhan Bhadur Tamang, the athletic forward right footballer of Lankapara with whom I had played numerous matches as his center forward. The other was Garbhey Prem Singh Tamang, a known gangster of Sukanti line adjoining the main road where I had dumped my bike.

Dhan Bhadur continued to kick the motionless Abhijit on the face and stomach while Garbhey pointed his pistol - which was earlier aimed at Abhijit, at me. When a firm kick landed on his solar plexus, the lifeless Abhijit let out a low grunt which proved that he was miraculously still alive.

Hearing his moan I bent down and rolled Abhijit over. His swollen face was blood spattered beyond recognition. He managed to painfully open his eye and mumble in a barely audible pitch Anjan saar amake bachao ( Anjan sir please save me )

Unable to budge the dead weight of Bhogotay saheb's over 80kgs I looked up pleadingly at the lorry crew perched atop the cabin but failed to make eye contact as they chose to look away out of fear.

With no help forthcoming, I decided to request my football teammate Dhan Bhadur for help,  'Bhai alik maadat gari deo'. This infuriated DB so much that he now pointed the pistol menacingly between my eyes as he would have seen on-screen in some C grade Hindi films in the ramshackle shed which passed off as cinema hall in Gomtu, Bhutan - a dusty one horse town across Pugli river adjoining Lankapara on the western periphery.

'You @#&! How dare you try to save Bhogotay when we are here to finish him off ?' growled Dhan Bhadur. With my football teammate behaving thus I thought it best not to approach Garbey who was a dreaded cold-blooded killer known to have eliminated many of his political rivals by decapitation, then hanging their touko (heads) at prominent places in the chai bagan to instill fear among the public.

With a great effort I finally managed to prop up Abhijit, hooking my right arm under his left to get him upright. Half carrying, half supporting his weight, the short walk upto the main road was painfully slow. The progress was made further arduous by Dhan Bhadur repeatedly blocking our path and pointing his pistol menacingly at us.

My initial sense of fearlessness was slowly dissipating as I realised that should the pistol fire wilfully or otherwise, it wouldn't have missed the intended target at point blank range.

Hearing footsteps behind us I turned around sharply to find Garbey keeping pace in a drunken stupor, brandishing a huge khukri ominously close behind. Self and Abhijit painfully trudged on the seemingly endless stretch of dirt track.

Upon approaching close to the Lanka-Birpara road I saw a large number of passenger Willys jeeps, Nissan Jongas and sand and boulder laden army-scrapped Shaktiman trucks - stationary, with their passengers perched at vantage points trying to catch a glimpse of Bhogotay saheb who had literally come back from the dead.

A large group of women pluckers led by Kanchi Tamang who had earlier tried to prevent me from rushing head-on into a life threatening situation now themselves came forward to assist in getting Abhijit aboard one of the jeeps going towards Lankahat while some passengers readily disembarked to make space.

Once safely seated I looked back to see Abhijit's assailants staring at us from a distance, undecided if they should debar us from being whisked away. Reached Lankapara garden hospital in less than ten minutes and the nursing staff led by the efficient junior nurse Daimanti Thapa quickly cleaned up Abhijit, providing him first aid by dressing his wounds efficiently.

Abhijit recovered miraculously from his injuries within a month, including healing of his three fractured ribs inflicted by the brutal kicks of Lankapara's star footballer Dhan Bhadur Tamang. 

The author ( 2nd from R ) in Lankapara Tea Garden  Shanti Club grounds in one of the many tournaments  played with Dhan Bhadur Tamang

Looking back at the course of these events of over three decades ago, it is still unclear why Bhogotay saheb had been murderously assaulted - and seemingly without provocation. However, one thing was beyond doubt: that I was successful in rescuing him from a near-death situation. This was probably due to my on-field camaraderie with Dhan Bhadur Tamang: despite being in a position to score a certain goal myself, I had passed the ball to Dhan Bhadur so he could attain glory.

This magnanimous act was possibly not lost on Dhan Bhadur Tamang - even in his drunken stupor, he hesitated to pull the trigger that fateful day. 

Kanchi Tamang ( 2nd from L ) and her co-workers visited the author at his bungalow the following day to enquire about his well being.

 

 

Meet the writer: 

Anjan chooses to describe himself in a few cryptic words, "A planter by default but implanted to the core". 

Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories! 
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; maybe long, short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull. 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/

Was It A Dream?

 by Nandita Tiwari

Hello again, friends! Here's another story by Nandita Tiwari for you to enjoy. Thanks for the laughs, Nandita. This is a story from her husband Akhil's bachelor days, and the writer narrates it in his voice.   Got your cup of tea ? Read on!

Two colossal pinkish-grey pillars were hit by my Yezdi at midnight at the slopes of Aibheel. A deafening sound followed, piercing the silence of the night. Was it a dream?!

Pix by Akhil Tiwari

A stag party was being hosted by Shashi Menon at his bachelor bungalow in Satkayah division of Aibheel T.G. where the food was rolling and the liquor was flowing. Needless to say, the stags turned wild in due course of the merriment. Mahesh Moktan, Kevin David and Suresh Kartha were among the few party animals. As the party was nearing its end, I thanked my host slurring a bit and that’s when my host offered, “Why don’t you stay the night, Akhil?” But I decided to carry on. So I mounted my bike fully clad and prepared for the chilly December night. 

With the woollen cap covering my ears, bike gloves snug into my palms, my fleece jacket buttoned up to the collar and my practical winter boots, I vroomed my bike, feeling no less than a hero in my tipsy state. The next day happened to be a kaamjaari day, which would begin sharp at six a.m. As I sped on my bike from the warmth of the bonfire party of the bungalow into the cold night air, my breath became visible in foggy wisps. The ice-cold wind went through my jacket like a hot knife cutting through butter.

The blackness of the night made for an eerie uncertainty. I sped along the rugged pathway, meandering, mounting and dismounting through the valleys and the peaks of the hillock. I felt no lesser than an invincible F1 racer. The speeding shadows of the trees and the rustling of the leaves was alluring which added to the surrealism of the night. Suddenly I froze. It was hard to shove aside the worries that something creepy lurked around the corner. Was it my muddled state of mind or the squally weather? I was sozzled after all. Nevertheless, I carried on.

However, the uncanniness of the night magnified when a little away from me, right in the middle of the road there emerged two huge pinkish-grey pillars. I jammed my brakes hard but because of the wet sloping road the mo-bike skid and crashed right into one of the pillars. Screeching, the bike came to a halt and a deafening sound followed, piercing the silence of the night. Was it a dream?! I pinched myself and knew that I was in the middle of the road on a dark night. Bleary-eyed I reversed back wiping the cold sweat dribbling down my chin. I decided to retreat to the safety of one of the nearest bungalows.

I reached the factory bungalow occupied by Mahesh Moktan and called out seeking shelter for the night in his bungalow - narrating the incident of the collision to him. He gaped at me with disbelief! Saying that the cocktail of fire, the windy cold night and lots of booze had fazed me out, he was kind enough to lead me to his guest room and I plonked on the bed, thankful for the warmth of the blanket!

The next morning, a knock at the door woke me up. I drank in my surroundings along with a hot cup of tea, a tad surprised due to my heavy head. I was ready to take the day head on! Yet again I saddled my Yezdi with a different mindset and rode on. Now the same curvy pathways which looked rugged and savage at night were lush and verdant in the lights of the dawn. 

The sky was glowing even though the sun was still below the horizon, getting ready to peak out. The colours of the tea bushes returned to golden green which had been dark and velvety at night. The morning breeze was fresh on my face. Birds twittered on the treetops. As I rode down the path I could hear the rapids of the stream flick against the boulders. The gurgling of water flowing was like music to my ears. Aware of my surroundings, I vroomed on the camel-hump like roads of Aibheel which lead to the highway.

Suddenly my eyes met elephant droppings at three places. So I got off my bike to inspect them- as the incident of my mo-bike colliding into pinkish-grey pillars at midnight seemed rather unnatural. Now as  I looked around lighting a cigarette, everything was fresh and pristine. I also noticed the muddy tyre marks of a bike. But I had to reach my destination so I rode on. Just at the intersection of the crossroads of Aibheel and Indong Tea Estate, a few of the elephant squad Chowkidars huddled, immersed in serious discussion. Yet again I had to stop to enquire what the discussion was all about.

They told me in their words, “Gazab ho gaya saab kal raat ko”- (the unbelievable happened last night). From the valley where the squad stood, through their mashalls and flashlights they had seen a single headlight of a noisy motorcycle which had probably hit an elephant. They guessed as much because suddenly there was a loud trumpeting in the silent night. They went on to add that the noisy mo-bike and the collision had made the Ganesh Maharajas anxious. They said that there were eleven Ganesh Maharaj (elephants) out of which eight had gone towards Mattelli (another tea estate in the vicinity) and three towards Aibheel. After the incident, these three Ganeshjis ran towards Indong and trampled their paddy fields.

That’s when it hit me that the pinkish-grey pillars which I had hit at the stroke of midnight were indeed colossal legs of an elephant! The deafening trumpeting which I had heard last night confirmed that they were indeed Grand Maharajas. It wasn’t a dream after all. I thanked my stars that I was safe and alive.

Then I quipped, “Do you know It was me on that motorcycle at midnight”, and the elephant squad retorted “Kyu dillagi kar rahe ho saab?” (Why are you joking around with us saab). Without another word and a wry smile, I continued to ride on gliding along the beautiful Chulsa tea estate!

Pix by Ashish Sanghwan

Pix by Akhil Tiwari

Meet the writer: Nandita Tiwari

Nandita joined the tea fraternity in 1991 when she arrived in Danguajhar in the Dooars. She and her husband Akhil were in various gardens in the Dooars for over 30 years, and also in Amgoorie (Assam) for a brief period of time. They are now settled in Siliguri.

In 2019, Nandita decided to start penning down some of the unique experiences that came her way.

 You can read her stories on her own blog, here: https://nanditat6.wixsite.com/rosee-t

 

 

Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories! 
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; maybe long, short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull. 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/

Fire Fighting in Limbuguri

Hello friends! I'm happy to bring you another story by Indi Khanna -  a story for the season, as it concerns a tea factory, and one that's packed with action, as you'll see. Enjoy your read! Cheers!

by Indi Khanna

In 1986, while managing the Dhoedaam factory, another one of the many and regular altercations with the boss Bahadur Singh, this one about the outlet temperature on one of the eight dryers laid out in a series in that massive factory, ended up with me blowing my top. The upshot was that I ended up literally tossing the factory keys at the boss with a "Since you can manage the temperatures better than I'm able to, have fun. I quit." Storming up to the factory office I had my startled excise babu type out a terse one line resignation letter which was handed over to the office boy to find Bahadur wherever he was and to hand that over to him.

Walking back to my bungalow I was hit by the stark reality that I had a wife and two small kids to support and that, having literally burnt my boat, I was going to find myself up the creek without a paddle. Shoving that fear to the back of my young and impetuous mind, I addressed my immediate need, which was to jump into bed and get a full days sleep. Those who are aware of how a factory assistant in Assam has to slave during peak season, would empathise with me. 8/9 hours of a blissful and undisturbed sleep without having to get up and rush to the factory every couple of hours! Next morning, I was summoned to Bahadur's office. He expressed surprise that I had actually written the letter, accepted that it was written in a fit of temper and wanted to know if he could destroy it. My response was that I needed a day to think about it and that I was not going to go to the factory that day.

Instead of moping around in the bungalow, aware that a couple of propriety tea companies were headquartered there, I made a bee line to Dibrugarh, ending up at the office of the Jalan Tea Company. Walked up to the person furiously hammering away at a typewriter that I wanted to meet the boss and found myself seated in front of Mrigendra Jalan, the M.D. A short discussion with Mrigen ended up with him offering me not just a job but also a remuneration package which blew me away. Having shaken hands on the offer, I was asked whether I would be willing to take on the job of managing the Limbuguri factory. An offer prefaced with me also being told that Limbuguri had probably the most undisciplined and militant labour in the whole of Upper Assam. Which youngster doesn’t like a challenge.

Next morning, much to the surprise and chagrin of Bahadur, I requested him not to tear up my resignation letter please, but to send it ahead to the Central Office. A fortnight later my family and I moved lock, stock and barrel for me to take up my new appointment.

Having relocated from the very well oiled and organised set-up of Dhoedaam, as is the custom in Assam, at midnight I toddled off to the factory where I spent the next five hours literally twiddling my thumbs with the factory workers casually straggling in one by one. It was well past 0600 Hrs before we got the leaf moving from the troughs to the rolling room. The next three days were a repeat of the first with me having to swallow my pride and cool my heels in the factory office from midnight to day break. By day four having had enough, at 2300 Hrs I got hold of the line chowkidar, had him accompany me and drove across to the labour lines. Walking into their houses I physically dragged the factory workers out of their beds and into the jeep so as to get the factory running, as it should have been, at midnight. A fortnight of these nightly kidnapping escapades in the labour lines had the desired effect so that the trickle into the factory gate starting earlier with each passing day. I was, obviously, rather chuffed with myself for getting the factory back on track.

A couple of days after I had set the house in order, on a Tuesday when workers would almost ritualistically arrive either drunk or at best suffering from a hangover, I had managed to get things going with the leaf into the rolling tables a little past midnight. At 0230 hours the fermenting room supervisor walks into my office to tell me while they'd moved the first batch of leaf to the firing room, they were unable to feed the dryers because the dryers had not been fired up. Rushing across to the firing room I found the stoker curled up besides the gas stove, dead to the world. A good shake-up by the collar got the guy up to his unsteady feet. Bleary eyed he gave me what to him was probably the smartest military salute he had ever executed and then turns the knob on for the gas flow. That done he starts patting his various pockets, doesn't find what he is looking for and asks me whether I have a match box. My glare reminding him that I was a non smoker, he scoots off, gets a match box from another worker, sets fire to the cotton wad at the end of the rod used for lighting the stove and sticks the rod into the gas furnace.

With him having turned on the flow before going off on his match-box hunt, gas having accumulated in the furnace, all it needed was a flame. Fortunately I was standing besides the dryer as otherwise the huge explosion that followed would have blown me away. The stoker, however, was in front of the furnace though behind a fire guard which protected him from the thigh up. The moment he stuck the rod into the furnace, there was a huge 'whoosh' sound as the back flow blow-out flame hit him. Parked where I was on the side of the dryer, I saw the skin of the stokers unprotected lower legs immediately charring and turning jet black while next to me the huge cast iron side plate of the dryer bulged out and then collapsed inwards with a very loud crack. The 'explosion' brought down massive amounts of tea dust which had probably accumulated over decades on the rafters and eaves. By the time I recovered my senses, all I could see through all the 'smoke' was workers running around like headless chicken screaming 'fire, fire'. While in actual fact the only fire was the burning wad of cotton wool at the end of the stokers iron rod, all the smoke and general pandemonium had me too convinced that Limbuguri factory was burning down. 

 

Grabbing hold of one of the headless chicken workers, I shouted to him to run and get the fire extinguisher from the bank on the factory main entrance. Back he comes with the extinguisher and then, to my utter astonishment, lifts the cylinder up above his head and taking aim with one eye closed, tosses this onto the only flame visible, the cotton wad! It was only then that it struck me that while we had the equipment, not one of the workers or staff had a clue on how that equipment was to be used when required.

Postscripts:

The stoker, despite the very severe burns on his lower legs, recovered fully and was back at work within a fortnight.

Unable to get a replacement for the cast iron side panel of the ancient Britannia dryer, we ended up patching it up with rivets and metal caulking. The dryer was very much in operation when I left Limbuguri four years later.

After a shutdown of 10 days to put the house back in order, Limbuguri factory restarted; immediately after which I instituted a fire and safety drill for all the workers.

The one positive fallout of the accident was that the workers and I bonded with their belligerent attitude towards me evaporating.

Within a couple of months of that crazy night, I was promoted and handed over the reins of Limbuguri Estate. Managed that property for four very successful years till I finally relocated from Assam in 1990.

Meet the writer:

Indi Khanna with Xerox

With an industry experience and a tea knowledge base of four and a half decades and counting, I literally live and breathe tea. 

Starting my career in 1975 as an Assistant Superintendent with Malayalam Plantations Ltd, rolling up my sleeves by 'dirtying' my hands at the grassroots level and having literally 'grown' in the business, my experiences have matured me into a ‘one of a kind’ unique entity in the industry.

My journey which literally starts from the tea nursery and stretches all the way up to the consumer shelf, is in many ways unique. Regularly roaming the tea world, delving into the most remote areas wherever tea is grown or consumed, constantly interacting with Tea folk, I have always been learning and innovating. The invaluable experiences along this very interesting route have culminated into a unique new venture, a one-of-a-kind specialty tea manufacturing facility unit in the Nilgiris - www.teastudio.info.

My life has been and continues to be blessed.

Thankfully this very interesting Tea journey continues as an ongoing learning experience.

Read more by Indi Khanna here: https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/search/label/Indi%20Khanna

Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories! 
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 - maybe long, short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull. 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/