The Wynaad Story

by Jaswant

Hello again, dear friends! Jaswant is back with Part III of his saga, just as he'd promised. Sit back and enjoy it over a cup of tea - I just did!!

Talapoya Bungalow

From Anamallais to Wynaad was a sea change for us. Unlike the Anamallais, the topography was totally different. After going up the Vythiri ghats the landscape changes totally. We drive through long stretches of valleys with many villages and towns on the way. There are hundreds of small private properties where almost everything is grown. There is coffee, pepper, cocoa, jackfruit, mangoes, nutmeg, plantains, coconuts and even long stretches of paddy cultivation. 

Tea is grown only by large companies. The companies in Wynaad was Harisson and Crossfield, E&S, Elstone, Cottanaad, Chembra Peak, A.V.Thomas & Co. Cocoa was grown by Cadbury India Ltd on a large scale. Somewhere in the 80s Cadbury India realized that it was not a viable project and had to close down their operations in Wynaad.

Wynaad comprised of North & South. North was in Cannanore district & South was in Calicut district. Both were merged on Nov 1st 1980 and the Wynaad district was formed with Kalpetta as its headquarters. My father took charge of Talapoya estate as group manager in 1964. The other estates in this group are Cherakara, Jessie and Tatamala. The bungalow was an imposing structure close to 12,500 sq.feet. It is now a tourist resort belonging to Parisons Tea Company. Google 'Talapoya bungalow' and you will find it. Manandhawadi is the nearest town. 

Social life wasn't anything compared to the Annamalais. North Wyannad club was a quaint little club near Cherakara factory. The club house had a lounge with an attached library, a card room and a small bar tucked away. Jogi the caretaker was all in all. He was the marker for the terracotta tennis court, the barman, the cook and the butler. Jogi's signature dish was french fries. Cherakara had a natural swimming pool from where I learnt swimming.The managers wer Mr Janakiram of Jessie estate,Mr Unni of Cherakara estate and Mr A.P. Rao of Tatamala estate.

My sisters and I were in Cannanore studying in Anglo Indian High schools, staying with our grandparents. These schools were under the University of Madras and were run by the American and Italian parish priests and nuns. Every holiday whether long or short we headed to North Wynaad. Swimming, fishing and trekking were my pastimes during these holidays. We had a gardener from the Kuruchia tribe who presented me with a real bow and arrows and also taught me archery and swimming too. I was very lean during my school days and the estate contractor Mr Dcruz said he was getting me an Aryuvedic medication to make me gain some extra weight. Well as promised by him when I went home for the holidays there were two Horlicks bottles of medicines which looked like chyawanprash. I was asked to have 1 tablespoon twice a day. 

This medicine was truly magical. I was like a skinny superman. I could trek and swim tirelessly and even chop firewood for the bungalow. The energy level was stupendous.I was told that they had shot a black monkey and with the help of an Ayurvedic physician they had brewed this rasayan. My health and stamina levels improved but I never gained any weight.

Parties always comprised of a mixed crowd and were never an exclusive planters' get together. They had the likes of some top govt officials, parish priests from a church, building contractors and real estate developers too. The parish priest, Father Braganza, a Manglorean by birth, was a connoisseur of food. He loved the plantation bungalow parties. The church was located along the boundary of Talapoya Estate. There were a lot of Catholics in and around Talapoya and Manandhawadi . Father Braganza was busy with social and religious events through the week. He had an assistant who was a master brewer of arrack which was as good as vodka. Paddy was boiled and fermented for a few days and finally distilled and brewed in vats that were set up at the church cemetery This drink was so potent that two pegs could make anybody tipsy. This was the most sought after drink at parties.

The top brass in the police and forest department used to organise shikar on elephant backs and also boating and fishing on the huge lakes in and around Manandhawadi.

My dad had two assistants and one of them was Bob Drew, an expat who was on Thavinjal division. Here, there were one or two mines built by the expats who were prospecting for gold. Nobody found any gold and therefore these mines were abandoned.

My dad's Indian assistant fell in love with my sister. Feb 1st, 1967 the wedding was conducted at Alakapuri hotel Calicut and the reception at The Beach Hotel, also in Calicut. My brother in law was transferred to Ripon estate in Audathode division. 

Mr.T. Ramachandran was the superintendent of Ripon. Audothode bungalow was huge and just above that was a family graveyard of Winterbotham and family. The story goes that Winterbotham shot his wife,two daughters, butler, their dog and the nanny and then shot himself. We really don't know what prompted him to carry out such a gruesome act. It was said the bungalow was haunted by Winterbotham's ghost.

One night we heard footsteps on the verandah outside the bedroom. I gathered some courage to part the curtains and peep into the moonlit verandah. The foot steps we heard were of two cows walking on the verandah. Mr. K.T .Ramakrishnan who had a long stint in the same bungalow as an assistant manager was instructed by D.A.Cook the GM of the company to clean and maintain the graveyard. 

The main chef Sebasi came from Mysore Maharaja's palace...my father had to hand over one bottle of rum everyday in order to motivate him to churn out real delicious dishes!

There were number of cricket matches with teams coming from Cannanore and from South Wynaad. The greatest event was the visit of the company directors from London. Three of them visited India once in two years. Two of them stayed with us. All the bungalows go through a makeover at this time. 

The walls, doors and windows were painted and polished. The floors were made to sparkle and even the roof scrubbed and painted. Refrigerators from Assistant managers and some staff were brought to the bungalow to store the meat, fish, veggies and all the goodies. All the booze was from Karnataka and the main chef Sebasi came from Mysore Maharaja's palace.

Sebasi used to work for Bob Drew who was my dad's assistant. Bob Drew had to leave as he met with a bike accident and was critically ill. After recovery, he decided to go back to U.K. Sebasi was an amazing chef who churned out delectable cuisines for breakfast, lunch and dinner. His five course dinner from soups to desserts was awesome. My father had to hand over one bottle of rum everyday in order to motivate him to churn out real delicious dishes.

From 1968 this group of estates had perpetual labour problems instigated by the Union leaders and also the Naxalites. Wynaad those days was the hub for Naxalites and they even had a woman named Ajitha heading the outfit. There were gheraos and lock out and even life threats for the managers. Most of the managers were transferred and the properties were put up for sale. We went back to Annamalais to Murugalli estate.

After three years of rollicking times in the Anamallais my dad decided to quit the plantations . Coimbatore was chosen to be the place to settle down. I have been in Coimbatore since 1971. In 1973 had a short stint at J Thomas and company, and thereafter worked in an agro-chemical company and by 1978 started a distribution network under Growel banner and was back in the tea plantations in South India peddling agro-chemicals being manufactured by the Indian and multinational companies until 2007.

Meet the writer :

My name is Jaswant. I live in Coimbatore. My father Harikrishnan woked as senior planter in E&S Joint Cooperative Society Plantations in Wynaad and the Anamallais. I graduated from Madras Christian college in 1972, worked in J Thomas and Company for one year, Excel industries Ltd., Mumbai, an agro-chemical company for three years, and from 1976 to 2007 I was running a company called Growel, supplying agro chemicals to most of the tea planting companies in South India. Since 2006 I am running a homestay in Coimbatore, catering to the needs of the international, corporate and plantation guests who visit Coimbatore often.

I am planning to write my stories in four parts. 
1.The stories as told by my father (1944 to 1950) 
2.The Anamallai days. 
3.The Wynaad days. 
4.My chemical peddling days. 

 

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/