A jumbo ‘earthquake,’ from the eyes of a nine-year-old

by Sudipta Bhattacharjee

I was delighted to get an email from Sudipta. She wrote: "I decided to put my work aside for an hour and write about the elephants in the tea garden. I just let some words tumble out from my memories..." So glad you did, Sudipta. I loved reading this. So will you, dear reader. - Gowri

This season of earthquakes and tsunamis across the globe reminded me of the terrifying sensations of feeling a house, especially a wooden one in a tea garden, rattle incessantly in the dead of night, aeons ago, when I was a little girl. My uncle, Sukumar (Dhruba) Sengupta, a tea planter, was then posted in Assam’s Udalguri district, bordering Bhutan, in a garden called Majuli. To a nine-year-old from the bustling city of Calcutta, the flight to Guwahati and the long but smooth drive through scenic countryside to the sylvan foothills was nothing short of a magical journey.

Majuli. Pic sourced from the internet by the author

 We visited my uncle once in four years, and this as the first time I was old enough for the impressions to register. Once the blue hills, possibly those of Bhutan, began to materialize in the distance, my genes (being the granddaughter of forest officers and being blessed with botanist parents) exerted themselves into a random dance of joie de vivre.

Once the neat rows of tea bushes heralded the garden zone, we wallowed in the fresh fragrance that nature bequeaths on the plantations. As we left the main road for the garden trail, there was a delicious sense of anticipation of seeing the manager’s bungalow.

We loved it on sight! My aunt Tanima, famed for her flower gardens, had also made fruit and vegetable patches along the lawn. She took me on a tour to show the raspberry patch before we could sample her delicious raspberry jam for tea. Of course, we had not been inducted into the joys of drinking tea then; a huge glass of milk, courtesy the garden cows, was in store for us!

We were tired from the lengthy journey and the excitement of travel and went to sleep after an early dinner. The call of crickets was the last sound I registered, before the calls of the boukathakou bird (possibly the Indian cuckoo or Cuculus Micropterus) woke us up at the crack of dawn.

My uncle had two dogs. A German Shepherd called Rex and a tiny pup named Tipu Sultan! I was terrified of dogs at that time and avoided the duo all morning. I was perched on the swing near the gate when my uncle returned from his morning rounds. He disembarked from the jeep and strode purposefully in my direction carrying something. Before I realized his intention, he dumped Tipu on my lap! Frozen with terror on the swing, my feet separated from the sanctuary of terra ferma, it took me a few minutes to realise that the warm bundle nestling on me was looking up with more than a modicum of trust and craving a touch. Guided by my uncle, I tentatively touched the little head. The tail wagged a wee bit, encouraging and fostering what has turned out to be a lifetime of canine adoration!

That night, high on the accomplishment of my foray into the animal world, we went to sleep. Only to be jolted awake a little later with a thundering sound. There was the unified chorus of a herd of wild elephants trumpeting at the bungalow doorstep. The rooms shook and rattled. As we cowered in fear on our beds, the sounds were compounded by shrieks and shouts of the garden workers, beating on metal and holding burning torches to drive away the jumbo family.

The chaos continued with Rex and Tipu Sultan barking inexorably, adding to the cacophony. Finally, after what seemed like ages, the sounds subsided and the herd possibly moved off. But not before leaving their mark on the vegetable patch and devastating my aunt’s prized flower garden.

We were on tenterhooks every night for the rest of our brief stay, but other than seeing mashaal (burning torches) in the distance, we were spared other close encounters with the pachyderms. Years later, I learnt that Udalguri was an elephant corridor and can now applaud the efforts being undertaken for their conservation in the tea garden zone and elsewhere in this Assam district.

Meet the writer:

 Sudipta is a career journalist who joined The Telegraph in Kolkata as a trainee in 1985 and retired at the end of August as Resident Editor (Northeast). She moved to Shillong in 1992 after her husband was transferred to Meghalaya on a three-year posting and continued to report for The Telegraph from there. She travelled to the United States on a Fulbright Research Fellowship in 2004-5 and returned to base thereafter. Her tryst with tea gardens began as a four-year-old to Kakajan in Upper Assam, where her uncle, Sukumar (Dhruba) Sengupta was posted. She and her family visited him in Majuli Tea Estate in Assam in 1970 and 1973 and by herself in December 1975 to the Dooars, when he was posted at Damdim Tea Estate. She has visited gardens in Darjeeling (where a tea tasting session was hosted for her), the Nilgiris and Munnar, Sri Lanka and hopes to share her experiences through this blog, of which she is an avid follower.

Sudipta is now adjunct professor of media science and journalism at Brainware University. 

Here is the link to all the stories Sudipta has written for this blog: http://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/search/label/Sudipta%20Bhattacharjee

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/

A Taste of Honey

 by Gayathri Ramachandran

Hello again, dear readers! I am most happy to bring you another piece by Gayathri, who loves her cup of tea and everything to do with it. Read on to see how she makes a most interesting connection between tea and honey. - Gowri

When I went to a workshop titled 'Ghats Honey- Wild Honey Hunters'…little did I know that I would be tasting, squeezing the combs, chewing a little bit of the comb with the honey and wax still intact !!

Honey is a brown, sticky, sugar-saturated solution made by bees. Honey bees or forage bees collect nectar from flowers and add some enzymes to the nectar. Voila! Pure honey! The similarities between tea and honey are mind boggling. 

What is the connect between tea and honey? Tea plantations have highly skilled workers at various levels. Apiculture has specialized skill in people who locate, harvest, taste and recommend honey that we are looking for. We know how sommeliers explain with such elan how different types of tea, coffee, wine or honey challenge your taste buds and you are left with a lingering memory such as ‘Wah Taj’, ‘Want a Cupa’ or ‘Hi Honey’. For example, the Stingless bee honey leaves a fruity and lemony taste first and leaves a sweet taste on the second helping.

Honey differs in aroma, taste and feel on the tongue and these are specific to the region. So also with tea, and it is this quality that makes some prefer one type of tea or honey over the other!!

As in tea plantations, the specialists - in this case apiarists - know the terrain, the season and the location, furthermore how nimbly you can take out honey with just hands without any machinery to harvest it. The hills, the forests, the thick growth are easily accessed by the hill people and hill tribes. They have special skills to locate, and then to climb the daunting terrain and get to the beehive. The tea plantations don't have such challenging terrain to harvest tea leaves! Note from editor: I know planters will disagree!

The benefits of both are innumerable. Have you ever tasted the best tea served with brown sugar, karupatti (palm candy) or honey ? 

In the one-liner 'Coffee, Tea, or Me' I would love to replace 'me' with 'honey'. Pure honey without going through the factory regimen, stays completely pure and unadulterated. The health benefits of tea and honey combinations are numerous.

Bee keeping or apiculture is an awesome industry. Technology helps to develop and extract honey as a cottage industry. In the Western Ghats the apiculturists strive hard to get unadulterated medicinal honey. They call it Ghat wild honey.

The expert in the 'sensory attributes of honey', or honey sommelier, is an authority in the way honeys taste, smell and feel in the mouth. They assist people in understanding the differences and subtleties that arise from different regions, flora and seasons, so they can gain a much deeper appreciation for honey. So also expert tea tasters.

Similar to tea, the health benefits of a spoonful of honey everyday include diabetes management, healing bones and joints, cancer management and better heart health. By adding a teaspoonful of honey to tea, we can enjoy a plethora of metabolic boosters.

Meet the writer:

Gayathri Ramachandran

 

 

My grandfather Mr TS Mani Iyer and his younger brother Natesan Iyer had a transport Company in Pollachi which transported chests of tea from Valparai to various places. My grandmother, clad in the traditional nine yards sari, would entertain her British guests - the 'dorasanis' - to tea with impeccable taste. 

 

However, I was brought up on a diet of coffee till I moved to New Delhi after marriage. There Tea became 'the word' gaining all importance. Living among the Punjabis, this exotic beverage became a centre point in socialising during wintry afternoons. I was introduced to kadak chai, adhrak chai, masala chai, cardamom chai, green chai and white chai. 

 

'Chai ho jaye!' is familiar sweet music welcomed with cheer while you play cards or just have some plain 'gup shup'. Oh! my taste for tea grew and the bitter 'after taste' of coffee was replaced with the milder invigorating drink. I enjoy tea in various forms, white, green or golden, with or with out milk, sweet or just black!!!  

 

Read more by Gayathri here: http://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/search/label/Gayathri%20Ramachandran

 

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 in 2018 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! 

This is the link to all the stories on this blog: https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/ Be sure to add it to your list of favourites! Happy reading!! Cheers to the spirit of Indian tea!

 

Back in the Day - Part XII

 by Shipra Castledine

Hello again, dear readers! I'm delighted to bring you the latest from Shipra Castledine: Part XII of 'Back in the Day', the engaging account of her childhood in the tea gardens. Thank you Shipra! - Gowri

The other day I was talking to a friend who is a keen Bridge player. For those who are not familiar with it, Bridge is a card game played with four players. There are two types of Bridge games, one is Contract and the other is Auction. In the tea plantations indoor card games became a part of tea life alongside Mahjong. It stands to reason that this happened as there were not many social distractions in tea life that a city might offer.

As a child growing up in the tea gardens a Bridge table became a familiar sight. I have talked about the club days we would have on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the nearest tea club, mainly the Western Dooars Club in my lifetime in tea. With many getting their outdoor sports of tennis and golf in, there were others who did not partake and card tables would be set up inside the club. Good numbers would make up the four needed for a Bridge table and a number of tables would be active. This was serious stuff. Often a married couple would be ‘partners’ for a Bridge table and believe you me a few games of Bridge and the journey home could almost result in a marriage break up, the conflict was so fierce about how a partner had played!! Not to mention that many trips to the generous bar fuelled one’s emotions!

 

All images sourced from the internet by the author

My parents used to play Bridge too but they hardly ever partnered each other at the same Bridge table. Very sensible! Not so with my to be in laws. They always partnered each other when they were available for a Bridge table together. Oh my!! I have witnessed the arguments that ensued after a session! One of them could be positively virulent accusing the other of ruining the opportunity to come out on top as it was a points game. Sometimes there would be competitions going on so the points mattered.

I know of married couples leaving a Bridge session separately and going home as the conflict heated up that much! And that’s not an easy thing to do as going home was often vast kilometres away 😆 Hence my relief that my parents were never Bridge partners. I learnt how to play Bridge from my father. He was a cool man and played an intelligent game. But he never got into Bridge to the point he was consumed with the moves of the game almost all the time like some others were. He and I would practice playing Bridge with each of us playing two ‘hands’ meaning playing the part of another player. And Dad would go over what I could have done better so I could sharpen up my game.

Right around tea, meaning whether the Dooars, Darjeeling or Terai which were most of the tea districts in North Bengal, Bridge competitions would be held between the various tea clubs. These created opportunities for tea planters and their families to meet others and grow the team community. And as always they were occasions for hospitality to shine, with healthy rivalry amongst tea families as to who was doing a good job 👏🏻 🥪🫔

As I mentioned earlier my childhood in tea was in tea estates that had Western Dooars Club as our district club. My parents Sudhin and Gouri Bose would take me every Wednesday and Saturday to the club. My mother was not into outdoor sports. Dad would go off for a round of golf followed by a game of tennis. Mum would join other ladies after seeing to the tea items she would have brought from our bungalow. The ladies would either sit around and chat or arrange a card table where they played either Rummy or Canasta. I will mention here that my trips to the club would have been before I went to boarding school at age four and a half or otherwise when I was home for a school holiday.

Dad, who was not much of a drinker would often join a bridge table after the very lavish tea set out on long tables in the club. The card tables had an area of their own in Western Dooars Club, giving the players some quiet. As I narrate these memories the images come clear in my mind. Children playing outside as well inside on the wooden floors that acted as indoor badminton courts when there were players. Little ones would go to sleep in the cloakrooms, their ayahs in attendance and forming their own little social circle.

Mahjong was very popular too but it was more the ladies who played Mahjong. I would be fascinated by the sets that many homes owned. Some of the Mahjong sets were made of ivory! My mother owned a set and I can still see it in my minds eye. I did learn how to play and I would watch over my Mum’s shoulder as she would sit at a table of 4 again and pass a very pleasant few hours usually in the morning with another 3 ladies in our bungalow. Delicious morning tea, called elevenses in our world, would be served by our bearers. Thinking about these images now makes me appreciate what a privileged life I lead in my childhood.

Individual families would regularly have friends over to set up Bridge tables. A Bridge morning amongst the ladies was popular but there were many evenings whiled away to late hours where very serious Bridge would be played. Drinks and dinner were very much a part of these social get togethers. Children would play separately, have their dinner separately much earlier than their parents and at their own children’s table. We would often go to sleep at the host’s bungalow and have to be carried by our parents when it was time to go home.

Tea plantation life evolved from the time tea planters first started that lifestyle and I would credit these indoor games along with the contests and competitions as an occupation that contributed to the sanity and mental health of the tea population.

 Meet the writer: 'My name is Shipra Castledine nee Shipra Bose (Bunty). My parents were Sudhin and Gouri Bose. I am a tea 'baba' of the 1950-s era. I spent a part of my life growing up in the Dooars and another large part of my life married to a tea planter's son the Late KK Roy son of PK and Geeta Roy of Rungamuttee TE in the Dooars. I continued to be in the tea industry for many years as KK was a tea broker till he passed away in 1998.' Shipra recounts her childhood in the Dooars and her school days in Darjeeling in a series called 'Back in the Day' of which Part VII went up in August. Read all Shipra's posts here: https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/search/label/Shipra%20Castledine. 

 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 in 2018 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! 

This is the link to all the stories on this blog: https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/ Be sure to add it to your list of favourites! Happy reading!! Cheers to the spirit of Indian tea!