Indian Chai Initiative : APPL Foundation's 'Sirish'

Jatin Bavishi, Resource Executive with APPL (Amalgamated Plantations Pvt.Ltd.) Foundation,  Guwahati, tells us about the Sirish festival,  a laudable initiative to bring tea tribes together to celebrate and nurture their traditions and culture. 

It was in December 2017 that I was invited as guest to one of the Managers’ Bungalows in the North Bank of Assam. The enthusiastic Estate Manager anticipated that his guests would not appreciate just the Scotch and Rum he had arranged, and had thus readied a group of ‘Jhumoor’ dancers (more on that later). I, being the only photographer captured the dancers’ movements and uploaded the same on social media. The next day, one of my friends, a native from Jharkhand, said, ‘It reminds me of a dance form popular in my state’. Quite rightly so. 

The story of ‘Assam Tea’ begins in 1823 when Robert Bruce, an Englishman, met Birsa Gaum, the Singpho chief to explore potential for tea. It took 14 years for commercial cultivation to commence. This delay was largely on account of lack of cheap manpower. Over the next decades, the British indentured tens of thousands of workers, mainly from the Chhota Nagpur region (Bihar, Jharkahnd and Odisha) and Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to Assam. The descendants of these earliest workers (such as the Jhumoor dancers) are today part of what we call the ‘Tea Tribe of Assam’. There can hardly be a tea lover who has not tasted pure ‘Assam Tea’. However, it is the ‘Cultural Heterogenization’, meaning dissemination and acceptance of traditions and values of the Tea Community by the mainstream, which makes the brew of Assamese Culture so fascinating.

Sirish, a brain-child of APPL Foundation was an initiative started in 2015 which aimed to celebrate this rainbow community and unearth their own heritage. '


This festival has now completed four editions, with the latest one held at Misa, a small tea township about 2.5 hours from the capital (Dispur) on 18^th February 2018. The name is derived from Sirish tree, which grows abundantly in the estates and is also the site where the garden workers congregate after their day’s work for music, dance and games. The name thus draws instant appeal. 

Anyone who has had even the slightest acquaintance with the Tea Community cannot miss their simplicity, amicability and naivety. This large community consists of different castes and tribes are the Santhals, Tantis, Oorang, Munda, Bhuiya, Bhumij, Paharia, Proja, Gaur, Kharia, Bheel, Boraik, Ghatowar, Teli, Goala, Rajak, Koya, Telengaand and Kamar. Their Cultural uniqueness is brought out in its vibrant colors (shown in the pictures). Sirish is a medium to enhance and propagate the literature, art and dance.

This culture, although resilient, is fragile owing to its fragmented nature (the estates are scattered in Assam and North Bengal). Culture is a key ingredient for civilized society, and by upholding the traditions and integrating a sense of pride in the culture of the Tea Tribes, Sirish encompass development of a holistic, self-sufficient and empowered community.

Jhumoor is however not a full stop but rather a beginning. With people coming in from such diverse regions, there is bound to be a lot of vividness. People associated with Sirish during the last four editions appreciate the distance they have covered. In the first edition, all teams performed only classic Jhumoor. But, from the next edition, competitive rounds started being organized in different Tea clusters with the winner from each getting a chance to perform at the Finals. Since then, there has been a demonstration of about 10 different dance forms (photographs of a few are shown). The industry veterans who have lived their lives off tea have themselves been amazed to see and hear performers from their own estates sing and dance to the tunes of Sawra, Kurug, Santhali, Satnami, Sabar and Odia forms.

Apart from dance forms, Sirish awards stalwarts from the Tea Community in the field of literature and culture with a cheque of Rs. 1 Lakh and a citation. Already, literature icon awards have been presented to Padumi Gajloo (2015), Sanatan Tanti (2016), Sameer Tanti (2017) and Sushil Kurmi (2018) while culture icon awards have been presented to Sajan Nayak (2015), Subil Barg (2016), Ram Sasoni (2017) and Dulal Manki (2018). Popular sports, like Kabaddi, greased pole climbing and archery also feature in the festival.

 

Organizing an event of such a scale is difficult. A dedicated team mobilizes teams from different gardens and this in itself is a herculean task since most estates lack proper connectivity. Then comes the resistance from management who are apprehensive and sceptical to send workers away from the field for ‘dancing’. APPL Foundation pays a modest allowance to every team to cover logistical and food expenses which also serves a way to encourage participation. But arguably, these problems look tiny when compared to convincing all of the intrinsic value of this festival. The spillovers of Sirish are almost all intangible: celebration of diversity, mainstreaming the marginalized, documenting culture and building sustainable communities: these are the broad objectives, which although look good on paper, are very difficult to make people understand. 

The cumulative efforts have nonetheless borne dividends. 6000 artists have got a platform and nearly 30,000 people have attended Sirish till now. This fact was further eulogized during Sirish 2018 which was graced by the Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal. In his words, this initiative will inspire the young generation in the field of art and literature, which instill a sense of commitment and dedication. They are highly essential to promote the value of life. APPL Foundation has realized it and also started implementing it via action.

Ranjit Barthakur, Chairman of APPL Foundation beautifully sums up his reason behind creating Sirish. “Since the 1830’s and over 8 generations, the Tea Tribes have been fundamental to the scaffoldings of rural Assam and has been a step towards creating bright futures in these remote but breathtakingly beautiful landscapes. It is in our best interest to promote the creation of sustainable futures in these rural locales.”

With the first rain of the season, the tea pluckers are now back to their fields. Some of them would be eagerly waiting and practicing for next year .Till that time, I will continue interacting and be mesmerized by this kaleidoscopic group. Or, to put it in Sadri (lingua franca of the tea gardens, which itself is a combination of different Indian languages), “Roso Lagai” (I am mesmerized).

Editor's note: Here is the video of the theme song of the first Sirish Festival by EQ featuring lead singer Sunayana Sarkar, one of our very own Indian Chai Stories writers!