Life in a Tea Estate
Musings of a Madrasi on Assam – 9

S Balakrishnan *

Assam tea garden

Assam and Tea are inseparable! So, when I learnt that I would be spending a day in a tea estate (in the north-eastern part of Assam) I was very excited. My romantic mind (or is it the heart?) immediately started working overtime to imagine in Bollywood filmy style.

I dreamt of running around the lush green tea bushes singing duets and chasing my dream girl, and picnicking under the shade of trees. But in reality the stay at the bungalow (executive quarters) turned out to be in a golden cage!

As soon as our vehicle entered the bungalow of a friend working as an Executive in the tea estate, the massive iron sheet gate of the bungalow compound was securely locked. It was night time, so I did not see anything wrong in it. But it remained locked throughout the day time also; whenever someone entered or exited, the gate was opened and locked immediately.

And the bungalow was surrounded by a barbed fence and live fence to a height of 7 foot. The hedge was so dense and tall that one does not know what is happening inside or outside. As if this was not enough, I was told that I can’t step out of the bungalow compound on foot. My dream of running around the tea bushes with my dream girl was shattered.

Visitors can move out only with an escort from the Estate and only in jeep, and only with permission! I felt cheated because all my romantic dreams had come to a naught. The only solace was the garden with lovely flowers and the kitchen garden with fresh vegetables. As I left the bungalow the next night, after 24 hours, I realised that I had not clicked even a single snap in the tea estate!

All these restrictions are meant for the safety of the visitors, I was comforted. The workers might direct their anger on the visitors to settle score with the management or the particular executive, hence these precautionary measures.

For the same reason I could neither visit the weekly haat (market) held nearby. The rule also does not permit the bungalow to be locked; at least one person should be present in the bungalow at all times.

Priests sipping tea

I realized that life in a tea estate bungalow was after all not that romantic but a suffocating life in a golden cage!

Another colonial rule still followed is that the executive, while on duty, has to wear only half pants, even if the tea bushes bruise his bare legs! The bachelor executive had three servants to attend to this needs – a cook, a watchman-cum-gardener and another for errands. Yet, even a golden cage is a cage, no?

Tea Tribes of Assam - Life outside the bungalow, that of the labourers, is also bleak. The tea estate workers were originally recruited from the then undivided Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. They have settled permanently in Assam and are now known as Tea Tribes and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes; they are recognized as Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Economically they are quite backward and literacy rate among them is also very low. The Assam Government has initiated various welfare schemes to improve their socio-economic standard.

As I peeped through the locked gate, I saw rows of labourers going for work in the misty early morning. I heard of a pathetic incidence where pregnant women labourers had to jump over trenches in the estate, due to which they suffered repeated abortions with no rest either.

Out of their blood and sweat, Assam produces about 53% of the country’s total tea production (630 – 700 million kg); Assam’s area under tea cultivation is also more than half of the nation’s tea cultivation area. Recently, a kilogram of ‘Manohari Gold’ tea fetched the highest ever price of Rs.50,000/kg! This particular handmade specialty tea is prepared from small buds and not tea leaves.

In a whole year, this Tea Estate had managed to prepare only 5kgs. of this super specialty tea. Small tea growers also contribute to Assam’s tea wealth. I was fascinated by the sight of such small ‘homely’ tea gardens in front of humble houses in rural Assam. What an enchan‘tea’ing setting!

A 'homely' tea garden