Last stop..Kondoli,lower Assam..established in 1859,750 hectcres of scattered tea bushes.Perhaps the most challenging job for any manager.You have insurgents ,low clouds who dont rain,workers who use official perks but go outside to get more money.Only a a natural inspiring leader Like Saurabh Shankar can continue to smile on such terrain.There was serious drought for 6 months and then he aranged the Frog wedding.A tribal ceremony where male/female get engaged and they are married off in true Vedic mantras.After ceremonious eating and drinking and other marriage customs,frogs are relaed in a pond for their honeymoon.Normally it would take 7 days for marriage ceremonies to last and then rains come.Fable?It worked in Kondoli.Smart showers followed by good rains. Sadly Rembeng,which(wch is a division of Kondoli) was the first organic tea estate in India.After absorbing 20 years of financial loss,the Board decided to go off the practice.Lot of hard work had gone in the early days of farming and marketing(perhaps we were ahead of times) . It was a fantastic journey and am glad I was able to share a bit with you.Life ,journey and drinking tea will continue.I have to return to Calcutta and sell our orthodox crop to Iran,the major buyer of our good orthodox whole leaf tea.My friend Yahya Beyad,who introduced me to fine Persian food and to the poetry of the original work of Mowlana Jalaluddin Balki ,also known as Rumi in Iran and Persia. I am now also looking forward to returninh home.On the flight,I will be writing a note for my Board of the changes in 2020 in the tea indistry...some reading tea leaves that will be!
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 04:18:06 +0000
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