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M
y induction into Tea was forty years back when
I joined Monabarie T.E. under Imperial Tea
Company belonging to Jardine Henderson
Limited, straight after graduation on the 1st of February
1975. I was one of the very fortunate ones to join under a
legend named Mr R.A. Eastment. My Senior Assistant,
Mr M. M. Singh, was a very powerful second-in-
command at
Monabarie.We
had all the “big boys”namely,
Nandu Ganguli, Tarun Bordoloi, M.M. Singh etc. I was
like a mosquito in front of them and most appropriately
named “Mosquito Sahab”.
I arrived at Monabarie on a Saturday and was directed to
Bungalow No 9 at Behupukhri division. I was to share the
bungalow with Ashok Sen, one of the most adorable
human beings I have ever met. He was about three years
old in Tea and was the Assistant at Behupukhri division,
which was over 550 hectares. Everything is massive at
Monabarie. I was also given a bicycle to do ‘kamjari’ – my
only mode of transportation for the next 10 months till I
purchased my motorcycle. Out of many memorable
events/incidents during my long career in Tea, let me
mention some.
The day I joined Monabarie my Manager, Mr Eastment,
who had seen me playing tennis at Tezpur before I joined
Tea, instructed my senior to arrange the second jeep for me
to go to Bishnauth Gymkhana Club every Wednesday
afternoon to play tennis.The second jeep was not to be seen
for the next one and a half years!
I had my first and last taste of a ‘gherao’ on approximately
the 15th day after joining Tea, when about 500 women
pluckers came out of their ‘pahis’ and confronted me for
alleged misbehaviour. Ashok Sen came to my rescue on time.
We did a lot of extension planting in the spring of 1975 and
I was put in charge of all the extension planting. In the last
part of 1975 Monabarie had a new division called ‘Lahorijan’,
a name suggested by me, and I was made the first Assistant
in charge of Lahorijan.This I would always cherish.
I met Rimi Mahanta in 1976 while playing cricket for the
Bishnauth Club team at Tezpur, married her in 1981 and
our daughters Ripa and Risa arrived in 1986 and 1989
respectively.
I got my billet in 1989 at Paneery T.E. in Mangaldai
district, where all kinds of militant activities were at their
peak. Here I realized the strength of the planters when we
all stood as one big family, confronted all the problems that
came our way and came out with flying colours.
I thoroughly enjoyed the tennis days at various Tea clubs
during my long tenure. A day’s break in a week is most
essential for planters and all executives must utilize the sports
facilities in the tea clubs. Burra Sahabs must impress upon
the youngsters how important it is to play games.
The fondest memory I
would always keep close to
my heart would be the
camaraderie amongst the
planters - right from the
‘bosses’ to the youngsters.
Finally, to all my fantastic friends, “ADIOS”.
16 JANUARY 2015
~ Partha S. Dowerah
Memories
of My Life in Tea
“
Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without
worrying about getting caught at it.
”
~ Gene Perret
JANUARY 2015 17
Camaraderie