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All planters have interesting experiences in the course of
‘kamjari’. Anku Baruah shares a few anecdotes with us.
A
s a young horticulturist
brimming with confidence
and armed with a year’s
hardcore marketing experience in the mechanical
megacity of Mumbai, I landed up to join Tea one cold
December day. Since then, each and every day of my life
has been an adventurous one full of surprises, bitter and
sweet, albeit a bit monotonous at times. Certain phrases
have become part and parcel of our vocabulary, like,
“We planters are a different breed,” “Tea is not a job
but a way of life,” “Be honest and truthful even if you
commit a murder” and so on and so forth. One must not
forget the most important one - “WORK HARD,
PLAY HARD AND DRINK HARD”- although
presently the last two ‘hards’ are seldom practised.
The first job I was entrusted with was decorating the
club for the forthcoming Annual Meet and I was told
to ensure that everything was immaculately placed as
this was my first test. I was thrilled and thought to
myself, “This is the kind of job I can do day in and day
out throughout my life.”The first bombshell hit me the
day after the Meet when the ‘bossman’ summoned me
and enquired about my snazzy new bike which I had
bought just a day before joining. I proudly described the
technical nitty-gritty of the bike and after giving me a
patient hearing he told me, “Young man, you are not
supposed to ride a motorbike during kamjari. Get onto
a bicycle and do your routine work till the time you are
confirmed.” I accepted my fate and took to cycling
during kamjari, half the time fantasizing about my new
bike. Come nightfall I would put on my biking gear and
be out, tearing the night apart on my bike visualizing
myself as Rex Smith of STREET HAWK fame, always
careful to take the back road so that nobody had an
inkling of my biking frenzies, more so the boss, as one
had to take permission to go across the LOC i.e. the
estate boundary.
An integral part of garden life is the tea garden lingo.
A couple of weeks after joining, I was informed that the
water pump in the nursery had broken down. I
immediately cycled down to inform the Factory
Assistant. After a quick breakfast I zipped back to the
nursery for the latest update and was informed by the
nursery Sardar that the ‘mistry sahab’ had come to
inspect the pump. I was zapped and asked the Sardar
why he was referring to the mistry as ‘mistry sahab’. It
took the poor fellow quite a while to explain the
identity of the person. I decided then and there to get a
crash course in garden lingo.
Sport is another integral part of most planters’ lives
as it is a fantastic stress buster . For a trainee assistant, it
is also a chance to escape the vagaries of the job and get
out of the property on a working day. Many a planter
like me started playing soccer not only for the love of
the sport but also because you are out on most Mondays
during the soccer season which coincides with the peak
cropping season, as the inter-club 11-a-side matches in
the South Bank are played on that day. What a great
way to beat the Monday blues…meet like-minded souls
and drown homesickness, or rather ‘city-sickness’, at the
club bar followed by a dhaba dinner. But one had to be
cautious not to get injured as per the diktat from my
Burra Sahab , who told me categorically that I would be
sent home if I broke a leg!
Camaraderie is one thing we planters are very proud of
and which is also very essential as just a handful of us
live in an estate, sharing the good as well as the hard
times, always lending a shoulder to the one in need. As
a young bachelor I had a near fatal bike crash and was
out of commission for more than a month with a busted
knee. My colleagues on the property, senior and junior,
as well as my friends from the neighboring estates
ensured that I did not languish alone in the
bungalow for a single day. They took
turns visiting me in
the evenings.
It is a different matter that everyone preferred visiting
me on a Saturday so that all could a have good time in
the name of giving me company. But, I must say, they
really helped me overcome the boredom and loneliness
- I am indebted to them.
With seniority came more responsibility as well as
confidence. After having a blast at a friend’s place I
somehow managed to reach office on time in the
morning. The Burra Sahab gave me a dirty look and
asked, “So, young man, it seems you had a pretty late
night.”There is no alternative to being truthful, we were
told, so there was no question of lying
to him. With confidence and
pride I answered, “No sir, I actually had a very
early morning.”The boss did not know what had
hit him but after managing to swallow his anger, he
rewarded me for my truthfulness with a half day off
to recover. The phrase ‘those were the days’ is
applicable here.
Getting the work done within the stipulated time
by hook or by crook, come hell or high water, is
another great quality of us planters and we do not
leave any stones unturned to ensure that. At times
we may be over enthusiastic in discharging our
duties but that’s how we learn.
We crib, we whine, we complain but we must also
admit that we are all proud to be members of the
very special and rare breed called PLANTERS.
Planters – A Very
Special Breed!
– Anku Baruah
Mahakali T.E.
A
54 July 2014
July 2014 55