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from the old oil well located on the estate; Pilkhana Line

is located in the place which was formerly a training camp

for elephants. In addition to these, there are eight other

Lines in East and West Side Divisions, and another five

in Namtok Division, including one called Ranchi Line.

In the past, one of the Assistant Managers was

accommodated in Namtok, says Garden Mohorer of the

Division, Sri Biman Hazarika, whose father and

grandfather had also worked in Namtok. According to

him, the last inhabitant was a Mr Phillips and presently,

nothing remains of the bungalow but some ruins.

The old bridge over the creek between the main division

and Namtok was built in 1939 by the Manager, another

Mr Warren, at great expense, and proved to be a boon when

Namtok Division was planted out. For many years, it was

known as ‘Blewnose Warren's Bridge’ in honour of it’s

creator who was known for blowing his nose frequently,

and probably in stentorian tenor too!!

One could cross the bridge and go into NEFA (North East

Frontier Province, the erstwhile name for Arunachal

Pradesh) over rope bridges and farther into Burmese

villages. The bridge was recently built over with concrete

to make it sturdier, and inaugurated in June 2013.

Patey Duga and Zakaria Chouhan worked in the factory

as ‘chung boys’, spreading the leaf out on the tiers of the

‘chung ghar’ to dry. They fondly remember how they

enjoyed sliding down the ‘chungs’.They were also part of

the planting squad who were taken to Namtok to clear

the land and plant tea and shade ‘pulis’ (saplings). Sumi

Dirok was a member of that squad too.The saplings were

all grown from seed collected from the ‘guti bari’ (seed

nursery) at Namtok.

All three retired workers remember when there were only

two types of pruning done – 1” and ‘hatu kalam’. In the

latter practice, the bushes were pruned at knee height;

hence the name. They marvel at the different kinds of

pruning done now, and especially how certain Sections of

the estate are pruned with the help of a machine! Machine

pruning was introduced on the estate in 2010 while

mechanical plucking was started on a small scale in 2011.

Sri Shyam Sutradhar joined the Namdang factory as a

carpenter in 1952, aged 24, when Mr J.E. Maltby was

managing the estate. By the time he retired in 1991, he

had seen many changes take place. Although he does not

remember this himself, an erstwhile ‘mistry sahab’, Larry

Brown, remembers the carpenter and fitter at Namdang

assembling a guitar for him! Mr Brown fondly recalls his

Burra Sahab’s many faux pas due to his atrocious Hindi!

He was universally known as ‘Hum Hukum – Tum Kaam’

– his pet phrase to the workers, meaning, “I give the orders

and you do the work!”Mr Brown also recalls his own faux

pas – eating the ‘jungli murgis’ (wild fowl) that his Burra

Memsahab had been fondly feeding!

The estate has three Lower Primary schools where eight

teachers impart education to four hundred students and a

bus is provided to transport students to high schools

outside the estate for further studies. There is a central

crèche where trained attendants take care of toddlers

while mobile crèches ensure that mothers have their

babies close to their work place and can check in on them

from time to time.

Some

former

students of the

estate’s schools have

done exceedingly

well. Amrit, son of

Sri Krishna Prasad

Upadhyay, night

watchman at the

‘Teela Bungalow’, has recently obtained his MBA degree.

Bonifor Hembrun, grandson of Magdala who has just

retired from her employment as ‘Ward Girl’ in the

hospital, is a virtuoso on the guitar and keyboards.

Presently studying Science at Margherita College, this ‘all-

rounder’ obtained above 80% in five subjects in the

Matriculation examinations.

The Management believes in acknowledging the

achievements of staff and

workers’ children and

encouraging them towards

obtaining further laurels.

Recently, the Management