I have a very colonial image of Assam tea gardens. They used to live in large bungalows in which tea gardens were run by the British.
and groups of workers plucking tea leaves from these plantations carrying bamboo baskets on their backs and centers of tea production and packaging located there.
People have always aspired to own a tea garden. I estimate this continues to this day, although most gardens are now run by corporations rather than individually owned.
More than 20% of the world’s tea leaves are produced in the northeastern parts of India, especially in eastern Assam and the adjoining areas of Darjeeling.
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In such a situation, it would not be wrong to call these areas the spoons of the world or the teaspoon of the world.
I have seen tea gardens in the past also during my visits to Kerala and Sri Lanka, but my fascination for the tea gardens of Assam has been there since childhood.
Ever since I had read about him in school, it was in my mind that I had to go there to know more about him.
While on one hand, these tea gardens provide flavorful tea to the world, on the other hand, it is also a major source of employment and livelihood for many people.
Assam tea leaf weeding
Freshly sprouted tea leaves are continuously harvested in each tea garden.
To be sure, two leaves and one shoot are plucked simultaneously during each harvest for the best tea leaves.
A normal laborer can sow up to 60-80 kg of tea leaves per day and is paid about Rs 2-3 for every kg.
A bamboo basket can carry up to 5 kg of tea leaves and these leaves are weighed several times a day.
Generally, these laborers start their work early in the morning with sunrise and continue working till sunset. During this, they are given one lunch break and two tea breaks.
On the basis of leaf germination, these laborers are assigned an area every morning by their supervisor and these workers continue to do their work in a very organized manner even when they are not employed.
After that they are given wages according to the whole day’s work.
Most of the laborers here are from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who have gradually settled their homes around these tea gardens.
One evening while we were there, I was very happy to see these weary laborers going home with their companions with hope.
Assam tea garden or a green carpet
I love visiting these lush green tea gardens. Although the environment around them is always hot and humid, it can be a bit difficult to stay there for a long time.
Standing in these gardens, if you look at your thieves, you can see only green tea plants from far and wide, as if a thick green carpet has been laid on this earth.
In Assam tea gardens, tall trees standing between these plants provide shade to them as well as to the laborers working there.
Sometimes these trees are wrapped with vines of spice plants, giving you a glimpse of the many shades of green at once.
Here the narrow lanes made for the movement of the workers collecting tea leaves look like a formless outline. When these gardens are situated on a slope,
the whole hill itself looks like a woman dressed in heavy green embroidery.
Assam Tea Garden
We visited the tea gardens of Tezpur, Kaziranga, and Jorhat during this trip. Although Tezpur was not on our itinerary, due to the closure of the road to Arunachal Pradesh,
we decided to go there. Because there was no sign of the road opening till the next day.
This heritage property situated in the middle of the tea garden in Tezpur is very attractive.
There are big bungalows here, which are more than 100 years old, but seeing their maintenance, it seems as if someone has always lived in them.
Tea Research Centre, Toklai, Jorhat
Our visit to the tea gardens would have probably been incomplete without visiting Tokalai located in Jorhat. Tolkai is the largest tea research center in the world.
Here, special amendments are made on all aspects, from the soil in which the tea plant is grown to the process of packaging and sale of tea leaves.
Apart from this, new types of tea are also made here, and attention is also paid to new systems, methods, and processes of making tea leaves.
The complex of Tokalai is very beautiful, with some ponds full of lotus and kumud flowers and a variety of small and big trees on which seasonal flowers were in bloom.
Due to the holiday, we could not see the tea museum located there, but the premises there were also very pleasing in themselves.
On our way from Jorhat to Guwahati, we had one last glimpse of the tea gardens from the windows of the train.
I think from now onwards I will appreciate my cup of tea even more after visiting these beautiful tea gardens and seeing the hard work that goes behind delivering this tea to us.
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