“All our guests tell us that
they’ll come back. But no one has returned. When you get married, you must come
here with your husband.”
That’s my Amma and Baba
Maya Devi and Hari Chettri for you
Two months ago if you’d asked me about an organic tea plantation
nestled at the misty foothills of the Himalayas near Kurseong in northern West
Bengal’s district of Darjeeling, I would have stared blankly back at you. But it
was conversations that led to plans being formulated with friends two months
ago which then resulted in Amritsar and Sandakphu being firmly pinned on my travel
map.
Located on diametrically opposite sides of the Indian mainland, this
idea of going from Punjab in the west to West Bengal in the east in a span on
48 hours left me feeling extremely exhilarated. That my dad’s reaction to it
was diametrically opposite to my own, needs a special mention!
However, between finally striking Amritsar off my travel bucket-list
and embarking on the mission to scale Sandakphu, I was left with about a week’s
time at hand. And that’s when, for the first time since I’ve been bookmarking
webpages, I dove into my collection and came sputtering to the surface with homestays
at Makaibari clenched in my fist (not that dramatic but you get the gist,
right?). And that was how I chanced upon the Makaibari
Tea Estate!
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| Of tea and all things tea | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
Of tea and all things tea
At a hundred and fifty years old, the Makaibari Tea Estate is managed
by the Banerjee family and has never been owned by the British Raj (unlike many
other tea estates). It is the first established tea factory in the world that
dates to 1857 and still stands tall even today (as we would witness during our
visit to the factory). And according to our guide, these tea gardens have
always been organic.
It’s always intrigued my curiosity on what makes a green leafy
substance turn into something small, square-ish and brown. That is why our
visit to the tea factory was as much of a demythifying experience as it was a
spell-binding one!
Being taken through the process and being exposed to words like
‘withering’ (used to remove excess water from the leaves), ‘fermenting’ (when the
chlorophyll in the leaves is enzymatically broken down, and its tannins are
released or transformed), ‘rolling’ (when damp tea leaves are then rolled to be
formed into wrinkled strips, by hand or using a rolling machine), ‘drying’ (to
"finish" the tea for sale) and ‘sorting’ put so much in perspective
that I was yet again left wondering why schools do not include excursions to
places such as these!
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| At the withering section inside the Makaibari tea factory | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
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| From green to black - Tea leaves after being oxidised | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
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| Tea leaves being hand-rolled | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
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| Walking through the tea gardens while the women were hard at work | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
I would realise that our initiation into the elegant world of tea had
only begun to come together when we were at the tea tasting two days later. And
so we learnt that the winter dormancy is broken by the First Flush pickings during
the months of March and April followed by the Second Flush between May and
June. The Darjeeling Oolong Tea and Silver Tips are special quality patented
semi fermented teas whereas the Darjeeling Green Tea and Darjeeling Peony White
Tea are un-fermented with the former being steamed after being plucked and the
latter being roasted or pan fried
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| At the tea tasting https://www.instagram.com/p/BEUqU31hyaJ/ | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
Of tales and ties
But tea tales aside, it was our time spent with Amma and Baba – our home-stay
hosts in Makaibari that have remained firmly etched in our memories.
This was our cosy homestay overlooking the Makaibari tea plantations.
Meet Amma and Baba
A mother and a father in the disguise of homestay hosts.
It's not everyday that you get treated like a daughter of the house when you're in a distant town miles away from the place you call home and the people you call parents.
An ever so happy and joyful soul, Baba is the kind of person who breaks into a ‘Bombai se aaya mera dost’ each time we sat down for a meal while Amma garnished our conversations in Hindi with Nepali just as deftly as she managed being both gentle and firm!
Baba has retired and runs the house (read: would prepare lunch for us)
while Amma was at work (read: she’s a manager at the tea gardens). Theirs is a
life that inspires.
From Baba it was truly heart-warming to hear what it takes to be a
home-stay host. In his own mild-mannered way he talked about a few guests who’ve
been demanding or unruly. But in his Buddha-like demeanour, he was realistic
enough to acknowledge that people would be the way they are and that he
couldn’t be grouchy about it or be irrational in demanding the kind of guests
he would welcome into his home.
Amma, on the other hand, epitomizes fervour and perseverance. Her
daily commute to work is a 4 hour journey to and fro and yet she is on her feet
running household errands and calling after her almost eight year old grandson
and then husband when either one (but mostly both) are up to no good! In spite
of her tough exterior, Amma is all heart and through her every conversation
emphasized on the importance of honesty and simplicity – virtues which
sometimes seem to belong to an era bygone! And were it not for her determination,
we would have missed out on our primer of the ‘meetho’ Nepali language.
It was saddening to learn from both of them that owing to the invasion
of media – primarily television – many families have begun an exodus away from
the Nepali language towards Hindi and English. Which is both good and bad. Good
for the obvious reasons but bad because knee-high kids cannot speak or
understand a word of Nepali anymore.
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| Our house for 4 days was a happy pink ;) | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
Over a month after our time in Makaibari, it feels like only last week
when we were sitting around the dining table being told by Amma and Baba at the
time of our departure that we should never ever hesitate to say what is on our
mind. Because when the heart is pure there is nothing to be afraid of. Because
when the heart is pure, there is no arrogance.
Makes me wonder where along the way in this pursuit of leading a more
civilised life, did we leave behind our true and real selves?
One that allowed for such connections with strangers.
And how have we made strangers out of people we supposedly share a
connection with?
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| Strawberries in Makaibari | Makaibari, Kurseong (Darjeeling) - West Bengal, India |
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