Tea Gardens The Magical Journey Part 2

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We began on our trip to the factory after the usual salutations with the bara mem sahib Coming out of the major gate to the bungalow it was nonetheless light. A lovely hue shone over the trees and the magic continued. There had been some goats being taken property. A couple of chickens crossed the road and we had to quit for them. Like almost everything else they believed in a world exactly where every little thing was diverse and life moved rather slowly. They were not in a hurry to get anyplace.

A large gate was visible on the left and we realized we had come to the factory. Entering the gate we saw a huge sprawl of buildings and so we continued on to the one marked office. A couple of worker's passing by had stopped to stare. Certainly not extremely various consumers came to this spot. The watchman opened the door for me to get out of the jeep. It smelled superb and there was a sense of crispness in the air.

I proceeded on to office and was greeted by a voice which on searching around came from behind a door. The gentleman whose voice it was turned out to be the head clerk. A gray haired, mild mannered man with an air of calm emanating from his smiling face. The Bara sahib was expecting me but was in the factory. He enquired if I would like some tea or water which I respectfully declined. I was full from all the sandwiches I had had at the Bara bungalow. He asked me to sit down in an workplace which ought to have been built 100 years ago. A good huge table carved intricately but showing small signs of wear was the centerpiece with a amazing massive chair behind it. If my region was half as nice as this I would truly like it here. A man appeared who turned out to be the factory clerk. He was going to take me about to the factory.

With a couple of butterflies in my stomach, I went with him. Fist we stopped at the weighing room where I discovered out the workers bring in the green leaves to weigh and get their dues recorded. After the weighing of the leaves they go onto Troughs which are lengthy and shallow. They had a wire mesh bottom and a significant fan on 1 end that blew air onto the leaves from below the mesh. The leaves getting placed in the troughs over the mesh. The factory clerk told me that this was to reduce the moisture content of the leaves to about 70 percent. The smells there were out of this world. I felt I could stand there forever. My daze was broken by the factory clerk who apologetically mentioned we had to go on.

To be continued.....

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