Senglung Tea Estate

If plants could talk, they’d say Maniram tended us

Researcher discovers Senglung tea estate, owned by freedom fighter Dewan
who was hanged by the British

  PULLOCK DUTTA of the Calcutta Telegraph

Jorhat, Jan. 7:
They no longer lend themselves to the nimble fingers of pluckers,
having grown beyond their reach — unkempt, unknown and orphaned.But these
plants, growing to heights ranging from 20 to 30 feet, have a rich history written
all over them, a history that is nearly 170 years old.
They were once tea bushes at Senlung tea estate, owned by Maniram Dewan,
the first Indian commercial tea planter and freedom fighter, who died at the gallows.
The forgotten tea estate, along the Assam-Nagaland border in Upper Assam’s
Sivasagar district, has now been discovered, thanks to a researcher’s efforts.

Senglung and Cinnamara were the two tea estates started by Dewan in 1845
after he resigned from the post of dewan, land agent and chief executive, of
India’s first tea company, the Assam Company.

Although Cinnamara still exists, Senlung got lost in time and there were no
records available about the garden, till Pradip Baruah, a tea expert undertaking
research on  Assam tea on behalf of TEAVISION, an NGO, discovered the tea
estate on Saturday.

“Tea plants of nearly 20 to 30 feet in height now lie scattered in that area. It
is possible that the original plants died of old age and these trees grew from the
seeds falling off  from the plants planted by Maniram Dewan. History books also
suggest that Senglung tea estate was located somewhere near Suffry in Sivasagar.
There is no doubt that  this was the Senlung tea estate started by Dewan,” Baruah,
who is also a senior  researcher at Tocklai Experimental Station, told The
Telegraph today.

The area where the plantation lies is known as Nagasiri and is hardly 2km from
the  Nagaland border. The area is also close to Suffry tea estate, nearly 400km
from Guwahati.

History has it that Senglung tea estate, along with Cinnamara, was confiscated
by the British and auctioned off soon after the execution of Dewan in 1858 for
his role in the  freedom struggle.

The British tea company, George Williamson, purchased the two estates.

However, the two tea estates fell on bad times as the labourers refused to
co-operate with the new owner. They remained loyal to Maniram Dewan,
forcing the company to part with them.

Cinnamara tea estate was taken over by Jorehaut Tea Company and
developed later It is now owned by the government’s Assam Tea Corporation.
However, how and  why Senglung was abandoned in the foothills is unknown.

Baruah said a part of Suffry tea estate is known as Singlo division, a name
which may have been derived from the original “Senglung”.

Abir Sarmah, the manager of Suffry tea estate, told The Telegraph over
phone that  he was aware of the old tea bushes in the hills near his garden
but the area being  inaccessible, no one had really ventured there. He said the
labourers of his garden  still perform “Dewanpuja” at the beginning of the
production season, probably to “appease” Maniram Dewan.

“The area where the plantation was discovered is not under the Suffry tea
estate.  These areas might have been lost under the Land Ceiling Act or
otherwise. We  have no records,” he said.

Jhaori Munda, a retired labour sardar (supervisor) of Suffry tea estate, said
he had seen old, tall tea bushes when he was young. “I remember seeing
an old bungalow  there, which was made of wood and bamboo. I have no idea
if it still exists,” he said.

He said the area is known as Nagasiri as there were staircase-like cuts on
the slopes of the hills, on which the Nagas used to climb down from their
villages to trade with the people in the foothills.

“There were tall tea plants found in these areas earlier, which were cut down
by the local residents for construction,” he said. Baruah said some parts of
the jungle, where  the tea estate existed, were cleared by local residents who
began tea plantation on  their own.

“Large areas are still unclear or uncut where quite a few big to medium-sized
tea plants exist, particularly on the steep slopes, covered with creepers, bamboo
and other  medium-sized plants,” he said.

He said he had come to know about Senglung tea estate in the hills, while
researching for a documentary on the history of Assam tea. “I approached
the garden management for their help to locate the garden nearly a year ago.
However, the arrangements for the exploration finally materialised only on
Saturday,” he said.

He said preservation of the remaining original plantations of Maniram Dewan
was the  need of the hour. “It is a heritage site for Indian tea and could be
developed as a tourist  spot. The area could also be useful for scientific research
as those original tea plants  might be having special characteristics that define
the unique quality of Assam tea or  that make them pest and disease resistant,
being in the wilds that they have for close to two centuries,” he said.

 May 2 2013

a A correspondent sent us this story

Tragedy near Teesta's Coronation Bridge

A daredevil who held the Guinness World Record for distance travelled on a zip-line while hanging by his hair has died while performing a new stunt.

Sailendra Nath Roy, a 49-year-old police driver from India, was attempting to cross the turbulent River Teesta on Sunday in the state of West Bengal on a 180m wire above the water.

After attaching his shoulder-length hair to a pulley on the zip-line, Roy had completed about half of the distance when his pony-tail became entangled and he found himself unable to move, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

Hundreds of spectators initially cheered him on, but then began screaming in horror when they saw the married father of two sons making increasingly desperate attempts to move forward.

"Roy tried frantically to get hold of a second rope to reach the finishing point," senior local police officer K. Jayaraman told AFP.

After about 20 minutes, he became motionless and was eventually rescued by local people. No ambulance or a doctor was present during the performance, which was watched by his family.

The driver, who had taken the day off work to perform, was admitted to hospital in Siliguri, 450 kilometres away, where he was declared dead by doctors of a suspected heart attack.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that Roy suffered an heart attack caused by a nervous breakdown after remaining suspended for several minutes," said B.R. Satpathi who heads West Bengal state's medical services.

The results of a post-mortem are expected later Monday.

Roy, who was wearing a life-jacket over his shirt and carrying the Indian flag, achieved the Guinness World Record in 2011 after covering 82.5 metres on a zip wire while attached by his hair at a hotel in the desert state of Rajasthan.

Last year he used his pony-tail to drag an engine and four coaches of the heritage Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

Roy's younger brother Benoy, who was witnessing his brother's stunt for the first time, told AFP: "We were proud of his bravery. He was sure to win but destiny has taken his life and the most beloved member of our family as well."

 ********************************************************************************************

Again we have to thank Shamol Ghosal for this Unkind storm story

April 18 2013

The Unkind Storm

It happened on the night of Wendnesday 17th April 2013 not long after Bengali Day

Extract from a Newspaper
Last night the city was torn into smithereens of sodden earth, lightning, roots, green leaves, fear, joy, wet clothes, laughter and foreboding, all intermingling into a morass as the Gods watched from the heavens at the turmoil below.

The nor’wester or ‘kal boishakhi’, as they are known in the Gangetic plain, slakes the thirst of a hot April, bringing in its wake strong winds and spikes of lightening. Which Bengali doesn’t look forward to them, except the cynic? The 'kal boishakhis' are as much venerated as the Ilish (the ‘sacred’ fish of the Bengalis, Tenualosa ilisha for the ‘pucca’).

Last evenings nor’westers did jolt even the hardest of hearts (though we don’t know how the cynics felt or where the atheists were) with the ferocity that it unleashed. Some of us did take His name, and the adventurous did think it was a perfect evening for love.
Doors and windows banging shut, some unhinged and thrashing open, shards of glass falling to the ground and possibly on some hapless passerby seeking shelter under the awning; large trees that had once stood the test of nature’s vagaries, now a pawn in its hands, uprooted and lying forlorn on a deserted and darkened road, its bruised leaves timidly swaying in the wind, a sad commentary on its erstwhile might; the skies ripped open in its bowels, shearing the stars into dust as a helpless moon was pushed into oblivion.

Once the whirlwind abated, and we caught our breath, we thanked Him that we were still breathing. In hindsight, the evening was diabolically spectacular.
Nature’s fury can be a feast for the eyes and emotions but when there is a concrete roof over one’s head, a roof which will not give way to dominating winds, a roof which will always shelter even when prayers falter.

Did the homeless enjoy last evening? Did the stray dog or the shanty dweller? Joy, happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction, sadness, unhappiness are two sides of a coin. Life is a lucky dip, we draw, we win or we lose; a coin tossed in the air, we have to take our chances, we have to learn to count our blessings even in the darkest of storms.

March 12 2013

 

 

Guwahati, Monday, March 11, 2013

 

Shortage of rainfall hits Barak tea industry
Correspondent
 HAILAKANDI, March 10 – The tea industry of Barak Valley is facing serious problems due to the shortage of rainfall during the last few months. The owners of various tea gardensof the valley have expressed serious concern over this.

It can be mentioned here that three districts of Barak Valley have 104 tea gardens. In a statement, the assistant secretary of Tea Association of India (TAI), Saradindu Bhattacharjee said that the collection of tea leaves has stopped and it would curtail the production of tea in the current year.

The irrigation systems in the tea gardens have also become inactive due to the acute shortage of power supply. Due to the shortage of water the tea leaves are getting dried and the garden workers are yet to start the plucking of leaves, he said. He said that more than two lakh employees are totally dependent on the tea industry and if the drought-like situation continues then the future of this industry in Barak Valley would face a serious jolt. He further said that the process of spraying of insecticides has also been disrupted due to the shortage of rainfall.

On behalf of the management of all the tea gardens, TAI has appealed to the Government to come forward for the rehabilitation of tea industry on this critical juncture of drought-like situation

---

October 20 2012

As can be seen the Assam Cabinet had a very difficult decision to make





August 31 2012
The following article was taken from "Tha Hindu" article 

His experiments with life by AKSHAT CHOPRA

Uddhab Bharali,

shortlisted by NASA

for its coveted technology award

Uddhab Bharali, shortlisted by NASA for its coveted technology award, thrives on creation and innovation

An Assam-born mechanical engineer ceded from college in 1987 because of racking poverty. Labelled as deranged by his family for his desire to invent things, today he has been shortlisted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its prestigious Technology Award. Forty-seven-year-old Uddhab Bharali was was only four when he realised that his family had inched towards acute poverty. "Back in 1988, when I was 25, my family owed a debt of Rs.18 lakh and the bank was at my doorstep to take all the property. There was no way I could earn that amount by continuing farming. So, I visited a polythene making factory where two of my fellow engineers were employed. The bank had agreed to lend me only Rs.1 lakh. I reinvented the polythene making machine, cutting its cost from Rs.5.07 lakh to Rs.67,000 only. That's when I realised that if I set my heart on something, I could actually make great innovations," says Bharali.

His gadgets are targeted at rural low-income households. He explains, "My innovations are meant for the needy people. My devices should mean something to those who are deprived, otherwise they are useless." Even after 98 innovations, Uddhab is still going strong. In 2006, his design for a desktop pomegranate de-seeding machine was recognised as the first of its kind across the world. "Americans were not able to solve the problem of de-seeding pomegranate for over 30 years. I am glad to have succeeded in achieving this feat," says the recipient of the President's National Grassroots Innovation Award 2009.

This invention led to his nomination for NASA's Technology Award. Another breakthrough was the mini CTC tea plant, which aims to help small time tea-pluckers and farmers. It has gained him a nomination for the World Technology Award 2012. Tea-pluckers, who earlier received Rs.9 per kg for the tea crop, are now getting up to Rs.20 per kg through this plant.

He also holds training programmes for illiterate students. "I select up to 10 illiterate students and invite them for a three-month technical training programme. I also give them a stipend of Rs.300-600 for the first two months. The challenge is that by the third month, they have to earn themselves a stipend of Rs.3,000 through their merit," Bharali informs us. The innovator is on to his new project - that is toilets for the handicapped. "It worries me to find that handicapped people are dependent on others for their daily activities. My toilet-chair will run without power. It will take care of the dressing, usage and flushing automatically. When the prototype was developed, the device left a foul smell. To eradicate this problem, I need Rs.10 lakh. I don't have that much money. But I'll surely introduce it soon," he declares. Bharali has other plans too. "I want to run an orphanage-cum-old age home. I intend to absorb the orphans into my training cell and make them self-sufficient. The old people would act as guardians and they will get companions."

Our thanks to Gowri Mohanakrishnan  for alerting us to this story


July 2 2012
 

Assam girl to carry Olympic torch

(Pinky, 17, was chosen to...)

BANGALORE: A class X student from Assam will represent India at the Olympic Torch Relay in London next week. Pinky Karmakar will be among the torchbearers from 20 countries at the relay in Nottinghamshire on June 28.

"I'm very excited. Only exceptionally talented people get such opportunities. I am honoured that I was chosen to represent my country," 17-year-old Pinky told STOI from Barbaruah in Assam's Dibrugarh district. She will leave for London on Sunday.



 July 19 2011

We have to thank Jasbir Randhawa for finding this story and passing it on so that others can enjoy it

 This story comes from the Wall Street Journal
                        of June 7 2011

                             By Christopher Shay

One Glass, Seven Layers of Tea

Mr. Gour and his layered tea.

Bangladeshis will travel hours to the sleepy town of Srimongol, in Bangladesh's northeast, just for a cup of Romesh Ram Gour's famous tea. In a country of avid tea drinkers, Mr. Gour is the inventor behind a seven-layer tea which, he claims, no one else has been able to replicate. Copycats in the region have succeeded in creating five-layer teas, but none have been able to unlock the secret to Mr. Gour's rainbow brew.

Mr. Gour invented his colorful layered teas 10 years ago, when he was selling tea from a bamboo shack. He says he realized that teas from different leaves have slightly different densities. It took a year of experimenting before he could sell teas with more than two layers. Over the years, he learned to expand to seven.

The kind of layer tea Mr. Gour makes is unique to the Srimongol area. An iced three-layer tea has become popular in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, but those drinks include one type of tea and are typically layered with palm sugar on the bottom, evaporated milk in the middle and tea on the top. What makes Srimongol's special are the discrete layers of tea blends.

Mr. Gour mixes different types of locally grown tea-three black teas and one green tea- from four types of bushes, with milk and various spices. Each mixture has a distinct color and taste, and he pours one on top of another to create seven distinct bands. Customers sip each layer slowly:  Trying to figure out what's in each one is a fun act of gustatory detective work. The top layer of the seven-layer tea has hints of cinnamon; the layer below has a slight citrus flavor to it. Mr. Gour says the fourth layer from the top and bottom layer get the most reaction from his customers. The fourth layer is a black tea mixed with condensed milk, while the bottom layer is a sweet, syrupy green tea with cloves, cinnamon and "secret spices." (Customers can choose to have one to seven layers of tea in their drink.)

In a country that consumes more than 55 million kilograms of tea leaves a year, Mr. Gour's layered tea has turned him into something of a celebrity. He has shared a cup of his tea with many of Bangladesh's top politicians, including members of Parliament and the governor of Bangladesh Bank. Bangladeshi newspaper clippings about his tea cover one wall of his open-air shop. In January, he opened a second tea cabin, just down the street from his first one.

A seven-layer drink costs 70 taka, or about one U.S. dollar. It may not sound like much, but most cups of tea in the area cost about seven U.S. cents.

Just how, exactly, Mr. Gour layers the tea is a closely guarded secret. Mr. Gour heads to a back room so he can make his concoction away from prying eyes. He has trusted the recipe to his three sons and brother who work at the shops-only the five them are allowed into the tea-preparation room.

Though imitators have popped up around town, offering their own layered teas, Mr. Gour is leading the competition with most layers. He says after years of practice, he will release a 10-layer tea later this year.

So, is the tea worth the trip?

With its varied flavors, tea connoisseurs are bound to find at least a layer or two they like. The fourth layer from the top stood out with its strong spices, likely some mixture of ginger and cinnamon in a black tea, while the popular bottom layer was a bit on the sweet side (though would have tasted great as a syrup on ice cream). Mr. Gour claims the flavors "will live with you a lifetime," but there's no one tea flavor that makes that memorable of a mark. It's more about the experience - and drink - as a whole: the mystery of the ingredients, the rows of tea bushes just outside the shops and the chance to drink from the hands of a Bangladeshi tea master.

Nilkantha Tea Cabins are on Kalighat Road just a few kilometers outside of the town of Srimongol in Sylhet division, Bangladesh


***************************************************************

July 12 2011

   We have to thank Willie Wood and Alan lane for getting this article to us
Editor

Rivers and Oceans

By - Renee Godfrey, Assistant Producer on Human Planet, explains her favourite part of making Rivers and Oceans

One of the most magical ways of living with rivers is found in the Khasi Hills of North East India; an environment, during monsoon season, engulfed by raging rivers. Searching for the secrets the deep Khasi tribal valleys and villages hold is a dream come true for any adventurous film maker.

Once a part of Assam in Northeast India, the tropically lush and verdant massif of Meghalaya stands proudly above the pancake flat plains of Bangladesh. As the Southwest Indian monsoon moves its moisture laden way up the Bay of Bengal and over Bangladesh, the Khasi Hills are the first major landmass it meets. Huge teams of nimbostratus clouds tower and linger with excited intent at having reached their destination - one of the wettest places on our planet.

With each twist and turn of the road, new and magnificent vistas are revealed. There is an air of mystery to the geography - its tropical forest draped in orchids, misty ridges, impossibly steep and seemingly inaccessible gorges, and moody rivers all begging to be explored.

During monsoon, the Khasi are faced with dealing with biblical amounts of water falling from the sky. Their traditional villages magically appear from nowhere through the enchanted forest, all cope wonderfully with days of downpours.

While the crew are all kitted out with umbrellas and waterproof jackets, Khasi society is lacking in such Gortex items, rather the women weave curved bamboo and palm leaf rain shields or `knub' to protect themselves from the beatings of rain. There is also one, very unique and magical Khasi solution to coping with the rainfall; one that the Khasi are particularly proud of, and that is what I have come in search for.

During monsoon, the rivers intersecting Khasi villages swell greedily and become raging rapids washing away anything in their path. Faced with the problem that man made bridges and walkways of concrete or wood rot and are destroyed by the forces of water, the Khasi have come up with a unique and organic architectural solution using what mother nature provides - they have learnt to make living bridges from tree roots.

Ficus elastica, or more commonly, the Indian Rubber Tree, is a loyal and useful character in the colourful cast within the forest canopy. Perched wisely on huge boulders or alongside riverbanks, the ficus trees sit, adorned with party streamer like aerial roots. Each root shoots out in medusa style fashion, on a mission to find soils with greater stability. Well rehearsed in the shifting moods and flows of the rivers, the help of these loyal root tendrils keeps the ficus trees standing strong. By encouraging the aerial roots across impassable rivers and gorges, bridges form and areas once impassable became accessible.

To find the root bridges takes dedication and concentration. An impossibly steep and knee numbing descent takes me down through layers of forest into the enchanted Khasi world.

Local villagers have made tiny steps down the steep gorge slopes, plunging into the heart of the forest - hundreds upon thousands of pebbles smoothed by years of Khasi feet trotting up and down.

Each pebble marked by footprints of times past, each with stories to tell as they take the weight of the local tribes.

As I hop across streams, sway dramatically over rickety steel bridges with heart in throat, too scared to look down at the white water below, my curiosity drives me on. These bridges of ornate organic architecture are hidden within this fairytale forest and these endless paths will, I know, eventually unveil their wonder.

Three hours into the trek, a small perfectly manicured village, Nogkriet appears at the end of the steps. Just beyond Nongkriet, I look up and am transported into an unbelievable scene; a mix between Alice in Wonderland and Lord of the Rings - colourful spiders look on from silvery webs and at any minute I expect to see fairies dancing around the bamboos. There in all its magical glory is the 200 year old Umshiang double decker root bridge. Sitting with an omnipotent grace, the bridge is bejewelled in aerial roots of all shapes, ages and textures - like a Monarch draped in regal gold - the ficus; treasure is equally as impressive and precious.

The Khasi of Nonkriet village have trained the roots of one single ficus tree on two levels across the river; the result, a surreal double decker root bridge sketched into the forest landscape like some sort of magical computer generated graphic on mother nature's stunningly crafted film set; nature's magic.

http://www.humanplanetblog.com/?m=201104

 July 8 2011
 

Arunchal Pradesh used to be NEFA and here is a
fascinating reminisce supplied to us by Jasbir Randhawa whom we thank for taking the time and trouble to inform us

Editor:

Khathing & the taking of Tawang

Published on June 1, 2011 in Articles/Opinion of the Manipur News/Imphal News/Kanglaonline

By Yambem Laba
TAWANG was lately in the news because of the unfortunate demise of Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu, who hailed from the area, in an unfortunate helicopter crash. But last year Tawang made headlines for a totally different reason: China`s reassertion of its claim over the area prompted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare time and again that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India. The Chinese claim is nothing new. In 1962, they attacked India and occupied the entire area, almost reaching the foothills near Tezpur. The abrupt Indian withdrawal then prompted Jawaharalal Nehru`s infamous statement that my heart goes out to the people of Assam`s, meaning that the Indian Army was withdrawing to defend the Indian mainland, leaving Assam and the entire North-east to the Chinese.

Commissioned into the 9/11 Hyderabad Regiment, he had General Thimaya as his company commander and there was another person who was later to became Chief of Army Staff `" General TN Raina.

By 1942, Khathing was transferred to the newly raised Assam Regiment in Shillong and became a captain. It was in the officer`s mess at Jorhat that he acquired the name Bob. Apparently the Americans found it difficult to pronounce `Ranenglao` and instead called him Robert, then truncated that to Bob. It was also at this time that the Allied Forces fighting the Japanese decided to raise V-Force, a guerrilla outfit like Wingate`s famed Chindits but comprising hill people of the region, led by an Allied officer. These people, because of the topography and their ability to live off the land, sometimes operated 150 miles from the nearest supply base and inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese behind their own lines, acting as a screen for the 14th Army of the Allied forces.

With the war won, he was, on request by the late Maharaj Kumar Priyabrata Singh, returned to Manipur in 1947 and joined the then interim government as minister in charge of the hill areas. In 1949, when Manipur merged with India following the now controversial merger agreement, the interim government was dissolved and Khathing, by his own admission, found himself `without a job for six months`.

That was when Sir Akbar Hydari, then Assam governor, asked him to join the Assam Rifles as a stopgap measure. He served with the 2nd Assam Rifles in Sadiya and by 1951 he was inducted into the Indian Frontier Administrative Service as an assistant political officer. Summoned by then Assam governor Jairamdas Daulatram, he was asked, `Do you know Tawang?` He was then given a `secret` file to study and told to `go and bring Tawang under Indian administration`. This task could not be implemented by the British for 50-odd years.

On 17 January 1951, Khathing, accompanied by Captain Hem Bahadur Limbu of 5th Assam Rifles and 200 troops and Captain Modiero of the Army Medical Corps left Lokra for the foothills, bound for Tawang. They were later joined by a 600-strong team of porters. On 19 January, they reached Sisiri and were joined by Major TC Allen, the last British political officer of the North East Frontier Agency. Five days later the party reached Dirang Dzong, the last Tibetan administrative headquarters, and were met by Katuk Lama, assistant Tibetan agent, and the Goanburras of Dirang. On 26 January, Major Khathing hoisted the Indian flag and a barakhana followed. The party stayed in Dirang for four days, during which time they received airdrops. On 1 February, they moved out and halted at Chakpurpu on their way to Sangje Dzong. On the third day, they made a five-mile climb to cross Sela Pass and pressed on to what was entered in Khathing`s diary as the `Tea Place` where water could be collected from the frozen surface to make tea. By 7.30 pm, the party closed in on Nurunang.

On 4 February, they reached Jang village where two locals were sent out to collect information and gauge the people`s feelings towards their coming. The next day, the headmen and elders of Rho,Changda and the surrounding villages of Jang called on Khathing, who lost no time in explaining the purpose of his visit and told them in no uncertain terms that they were no longer to take orders from the Tsona Dzongpens. That day, he, Captain Limbu, Subedar Bir Bahadur and Jamadar Udaibir Gurung climbed about half a mile on the Sela Tract to choose the site for the checkpost and construct a barracks.

On 6 February they camped at Gyankar and Tibetan representatives of the Tsona Dzongpens came to meet them. It was also Tibetan New Year or Lhosar, the first day of the Year of the Iron Horse. In the evening it snowed heavily and the villagers took this as a very good omen. Tawang was reached on 7 February and two days were spent scouting the area for a permanent site where both civil and military lines could be laid out with sufficient area for a playground.

A place was chosen north-east of Tawang Monastery and a meeting with Tibetan officials was scheduled for 9 February, but they had shown a reluctance to accept Indian authority overnight. Khathing told me in 1985 `" when I`d accompanied him on his last trip to Tawang `" that, left with no option, he told Captain Limbu to order his troops to fix bayonets and stage a flag march around Tawang to show he meant business. By the evening it had the desired effect and the Tibetan officials and elders of the monastery came to meet him. They were then given notice that the Tsona Dzongpens or any representatives of the Tibetan government could no longer exercise any power over the people living south of the Bumla range.

On 11 February, Khathing visited the monastery, called on the abbot and presented him and the other monks gifts that comprised gramophone players, cloth and tiffin-carriers. The next day all the chhgergans (officials) of the 11 tsos or Tibetan administrative units were called up and a general order was issued directing them not to take any more order from the Dzongpens or Drekhong or pay tribute to them any longer. That afternoon, Tibetan officials and the Nyertsang called for time and permission to exercise their authority till they heard from the Tibetan government in Lhasa. Khathing put his foot down and told them the `area is ours according to the Treaty of 1914` and there was no question of a reply from their government in Lhasa and, hence, no extension could be given. Thus did Tawang effectively become a part of India from that day on.

June 15 2011

Thanks to Jimmie Bain we have an amusing story from Africa

 Subject: Fwd: STORY FROM AFRICA
 
  Jimmie points out that although not an Assam Rhino he thought this would amuse those who know the species,
                      
     
 "Artificial  Insemination" : Black Rhino chuckle 
 
Wilbur Smith and the Rhino.   
A factual account by Wilbur Smith. 
 
The plight of the  Black Rhinoceros is, of course, due mostly to the value of its  horn and the ferocious poaching that this engenders. However,  a contributory factor to the declining rhino population is the  animals disorganized mating habits. It seems that the female  rhino only becomes receptive to the male's attentions every three  years or so, while the male only becomes interested in her at the  same intervals. A condition known 
quite appropriately as "Must".   
 
The problem is one of synchronization, for their amorous  inclinations do not always coincide. 
 
In the early  Sixties, I was invited, along with a host of journalists and other luminaries, to be present at an attempt by the  Rhodesian Game and Tsetse Department to solve this problem of  poor timing. The idea was to capture a male rhino and induce him  to deliver up that which could be stored 
until that day in the  distant future when his mate's fancy turned
lightly to thoughts  of love. We departed from the Zambezi Valley in an  impressive convoy of trucks and Land Rovers, counting in our  midst none other than the Director of the game department in  person, together with his minions, a veterinary surgeon, an  electrician and sundry other technicians, all deemed necessary to  make the harvest. 
 
The local game scouts had been sent out to  scout the bush for the largest, most virile rhino they could  find. They had done their job to perfection and led us to a beast  at least the size of a small granite koppie with a horn on his  nose considerably longer than my arm. The trick was to get this monster into a robust mobile pen, which had been constructed to  accommodate him. 
 
With the Director of the Game Department  shouting frantic orders from the safety of the largest truck, the  pursuit was on. The tumult and the shouting were apocalyptic.  Clouds of dust flew in all directions, trees, and vegetation were  destroyed, game scouts scattered like chaff, but finally  the Rhino had about a litre of narcotics shot into his rump and  his mood became 
dreamy and benign. With forty black game guards  heaving and shoving, and the Director still shouting orders from  the truck, the rhino was wedged into his cage, and stood there  with a happy grin on his face. 
 
At this stage, the Director  deemed it safe to emerge from the cab of his truck and he came  amongst us resplendent in starched and immaculately ironed bush  jacket with a colourful silk scarf at this throat. With an imperial gesture, he ordered the portable electric generator to  be brought forward and positioned behind the captured animal.  This was a machine, which was capable of lighting up a small  city, and it was equipped with two wheels 
that made it resemble a  roman chariot. 
 
The Director climbed up on the generator to  better address us. We gathered around attentively while he  explained what was to happen next. It seemed that the only way to  get what we had come for was to introduce an electrode into the  rhino's rear end, and to deliver a mild electric shock, no more  than a few volts, which would be enough to pull his trigger for  him. 
 
The Director gave another order and the veterinary  surgeon greased something that looked like an acoustic torpedo  and which was attached to the generator with sturdy insulated  wires. He then went up behind the somnolent beast and thrust it  up him to a full arms length, at which the Rhino opened his  eyes very wide indeed. 
 
The veterinary and his two black  assistants now moved into position with a large bucket and  assumed expectant expressions. We, the audience, crowded closer  so as not to miss a single detail of the drama. The Director still mounted on the generator trailer, nodded to the electrician  who threw the switch and chaos reigned. In the subsequent  departmental enquiry the blame 
was placed squarely on the  shoulders of the electrician. It seems that in the heat of the  moment his wits had deserted him and instead of connecting up his  apparatus to deliver a gentle 5 volts, he had crossed his wires and the Rhino received a full 500 volts up his rear end.   
 
His reaction was spectacular. Four tons of rhinoceros shot  six feet straight up in the air. The cage, made of great timber  baulks, exploded into its separate pieces and the rhinoceros now  very much awake, took off at a gallop. 
 
We, the audience,  were no less spritely. We took to the trees with alacrity. This  was the only occasion on which I have ever been passed by  two journalists half way up a Mopane tree. 
 
From the top  branches we beheld an amazing sight, for the chariot was still connected to the Rhinoceros per rectum, and the director of  the game department was still mounted upon it, very much like Ben  Hur, the charioteer. 
 
As they disappeared from view, the  rhinoceros was snorting and blowing like a steam locomotive and  the Director was clinging to the front rail of his chariot and  howling like the north wind, which only encouraged the beast  to greater speed. 
 
The story has a happy ending for the  following day after the director had returned hurriedly to his  office in Salisbury, another male Rhinoceros was captured and  caged and this time the electrician got his wiring right. 
 
I  can still see the Rhinoceros's expression of surprised gratification as the switch was thrown. You could almost hear him think to  himself. "Oh Boy! I didn't think this was going to happen to me  for at least another three years". 
  

 October 21 2010
The article below is from the Telegraph of October 19 2010

Bhaiti Bhuyan is the working president of the MANIRAM MEMORIAL TRUST with Aroon Chandre Baruah the great, great garndson of Maniram Dewan.    kindly forwarded it to the Editor

October 31 2006 
   Peter Bartlett kindly sent us this information

Subject: WEPA 25th Anniversary News

It seems like the World Elephant Polo Association was established at Tiger Tops in Nepal only a few years back and its quite amazing to realise that with a blink, years have passed by so quickly. Its now time for the 25^th anniversary of the most unusual sport of the year - World Elephant Polo Tournament at Tiger Tops. The silver jubilee of one of the world's unique games has been set for November 26^th to December 2^nd, 2006. To celebrate this wonderful event, friends of Elephant Polo from around the world are participating this year along with our regular teams, Tiger Tops Tuskers, British Gurkhas, National Park and sponsors for many years Chivas Scotland.

A WEPA Ball organised in London on the 21^st October, 2006 to celebrate the 25^th anniversary was a great success. Monies were raised for charity including International Trust for Nature Conservation (ITNC), a London registered Charity Number 281101 ( www.itnc.org ) as well as for community development in Chitwan and Nawalparasi in Nepal.

We wish all participants all the very best for the grand game of 2006.

Tea has brought cheer to people across the world for over 4500 years. The ancient Chinese first drank it for its medicinal value, and later, from the third century onwards, as a refreshing beverage. Japan was the only other country where the growing and drinking of tea took early root, the Japanese raising tea drinking to a fine art in their tea ceremonies. The popularity of tea spread to other parts of the world after the seventeenth century.

In England, tea received royal patronage when King Charles II married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, who was an inveterate tea-drinker. Britain was engaged in a war with France between 1756 and 1763, and obliged to levy several taxes to maintain its standing army in America. Following protests by the colonists, the British government withdrew all the taxes except that on tea. This did not appease the colonists,who boarded a ship in Boston harbour loaded with chests of tea, and threw them overboard into the sea as a protest to proclaim that there could be no taxation without representation in the British parliament. This event was described then and ever after as the Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party fracas led to the American Revolution and the declaration of American Independence in 1773. Thus it was that tea played a key role in altering the course of history! Through the centuries, tea has also symbolized warmth, friendship, mutual respect, and caring. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in the eighteenth century. 'There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiments in a chest of tea'.

Today tea is the reigning beverage in over 45 countries and is consumed in over 115 countries around the globe. The Irish are the world's largest consumers, each person on an average consuming eight cups a day. However, the largest producer and overall the greatest consumer is India, where, at any time and anywhere, chai is an essential part of daily life.Pioneering Initiatives:

The year was 1823. Robert Bruce, a Scottish trader and explorer, visited Rangpur, the Ahom capital in Upper Assam. He had Thjourneyed many times of these frontiers but this particular foray had a very special purpose, He planned to meet Bessa Gaum, the chief of the Singhpo, one of the principal indigenous tribes of the Indian north-east, in connection with tea.

Bruce had learnt from a native nobleman, Maniram Datta Barua, that the Singhpo grew a variety of tea unknown to the rest of the world. If all that he had wanted was samples of the plants and seeds, he could have obtained them from just about any tribal contact. Bruce, however, wanted much more: the friendship of the Singhpo tribe and long-term access to the areas where the tea grew. If this was good tea, Assam could rival China, and Bruce sensed that he was on the threshold of something really big.

His meeting with the Singhpo chief inspired further hope. The brew from the plant did very closely resemble tea, and Bruce was permitted to carry away plants and seeds. This magnanimous gesture by the tribe opened Assam's doors to an industry that would sustain it for generations to come. Long after that happened - indeed, to this day - growing tea is the mainstay of Assam's economy. Bruch was an adventurous pioneer who sensed that history could be made, though he had no inkling of the remarkable consequences his initiative would have. Other Europeans followed him. He died in 1824 soon after his meeting with the Singhpo chief.

His younger brother, Charles Alexander Bruce, collected the tea plants and dispatched them to David Scott, the governor-general's agent in Assam. The plants were then sent to Dr N. Wallich, superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden, who declared they were not genuine tea! The indigenous Assam tea plant had to wait for another decade for recognition.

In 1833 the East India Company's monopoly of the Chinese trade came to an end. The British government decided to initiate tea-planting in India on a war footing. On 1 February 1834, Lord Bentinck, as governor general, set up the historic Tea Committee with George James Gordon as its secretary. The Tea Committee sent out a circular asking where tea could be grown. Captain F. Jenkins, based in Assam, responded by saying that Assam was ideal for tea cultivation.

His assistant, Lieutenant Charlton, collected the indigenous tea plants and sent them to Calcutta. Dr Wallich now pronounced Charlton's samples to be genuine tea, 'not different from the plant of China'. Jenkins and Charlton were awarded gold medals by the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Bengal while Charles Alexander Bruce was unceremoniously ignored.

In 1835, the Tea Committee appointed a Scientific Commission to select appropriate sites for planting tea, and Assam was again found to be the most suitable. The committee, however, decided that the Chinese plant and not the 'degraded Assam plant' should be used. The Tea Committee's secretary, Gordon, returned from a trip to China armed with tea seeds which were raised in nurseries in Calcutta. Young bushes raised in these nurseries were sent to Charles Alexander Bruce. He dutifully started several plantations with tem in Chubwa. The Chinese plants proved to be a terrible disaster because they cross-pollinated with the native plant and produced a hybrid that would torment planters for many years to come.

The Breakthrough:

Bruce did not give up. He set up a nursery at Sadiya consisting entirely of native bushes, and these survived. With the help of Chinese workmen, whom Gordon had sent to Assam, he managed to quietly dispatch a small sample of manufactured tea grown from the local Assamese plant to the Tea Committee in 1836. The first samples were approved by the viceroy, Lord Auckland. Experts pronounced their verdict: it was of good quality.

In 1837, Bruce dispatched another consignment of 46 chests of tea made entirely from the leaves of the Assamese bush to the Tea Committee. After removing a portion that had spoilt in transit, 350 pounds in eight chests were sent to the London auctions on 8 May 1838. This historic consignment was auctioned in London on 10 January 1839 and generated great excitement and patriotic fervour. Bruce had shown the way!

The Assam Company:

The East India company was the first to develop plantations in north-east India. In 1839, the Bengal Tea Association was set up in Calcutta. Private enterprise needed no further incentive and stepped into the nascent industry. In 1839, the first company for growing and making tea in India, Assam Company, was set up. Shares worth 500,000 pounds were floated, and such was the euphoria generated that they were immediately snapped up. In 1840, the government handed over almost all its tea holding to the company, and the latter, in addition, leased large tracts of land under the Assam Wasteland Rules of 1838.

From the outset the company was bedeviled by shortage of labour ad technical expertise. Despite the poor performance of the Chinese plant, Assam Company still grew it and employed Chinese methods of cultivation and manufacture. The expenses were exorbitant and the actual production insignificant. The company slipped into the red, and by 1843 was facing bankruptcy and liquidation. A saviour, in the form of Henry Burking Young from Calcutta, revived it in 1847, and Stephen Mornay took charge in Assam. Together they improved cultivation, streamlined the company's finances, and within five years they were a success story.

In May 1855, indigenous tea bushes were first discovered in Cachar district of Assam. The very next year proprietary gardens were established there. Tea cultivation spread to Tripura, Sylhet, and Chittagong, Jorehaut Tea Company followed in the footsteps of Assam Company and was incorporated on 29 June 1859. By 1859 there were nearly 50 tea gardens in Assam. Seeds and saplings were also planted in Kumaon, Dehra Dun, Kangra, Kullu and Garhwal on an experimental basis.

By 1862, the tea industry in Assam comprised 160 gardens owned by 57 private and five public companies. In 1868 the government appointed a commission to enquire into all aspects of the industry and expressed the view that it was basically sound. The total amount of capital invested in the industry increased from less than £ 1 m. in 1872 to £ 14 m. within three decades. In 1881, the Indian Tea Association was founded to represent north Indian planters, and in 1893 the United Planters' Association of Southern India was set up to represent those in the south.

Tea Travels:

All was not, however, lost for the Chinese tea bush. It was found suitable for Darjeeling. In 1841, Dr A. Campbell brought Chinese tea seeds from Kumaon and planted them in his garden in Darjeeling town. Commercial cultivation began around 1852-3. By 1874, there were 113 tea gardens in Darjeeling district alone. This inspired planters to try out tea cultivation in the Terai region. James white set up the first Terai plantation called Champta in 1862. Planting was then extended to the Dooars, but the Assamese tea bush proved more suited to this region. Gazeldubi was the first Dooars garden, and by 1876 the area boasted 13 plantations, which in 1877 led the British to set up the dooars Tea Planters' Association.

In the south, the pioneers cleared the forests to grow crops and following much experimentation, finally settled on tea. In the process they faced much hardship, combating disease, the depredations of wild animals and a chronic shortage of capital. They were, however, enterprising and determined men who shrugged off these adversities and persevered. James Finlay & Co. was the first to attempt tea cultivation in the high ranges of Kerala. The hills of Kerala, especially Munnar, are now home to the highest teas grown in the world. The specific geographical conditions and the height of the plantations make the tea unique. Tea was planted over the graveyard of coffee. Miles and miles of coffee plantations had been infested with 'leaf rust'. Mann was the first planter to manufacture Nilgiri teas. He started a tea plantation near Coonoor in 1854, which is now known as Coonoor Tea Estate. Around this time, another planter, Rae, set up Dunsandle Estate near Kulhatty. Following their success, other planters in the Nilgiris began to follow suit in 1859.

The Nilgiris or the Blue Mountains, popularly known as the 'Queen of the Hills', are situated at the tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. The region is well known for a concentration of 80 native plant species, which is a rare occurrence in nature. Notwithstanding this, southern tea production stagnated for a long time, gathering momentum only in the early twentieth century. Today, the total cultivated area of the Nilgiris is 77,469 ha of which 69.5 per cent is under tea. Most south Indian tea is grown in the hilly regions of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka states, but the bulk of Indian tea comes from the Eastern and North-Eastern parts of the country where tea estates are mostly located in the plains.

The Early Entrepreneurs:

The role played by the pioneers of tea prior to Independence is a saga of courage, entrepreneurship and determination. Sir Percival Griffiths, in his History of the Indian Tea Industry (London, 1967) - considered to be one of the best accounts of the early years - described the first planters as having had 'to hew their way through trackless jungles to cope with disease and the ravages of wild beasts, to recruit and maintain the morale of the workers from distant provinces and last but not least, to learn the technique of tea cultivation and manufacture'.

There were dense, impenetrable tropical forests. Herds of wild elephants tramped right across the young tea bushes. There were no means of transport and communication. Right up to the late nineteenth century, people in Assam traveled mostly by boat up and down the mighty Brahmaputra river. The pioneers and local inhabitants played a major role in building roads, bridges and other infrastructural facilities in the tea-producing areas.

The Plantation Inquiry Commission mentioned in its report that the tea-planting industry had played a valuable part in opening up and developing what were previously inaccessible jungles and forests. Doing business in Assam has entailed tackling the challenge of backwardness. Assam is a microcosm of the problems relating to the environment, health, employment, habitat, gender inequality and ethnic unrest that afflict the country as a whole

Maniram Dewan, the prime minister of the last Ahom king, Purandhar Singha, was the first Indian to grow tea on a commercial basis in Assam. He was followed by Rosheswar Barua, who established six tea estates. Many other Indian planters followed their lead. Among them, some noteworthy names were Bistooram Barooah, Kaliprasad Chaliha, Hemadhar Barua, Rai Bahadur Jagannath Barua, Rai Bahadur Krishnakant Barua, Colonel Sibram Bora, Sarbananda Borkakoti, Rai Bahadur Bisturam Barua, Rai Bahadur Sib Prasad Barua, Rai Bahadur Debi Charan Barua, Ganga Gobind Phukan, Malabo Barua, Aryan Barbara, Grantham Barua, Radhakanta Handique and Narayan Bedia.

From Faraway Rajasthan, the land of heat and dust, came the Marwaris who found their leafy fortunes in tea cultivation. In 1819, Navrangrai, the father of Harbilash Agrawal, migrated from Churu and settled in Tezpur. A few years later he was joined by a stream of traders. They braved immense hardship, but battled on and built their businesses from scratch. From Tezpur.

The Marwaris travelled across rough mountainous terrain, often on foot. There were no transport facilities and it used to be said: Jahan na pahunche belgadi, vahan pahunche Marwari (the Marwari can even reach a place which is inaccessible to a bullock cart). Innumerable Marwaris succumbed to illness and lack of medical care. They had to rely on their own intelligence and skill to develop plantations, clearing the jungles and identifying the soil best suited to tea. So expert did they become that very soon European and other Indian planters began to seek their advice.

The former chief commissioner of Assam, R.H. Keating, commented " 'The Assamese with their subsistence economy were not interested in large trade and industry in 1874. Hence, the Marwaris were allowed to facilitate commercial transactions with Bengal. Later, a large number of Marwaris took over trade and business and benefited immensely.' According to the 1881 census, there were 2400 Marwaris living in Assam. Many of them were money lenders or worked as traders supplying foodgrains to the tea estates. The Census Report, 1921, notes that 'Wholesale and important retail trade is in the hands of men of Rajputana and of Eastern Bengal'.

Later the Marwaris even began buying out British plantations. Their role in the development of Assam was quite significant and was highlighted by the first Congress chief minister of Assam, Gopinath Bordoloi, 'I always praise the unremitting efforts of the Marwaris which have resulted in making Assam a prosperous place worth living in. they have performed a great service for Assam and the Assamese masses.' Bordoloi added, 'The credit for changing the face of Guwahati, Noganva, Jorhat, Dhubri, Gowalpada, Shivasagar, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and other cities situated on the banks of the Brahmaputra goes to the Marwaris who came to Assam in the last century and settled here. Likewise, they deserve the credit for bringing prosperity to Shillong, Dimapur, Kohima, Tinsukhia, Digboi and Imphal.'

Courtesy: The Heritage of Indian Tea - D.K. TAKNET
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A young girl in the Jhumor costume
(A very pretty young lady-- Editor)

Beautifuuly decorated traditional Assamese style for Bihu Nite

Holiat Tingri Club

Junis getting a haircut from the Garden barber (Thakur) on a Sunday

Lychees at Laipuli B'low Keyhung T E.

 Oh Calcutta

Peach blossom at Laipuli B'low Keyhung T.E. 

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