Today I flew to Delhi. I miss Darjeeling already.
A friend of a friend took me around town upon my arrival. I saw the India Gates and the Red Fort, and ate at the most exclusive club in Delhi. We had great conversation, which eased the transition out of the lush mountains and into the dirty city a bit.
Tomorrow, I fly to London, and then to NYC. I'll catch you later from the other side of the world!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Goom Tea Estate
Today I visited Goom Tea Estate, which is not in Goom (the town), nor is it near the Goom Monastary. (Confusing?) They have a manager's bungalow that has been converted into an inn. It's absolutely lovely. There's a prim little garden nearby and plants line all the drives. The food is completely vegetarian. (If you want meat, they suggest going to a restaurant in town.) The tea garden looks healthy from afar, but I didn't have the chance to see it up close. (Most of it is conventional, but they do have some organic production as well.) The factory is quite a sight. Almost all of the surfaces are white and it is immaculately clean. You have to wear special shoes, a hairnet, a surgical mask, and an apron to get in. (Strangely, you don't have to wear gloves.) The dryer has lighted windows that allow you to see they conveyor belt moving the tea along as it dries. Cool.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Castleton & Crafts
Today I visited Castleton's fields and continued with my craft project.
The trip to Castleton was very interesting. Suman showed me around again, explaining each step of the tea growth and harvesting as we walked. I saw where their quality teas come from up close. (The naturally rich soil and the location on the mountain, paired with watchful management explained the quality level well.) I saw some of their experiments-in-progress involving clonal teas. I also saw the difference between organic and conventional tea production. (I knew the biodiversity would be far lower at (conventional) Castleton than at (organic) Makaibari and that there were landslides due to insufficient ground cover, but what I didn't realize that there would be as much of an insect and fungus problem as there was.) Suman and I talked about the transition process (the change from conventional to organic, which they call the conversion process in India) and the possibility of organic production at Castleton. (I hope they make the switch!) While I was there, I had the pleasure of joining Suman, his wife, and his infant daughter for conversation, a splendid white tea, and a meal prepared by his "homely" wife. (In India "homely" is not a euphemism for "plain" or "unattractive." It means "good around the home.") We talked about Indian vegetarianism (which is different from American vegetarianism in that eggs, garlic, and onion count as "non-veg"), tea production, various tea blights, and the tea market in the US. All very nice.
Afterward, I met with the crafts group again. We talked about what kinds of things they want to make with the technique they've learned and where they can sell the crafts they produce. I often think of crafts as part of the Third-Wave Feminist reclaimation of traditional feminine activities, but in teaching women a technique that will empower them to earn their own incomes, I hope I've taken that notion a step further.
I'm flying to Delhi in two days and to London and NYC in three. I wish I weren't.
The trip to Castleton was very interesting. Suman showed me around again, explaining each step of the tea growth and harvesting as we walked. I saw where their quality teas come from up close. (The naturally rich soil and the location on the mountain, paired with watchful management explained the quality level well.) I saw some of their experiments-in-progress involving clonal teas. I also saw the difference between organic and conventional tea production. (I knew the biodiversity would be far lower at (conventional) Castleton than at (organic) Makaibari and that there were landslides due to insufficient ground cover, but what I didn't realize that there would be as much of an insect and fungus problem as there was.) Suman and I talked about the transition process (the change from conventional to organic, which they call the conversion process in India) and the possibility of organic production at Castleton. (I hope they make the switch!) While I was there, I had the pleasure of joining Suman, his wife, and his infant daughter for conversation, a splendid white tea, and a meal prepared by his "homely" wife. (In India "homely" is not a euphemism for "plain" or "unattractive." It means "good around the home.") We talked about Indian vegetarianism (which is different from American vegetarianism in that eggs, garlic, and onion count as "non-veg"), tea production, various tea blights, and the tea market in the US. All very nice.
Afterward, I met with the crafts group again. We talked about what kinds of things they want to make with the technique they've learned and where they can sell the crafts they produce. I often think of crafts as part of the Third-Wave Feminist reclaimation of traditional feminine activities, but in teaching women a technique that will empower them to earn their own incomes, I hope I've taken that notion a step further.
I'm flying to Delhi in two days and to London and NYC in three. I wish I weren't.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Down Time
I'm going to be leaving very soon. I decided to take some down time and mentally process my trip a bit. This meant doing a lot of not much at all. I hung out with the Makaibari volunteers and shot the breeze for a while. I drank a lot of tea. I took a tour of the local village, where many of the Makaibari workers live. Drank more tea. Met with the knotting group and found that they're making great progress with the technique. Talked with some of the loacls. Watched a silly movie. Read more of "The Book of Tea." Relaxed. Enjoyed the scenery. It was a good day.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Darjeeling to Kurseong, Plus a Birthday
Today, Nalin joined me (or, rather, I joined him) on the ride from Darjeeling to Kurseong, which is a good thing, because many of the drivers were on strike. He took me to the Tea Research Association (TRA) Clonal Facility, which is really more of a grafting facility, but was fascinationg to see. They have a dozen or so different varieties of tea growing in small sections night next to eachother, which makes it very easy for city-folk like me to see their many differences (color, size, shape, leaf-style, and bud size/shape/downiness). They also have a small greenhouse, in which young grafts are growing, and a miniature tea factory with tiny rollers, dryers, and everything else. We rode by dozens of tea estates, including Singleton and Margaret's Hope. I got to see skiffing (a light, mid-season pruning) and more picking along the way.
Back in Kurseong, I got the priviledge of joining in two 60th birthday celebrations of Rajah Banerjee, the owner of Makaibari Estate. The smaller celebration was pretty much a family affair. It included a traditional Bengali birthday meal of a fried foods, including a fish head, greens, okra, root vegetables, and eggplant, a dessert of rice pudding (which was eerily like the kind my grandmother used to make), the blowing of a conch shell, the application of a red powder to Rajah's forehead, and the lighting of an oil lamp. After the meal, the leftovers from Rajah's plate were buried as an offering to the earth. In the evening, there was a big party, which was very much like an American birthday party in a restaurant. (Drinking, lots of food, boisterous conversation, and a big cake. Well, two big cakes, actually.) I met some great people and laughed a lot. Fun times.
Back in Kurseong, I got the priviledge of joining in two 60th birthday celebrations of Rajah Banerjee, the owner of Makaibari Estate. The smaller celebration was pretty much a family affair. It included a traditional Bengali birthday meal of a fried foods, including a fish head, greens, okra, root vegetables, and eggplant, a dessert of rice pudding (which was eerily like the kind my grandmother used to make), the blowing of a conch shell, the application of a red powder to Rajah's forehead, and the lighting of an oil lamp. After the meal, the leftovers from Rajah's plate were buried as an offering to the earth. In the evening, there was a big party, which was very much like an American birthday party in a restaurant. (Drinking, lots of food, boisterous conversation, and a big cake. Well, two big cakes, actually.) I met some great people and laughed a lot. Fun times.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
An Extra Day in Darjeeling
I was going to return to Kurseong today, but decided to see some more sights in Darjeeling. Nalin took me around the area to see some gorgeous views of tea estates (including Tukduh, Pandam, and Glenburn), an organic farm, waterfalls, flowers, and all kinds of fruit trees. (Many of the fruits ripen in winter. It's enough to make me want to stay in India year-round!) We talked about tea tourism in India (which was obviously a topic of interest to me, as I am a tea tour guide) and about the tea industry in general. He showed me several estates he used to manage, all of which were lovely (tree-lined roads, healthy plants). Nalin shared all kinds of tea secrets along the way. Unfortunately, I was too carsick to enjoy about half the trip. Next time, I'll take a motion-sickness pill first. After the expedition, I ran some errands in town and worked on a gift for a friend (which I will share with you all later). Tomorrow: Back down the mountain to Kurseong, via about 15 tea estates and the Tea Research Association (not to be confused with the DTRC).
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Darjeeling
Today I visited Happy Valley Tea Estate and The Mayfair Hotel, and I learned a lot about tea politics.
After a breakfast of momos, I walked down the mountain a bit to Happy Valley Tea Estate. Happy Valley is not particularly known for its tea, but the estate itself is in most of the India guidebooks because it is so convenient to Darjeeling proper and because (until recently) it offered tours of the field and factory. I navigated winding roads, narrow paths between houses and sharp drops, slippery stone stairs, and a rocky trail through the estate grounds to find a group of men milling about outside the factory. I asked them if I could take a tour and (after some discussion amongst them in Nepali) a young man stepped forward, eyes darting about. Halfway through the "tour," I discovered that the tours had been discontinued and that I wasn't supposed to be there without permission from the manager. "May I see the manager and ask him?" "No. He has seen you with me already. He'll be angry." So, I didn't get to see the factory and the information on the fields was limited. However, I did learn Lesson One: Always ask who is in charge.
After the "tour," I stopped by the "cafe," which is actually a tiny house with a snack stand operating out of the kitchen and a "tearoom" in the bedroom. I drank Happy Valley tea, which is "the world's best tea" ... or so I'm told by the woman selling it. Her reasoning? "It brews in only five seconds." I know what you're thinking, right? "No way." Well, let me tell you this: It DID brew in only five seconds. Maybe even less. And it tasted pretty good. How is that possible? She used about 1/2 cup of FTGFOP1S (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Top Grade) tealeaves per cup of water. ... Yes, really. The other tourists in the room with me were eating it up. Lesson Two: Don't believe everything you're told, especially if you're a tourist.
Over the course of my visit to Happy Valley, I spoke with several employees. Each one told me, in no uncertain terms, that Happy Valley is, well, not so happy these days. They USED to be, but a recent change in management has caused a lot of strife. Complaints ranged from bureaucracy and hipocracy to cuts in sick days (from 14 days per year to 3 days per year if I remember correctly). Lesson Three: "Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our PAST behavior." (Empahsis added.) I hope things get better soon.
After the trek to (Un)Happy Valley, I walked back up the big hill to The Mayfair Hotel for afternoon tea. Just as I was starting to feel very cynical about tea in Darjeeling, by luck, I was recognized and caught by Nalin Modha, a tea professional who was the youngest estate manager in the entire Indian tea industry. Over tea (with freshly baked butter cookies and cucumber sandwiches) and (later on) dinner (which was delicious and enormous), I learned Lessons Four through Four-Hundred from Nalin. We talked about tea education, workers' health, the tea market, the ecosystem, and numerous other things related to tea and (generally) to politics. He's very knowledgable and I am glad to have run into him here. Tomorrow, I'll be meeting him to see some of the surrounding area. Exciting!
After a breakfast of momos, I walked down the mountain a bit to Happy Valley Tea Estate. Happy Valley is not particularly known for its tea, but the estate itself is in most of the India guidebooks because it is so convenient to Darjeeling proper and because (until recently) it offered tours of the field and factory. I navigated winding roads, narrow paths between houses and sharp drops, slippery stone stairs, and a rocky trail through the estate grounds to find a group of men milling about outside the factory. I asked them if I could take a tour and (after some discussion amongst them in Nepali) a young man stepped forward, eyes darting about. Halfway through the "tour," I discovered that the tours had been discontinued and that I wasn't supposed to be there without permission from the manager. "May I see the manager and ask him?" "No. He has seen you with me already. He'll be angry." So, I didn't get to see the factory and the information on the fields was limited. However, I did learn Lesson One: Always ask who is in charge.
After the "tour," I stopped by the "cafe," which is actually a tiny house with a snack stand operating out of the kitchen and a "tearoom" in the bedroom. I drank Happy Valley tea, which is "the world's best tea" ... or so I'm told by the woman selling it. Her reasoning? "It brews in only five seconds." I know what you're thinking, right? "No way." Well, let me tell you this: It DID brew in only five seconds. Maybe even less. And it tasted pretty good. How is that possible? She used about 1/2 cup of FTGFOP1S (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Top Grade) tealeaves per cup of water. ... Yes, really. The other tourists in the room with me were eating it up. Lesson Two: Don't believe everything you're told, especially if you're a tourist.
Over the course of my visit to Happy Valley, I spoke with several employees. Each one told me, in no uncertain terms, that Happy Valley is, well, not so happy these days. They USED to be, but a recent change in management has caused a lot of strife. Complaints ranged from bureaucracy and hipocracy to cuts in sick days (from 14 days per year to 3 days per year if I remember correctly). Lesson Three: "Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our PAST behavior." (Empahsis added.) I hope things get better soon.
After the trek to (Un)Happy Valley, I walked back up the big hill to The Mayfair Hotel for afternoon tea. Just as I was starting to feel very cynical about tea in Darjeeling, by luck, I was recognized and caught by Nalin Modha, a tea professional who was the youngest estate manager in the entire Indian tea industry. Over tea (with freshly baked butter cookies and cucumber sandwiches) and (later on) dinner (which was delicious and enormous), I learned Lessons Four through Four-Hundred from Nalin. We talked about tea education, workers' health, the tea market, the ecosystem, and numerous other things related to tea and (generally) to politics. He's very knowledgable and I am glad to have run into him here. Tomorrow, I'll be meeting him to see some of the surrounding area. Exciting!
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