Ex-Manager return to Garden after 40 years

After 40 years, Roderick Brown, once the manager at several Dooars tea estates, is on a trip down the memory lane, literally.

The 78-year-old Briton, accompanied by his wife, is on a visit to his former workplace in the Dooars, to check out how time has changed the gardens in the plains of north Bengal. “Both of us had been thinking of coming to India, especially to the tea estates and Darjeeling, for a long time. Finally, our four grandchildren put us on the plane,” he said.

Standing on the portico of Central Dooars Club in Binnaguri, Roderick, who used to be the manager in estates like Zurantee and Aibheel in the Dooars from 1951 to 1967, recalled how different life on plantations used to be during his time. “The roads were pathetic and the communication system was poor,” he said. “At the estates, we used to lead a lonely life.”

The former manager reminisced the good old days when workers were not bogged down by shut-down crisis. “The labourers used to join work in the morning. After dusk, they would make merry, singing, beating drums and sometimes even dancing,” he said.

Roderick married Janine in 1955. “After a few months, I left our Gloucestershire home, and came to India with him and stayed till 1967,” said Janine, now 74. “Occasional cooking and taking walks around estates were mostly what we used to do. Once a week, usually on Wednesdays, we used to visit the club, where we watched films and chatted.”

Both their children — the son, an engineer with Royal Air Force, and the daughter, a nurse — were born at Darjeeling Planters’ Hospital.

The Rodericks said Indian tea, especially the Darjeeling variety, is still very popular. “Though youths in England are more into soft drinks and beer, but the appeal of the fragrant Darjeeling tea is still unabated,” Roderick said.

Their visit, Janine said, had another purpose. “My husband had seen Taj Mahal, but I have never been there,” Janine said. “This time, I have made it clear that unless he takes me to Agra, I will not leave for England.”

Source: The Telegraph