Cheerful women carrying long jute woven straps across their forehead laden in a colorful cloth with a bamboo basket ‘doko’ hanging down their back, an umbrella and lunch box tugged in- is the typical tea picker of Darjeeling.

Six days a week, at the same time (usually 7a.m), the pickers gather at a location prescribed by the manager to the ‘kamdari’ the supervisor. The section of the plantation to be picked on that day. The pickers are divided into decks which usually hold 35-50 pickers and supervising staff of two or three.

It is not the manager but the kamdaris’ that the tea pickers have to follow and please. Some share their lunch and some bestow him with gifts from the small livestock they keep, mostly poultry. This ritual of keeping the supervisor happy is  for the daily roll call he makes at the start of the day and the kind of ‘melo’ row of tea bushes he assigns the picker. Tea plantations in Darjeeling being planted in rows and columns has to be picked according to a prior estimate. The supervisor needs to have the special know how on what the bushes can deliver from a particular section or season. Sometimes, he also has to decide on the spot how the picking should be carried out (hard or liberal), as to the demand of his next assignment. Continue Reading