| Author: | Jeff Tikari | ISBN: | 9781452357874 |
| Publisher: | Jeff Tikari | Publication: | November 18, 2008 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
| Author: | Jeff Tikari |
| ISBN: | 9781452357874 |
| Publisher: | Jeff Tikari |
| Publication: | November 18, 2008 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
| Language: | English |
These are stories, snippets from the day to day life of tea and coffee planters. They are mainly my stories – I spent thirty three years serving in tea and coffee plantations in India and Papua New Guinea: from 1959 to 1992.
I say mainly my stories because I have also included amusing stories told at the bar in tea clubs, usually late at night, with slurred words, halting speech, and good humor – a close and genial time when the true character of a tale is revealed.
Planters lived a simple life and so the stories are simple and from the heart. They lived a hard life which too is revealed in the telling. They made their own entertainment – cut off and living in far flung estates in large plantation bungalows staffed with a retinue of servants – no TVs only radios with weak signals over-laden with static; they entertained and kept sane by visiting, partying, and dancing. “Some nights I rode to the club,” said Ome Anand, “the advantage being that if I got too sozzled I lay on the neck of my horse that unerringly, got me home.” Furtive, short, love affairs blossomed here and there – with a ground swell of well healed, healthy, young bachelors, it was only but inevitable.
These are stories, snippets from the day to day life of tea and coffee planters. They are mainly my stories – I spent thirty three years serving in tea and coffee plantations in India and Papua New Guinea: from 1959 to 1992.
I say mainly my stories because I have also included amusing stories told at the bar in tea clubs, usually late at night, with slurred words, halting speech, and good humor – a close and genial time when the true character of a tale is revealed.
Planters lived a simple life and so the stories are simple and from the heart. They lived a hard life which too is revealed in the telling. They made their own entertainment – cut off and living in far flung estates in large plantation bungalows staffed with a retinue of servants – no TVs only radios with weak signals over-laden with static; they entertained and kept sane by visiting, partying, and dancing. “Some nights I rode to the club,” said Ome Anand, “the advantage being that if I got too sozzled I lay on the neck of my horse that unerringly, got me home.” Furtive, short, love affairs blossomed here and there – with a ground swell of well healed, healthy, young bachelors, it was only but inevitable.
