Chai Time — A Darjeeling Tea Planter’s Journey from Makaibari to Rimpocha, a book authored by Swaraj Kumar Banerjee, was published here on Monday.
“It’s my life’s story, poured out for those who dare to make a difference,” said the author, the veteran tea planter popularly known as Rajah.
Banerjee, a fourth-generation tea planter in the Darjeeling hills and the former owner of the renowned Makaibari tea estate in the Kurseong subdivision of Darjeeling district, has come up with a 583-page book that spans 40 chapters.
“The book follows Rajah Banerjee’s journey from a London-educated heir to a pioneer who faced personal and political trials to leave a lasting mark on the tea world. It is his memoir right from Makaibari to Rimpocha, the new brand that he has come up with,” said one of the attendees of the book launch event.
Born into a family that had been behind the Makaibari tea estate since 1859, Rajah returned to India in 1970.
“He navigated through Darjeeling’s turmoil, including the Gorkhaland uprising, and made Makaibari India’s first organic tea garden in 1988 and the world’s first biodynamic estate in 1993,” the attendee added.
In 2017, a devastating fire gutted his bungalow on the tea estate and he sold Makaibari. Next year, he founded Rimpocha to support the tea growers of northeast India with sustainable methods.
Known as the pioneer of organic tea cultivation, Rajah mentored tea growers in the hilly hamlets of Darjeeling.
“Chai Time is a book that mentions all secrets of how to build an international brand and how to encourage low-cost, self-funded, carbon-neutral solutions to achieve sustainable development goals in the villages across India in a short time,” said Rajah.
“The Rimpocha project is a testimony to it,” the veteran planter added.
When the book was launched, participants from nine countries joined the event online, along with a group of prominent citizens who were physically present.
“His innovative concept of the partnership-to-ownership model, an inclusive approach with the workers, contributed to the sustenance of Makaibari while many other tea estates closed down,” said a senior tea planter based in Siliguri.
Those who attended the event also pointed out that the book was a compelling read for people interested in real-life narratives, tea enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, tea planters and historians.
“It is also an informative book on the Darjeeling tea industry, its past and present. Further, it also bears accounts of Darjeeling’s history,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, who was present at the launch.