Hill tales from the Raj

In the absence of banks, the post office also delivered funds to distant estates. To prevent theft en route, the Scotsmen came up with a unique solution. Currency notes were cut in half; one half was sent to the estate concerned and, on receipt, the other half was despatched. When government officials objected to this practice, the planters somehow convinced them that the ends did justify the means!

Deserters were a major problem in the early 1900s. Unable to withstand the cold and the hardships of an isolated life, the coolies — recruited from Tamil Nadu — often bolted back home the day they received their monthly wages, disrupting work in the tea estates.

Frustrated, the Scottish tea company countered this with a brainwave: it introduced its own coinage for all financial transactions relating to the workforce — negotiable, of course, only within the company. Soon enough the exodus stopped. The two gold coins issued by the company to mark the occasion are on display in the local tea museum.

Frequent litigation was also a problem. Once, at the peak of the monsoon, a British planter and three labourers were summoned to a distant court as witnesses. They duly attended the hearing but what nettled the Brit more than the drenching, was that the court paid him the same batta as the coolies!

Immorality was taboo. A venerable Scottish pastor discovered that the church watchman was living with a woman to whom he was not married. Outraged, he confronted the offender — only to be nonchalantly told: “The girl you mention is only 12 years old and is my sister’s daughter, whom I propose to marry later on.”

A blood sport popular then was the chase. A pack of hounds would track down a sambar which would be knifed to death by hunters following on foot. Once a novice was being blooded. Hunting knife raised, he panted up to the grounded stag.”Quick! Where do I stab him?” he gasped. “Here!” cried a veteran, pointing to the animal’s shoulder — only to have the knife promptly plunged through his fist!