Goodricke Group Ltd.

We are out at the Leesh River Tea Garden in Bagrakote. It’s a long way from the city, right in the Jalpaiguri district. Living and working on a tea garden is different from what most people are used to. Everything depends on the weather and the soil. When it rains, the whole place turns a bright green that you can’t really describe. We spend our days out among the bushes or in the processing shed. It’s hard work and your hands get stained. We don’t have fancy offices here. Mostly just desks and chairs in a building that’s been standing since before most of us were born. The air is fresh though, which is a nice change from the dusty towns. We have a post office right here in Bagrakote so we can send out mail. Sometimes the roads get blocked during the monsoon, and then we're a bit cut off. But that's just part of life in the gardens. We aren’t really worried about being the fastest or the biggest. We just look after the plants and make sure the leaves are dried properly. People here know each other well. We eat together and walk the same paths every day. It’s a slow pace, but it suits the work we do. We often hear the river rushing by after a heavy storm. It’s a beautiful sound to work to.