Manjhee Valley Tea Estate

The Sidhbari Tea Factory is where I spend most of my time. We are tucked away in P. O. Dari, which is part of the Kangra district. You can find us if you look for the Shani Mandir because we are very close to it. The air here usually smells like wet earth and fresh tea leaves, especially after it rains. It’s an old building, and you can tell it has seen a lot of seasons. The floors are worn down from people walking back and forth with heavy baskets. I handle the daily tasks, like checking the machinery and making sure the bags are labeled right. It’s not a glamorous job, but it’s what people around here have done for a long time. The temple bells ring at certain times of the day, and it’s a nice sound to hear while we are working. We get a lot of mist coming off the hills in the mornings, which makes everything feel a bit damp. Sometimes the monkeys come around the factory gates, and we have to shoo them away. It's just a regular part of life in this part of Kangra. We aren't trying to be anything we aren't. We just process the tea and get it ready for the trucks. Most of us have been working here for years and we know every corner of the place. It's a steady way to spend the day in the valley and the work gets done.