Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491365
STiR tea & coffee industry international 45 BALANOOR EsTATE, KARNATAKA, INDIA – An offering of flowers and fruit and a blessing signify their new dwelling is ready to occupy but for Ra- mya, 29, and Gangamma, 42, the ritual of boiling a pot to overflow will make this house a home. The cement, stucco, and tile housing complex shelters six families em- ployed by the estate. Each unit is 544 sq. ft. with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and indoor toilet. The cool interior opens to a covered porch that keeps the annual 120 inches of monsoon rains outside. Skylights bring rays of sunshine indoors and sturdy doors with grating on the windows provide security. Amenities westerners take for granted like running water and the backyard washing station are prized as it means no more washing clothes in the stream. A cistern empties into a plot for a kitchen garden and the shared commons in front of the units is a safe playground for children. In her new kitchen a burner is lit by two women who perform a Hindu prayer known as puja, heating the milk until it spills over – a ritual that insures abundance. During a tour of the new building, estate owner Ashok Kuriyan intro- duced P.M. Chengappa, who manages the coffee division and supervised con- struction. Kuriyan offered a prayer and cut the ribbon as the workers watched, passing around a box of sweet ladoo made of wheat flour and sugar. Balanoor employs 283 full-time workers, to tend its tea and coffee plants, black pepper vines, areca nut, cardamom and vanilla with ornamental plants, roses and rubber trees. Tea is harvested every 21 days while coffee, which takes 10 months to mature, is harvested only once a year. During harvest 320 temporary and contract workers and 450 seasonal workers are housed on the 600 hectare estate which sits atop the Western Ghats near Chickmagalur about 325 kilometers from Bangalore. Ashok and his son Rohan, who manages corporate affairs, are deeply rooted in the soil of the Sahyadri range which rises to 4,500 feet on the prop- erty. The family has operated Balanoor for 75 years dating to Ashok's great grandfather who took over the estate from British owned Brooke Bond and expanded the holdings, buying land from other planters who found the going tough and decided to exit. Growing coffee is a collective effort, said Rohan, 31. "All of us work very, very hard so that a barista can serve a single cup. Few recognize the effort that goes into making coffee," he said. A New Home Despite its enormous population India's agrar- ian areas face a labor shortage as young people move to urban areas. Coffee estates in remote re- gions like Balanoor are not just a workplace. The estate operates a hospital, a recreational canteen and a crèche where young children are given food and care as well as a school for older children. Workers receive maternity and sick leave and in- centives for productivity along with statutory ben- efits like gratuity and pension known as the provi- dent fund. Workers receive are paid INRs228.35 about $4 per day for 8 hours of work. In a country where the average annual household income is US$1,490 comfortable, rent-free housing is a great benefit. The workers moving into their new quarters were selected based on their longevity and produc- tivity. Gangamma is Kannadati, one of 40 million tribal people living mainly in Karnataka. I do not speak the Kaanada language which has an unbroken literary history of more than 1000 years, but I could hear excitement in the voices of the crowd as the milk boiled over. All were happy to be home. Balanoor plantation workers celebrate new housing with a "puja" prayer and offerings. Photos by Dan Bolton By Dan Bolton