
British Colonial Tea Garden Bungalows of India

Shona Patel's thoughts on Tea, Writing & Life
Tea garden bungalows come equipped with a retinue of servants and often a resident spook (no extra charge!). Invariably the spook is a boga-sahib (white master): an old British tea planter who died on the job and who is buried somewhere in the tea garden. The bungalows themselves are creepy: drafty with echoing rooms, weak-wattage bulbs, creaky wooden floors and rattling rafters. Many are located within deep forests and surrounded by bamboobaris (FYI the spooks love bamboo as much as pandas!). Add to that the blackest, deepest nights of Assam, lots of melancholy rain and vapors steaming off the jungle floor and voila! you have a phantom’s paradise.
Folks died easily back in the old days of tea. Tea gardens were far-flung and remote, the roads bad, communication poor and medical help often too little, too late. Malaria, black water fever, typhoid, tetanus, wild animals, accidental drowning, gunshot wounds…all claimed planters lives. As a child I believed the dead turned into backward-footed entities that prowled the bamboobari shrieking their heads off. I always made it a point to check out people’s feet, just in case.
Many young Europeans fell victim to accident and disease, never to see the shores of their homeland again. Some took their own lives in desperation. There are hundreds of moss-covered graves scattered across tea plantations in Assam, mostly in wooded areas, tangled in vegetation and overrun by creepers. Many are unmarked but some have carved inscriptions that speak of the short, precarious lives of these young men in Assam.
Assam (which grows the finest tea – click the red link if you want to learn more about Assam Tea) is riddled with ghosts. Over 60 different ghosts and evil spirits have been identified in the state of Assam – that’s enough to fill a whole bus (imagine what a jolly ride that would be!) Assamese spooks have their own personality and agenda. Check out some of these heavy-hitters:
Bura Dangoria (the old one) A good spirit dressed in white clothes and a white turban, often seen on a white horse who guards Namghars, the community places of worship where the sacred Bhagavad Gita is kept. Baak A malevolent ugly creature that sometimes kills a person and takes on the corpse’s appearance. Often seen hanging around isolated ponds and lakes. Ghoda Paak Has the hooves of a horse, but is otherwise human looking. Some stories show it as helpful, while others call it so deadly that you can die if it looks at you. Bira (Poltergeist) Like all poltergeist of the world, usually believed to be unleashed on a family by an enemy to eliminate and torture them. Bamboo Ghost This one lurks in the bamboo grove and bends down a bamboo on your path. If you try to step over it, it’ll snap back the bamboo and kill you. Jokhini A female demon like creature that often tries to lure males and kill them. Bordoisila (the storm goddess) She’s the storm in April who throws a tantrum because she has to return to her husband’s house after visiting her mother for the Assamese new year which is around that time. Puwali Bhoot (tiny ghosts) These are mischievous ghosts the size of small children who steal rice and sweets from the kitchen Khoba-khubi A pair of evil spirits who haunt a newly wedded couples and can be scared away by reading the hara-gauri (Shiva-Parvati) mantra on the third day of marriage Khetar A local evil spirit that is said to harm little children Churini Bira A female evil spirit that steals items from the house and kitchen FYI this is a ghostly sampling of just one tiny state in India. India has 28 states so if you do the maths you will realize, we far outweigh the western world in both spirits and spirituality. The western world sure pales (pun intended) in comparison, besides Indian ghosts are more rowdy and fun.Read my mom’s famous *APPLE PIE GHOST STORY HERE!!
If you like tea, ghosts and stories you may like my upcoming novel Teatime for the Firefly soon to be published by Mira Books in October 2013. Check out the synopsis and first chapter HERE.This was my childhood home. Yes, we lived in a mansion. British colonial lifestyle, liveried servants, big game hunting, fancy formal dinners -the works. Strange to think of it because these palatial residences were built in the middle of nowhere. Assam. One of the most rain-locked, deeply forested and inaccessible regions of North-east India. Early colonial planters braved the malaria-ridden jungles, dangerous wild game and head-hunting tribes to set up the tea industry in Assam and grow the finest tea on earth. Check the map here if you want to know more about Assam and Assam tea.
While researching “Teatime for the Firefly” I started collecting information about tea garden bungalows in Assam. I discovered each one had its unique architecture, charm and even RESIDENT GHOST!Tea garden bungalows come in a baffling array of styles. Here is an except from my research notes:
“In the early days of tea, Managers had plenty of say in the design of their personal residences. It was one of the ego-perks allowed by the Company to entice capable men to join tea. As a result, tea garden bungalows were a startling medley of styles, reminiscent of the dreams and aspirations of their first owners.
Some managers tried to replicate the English-style manor houses of their home country, but the result was a confused mish mash of western architecture using Indian materials, incongruous but fanciful nonetheless.
I am attaching photos to showcase these wonderful bungalows from Assam tea gardens– most of them have mysterious and quirky names. These photos have been shared with me from tea planters from all over the world. (Planters! I need captions for Bungalows marked “unknown”. If a you have any information of these featured here please send me a message. )
Many thanks to the members of the KOI-HAI.COM community for help your loving support.
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If you are an Assam Tea planter and would like to share a photo of a bungalow, please send me a message HERE I will give you my direct email where you can upload the photo. Don’t forget to include the name of the tea garden and the year the photo was taken. Many thanks I have started a separate photo gallery to showcase tea garden bungalows and will be adding to to this from time to time. Please click PHOTO GALLERY OF ASSAM TEA GARDEN BUNGALOWS here to see what I have so far. _________________________________________________________________