“It takes a village to raise a child”
I never lived in Assam, but I love Tea. I am a pseudo-Assamese in many ways, but when it comes to Tea, I have a battery full of memories and I absolutely cherish my roots. I feel they bring a deep sense of heritage to my life. This is a crooked smiling picture, taken to capture the moment when I heard someone shouting to look out for the wild elephant somewhere close by! I had also heard and seen baby elephant skid marks over the hills of the tea gardens, so I believed them and literally scampered off in seconds.
It was in the wee hours of the morning at Borsilla Tea Estate. I still remember that morning when I woke up to the garden siren to experience the break of dawn. The siren is always an hour earlier than the actual time, a system followed since the Colonial period in India.
My uncle was the General Manager of the Borsilla tea estate, Upper Assam for the growing years of my life. Many summers when we visited Assam, I was fortunate to visit his Tea gardens and enjoy the luxuries of the tea garden life- driving around the tea estate in a jeep, following the fireflies at night, trying out pigeon meat, visiting the homes in the labour lines. I remember one woman from the labour line had given me a ‘gamusa’(Assamese towel) that she had woven on the traditional weaving machine at her home.
There was a time in my primary school as well when I documented the entire Tea manufacturing process- the crush, tear and curl(CTC) method, the tea tasting, packaging. I even brought back samples to show my classmates! I remember I had promised my uncle that when I grow up, I will do many such projects about the tea gardens of Assam.
The second time I went back to the Borsilla Tea estate was when I was in my 3rd Year of Undergrad Design School when I studied Industrial Design. I had hit a deadlock in my TCP Project(Technically Complex Product). I wanted to design an Autoclave (a device to sterilise medical equipment) and had studied all kinds of Autoclave machines and seen the best of what was being used in Hospitals and Dental clinics in Ahmedabad City.
After months of back and forth on trying to design the best Autoclave, I pivoted my project. I decided to design an Autoclave for Rural India, thinking it needs to make a difference to at least 1 hospital that I know of. I had developed a proof of concept and a working model of a low-cost Autoclave. It was the first time ever that I had travelled from Ahmedabad to Guwahati to _______(Need to ask Jethai the name) the nearest station to Borsilla. I was proudly carrying my bulky prototype, much to the awe of my co-passengers. When I reached, I was welcomed by Chandan (an A-class, rodeo driver) and Jethai (Mom’s elder sister).
My uncle fully supported me by ensuring Chandan travelled with me everywhere. I was able to travel to all the nearby PHCs, spending 3 days documenting the methods of sterilisation that they use and the health centre facilities in general. The Borsilla Tea Estate doctor had been very generous with his time as well. He invited me to his house and I had spoken to his children about design and eventually, he also supported my prototype testing at his health centre and gave me a good ahead. This exposure had left a deep impact on me in terms of what value Design can generate in any environment and also the kind of trust people put on someone who is designing for them.
After several years, during COVID, I joined TinkerLabs where my first project was directly focussed on the Tuberculosis patients from the Assam Tea Tribes. As part of remote research, I spoke to current and recovered patients to understand their healthcare journey during TB, a disease where the medication lasts from anywhere between 2 months to 9 months or more.
What came naturally was the way I greeted them. What I had to learn was the use of specific words that would add warmth over the phone calls, so I took some help from my Mother. I acknowledged their tough battle and found lighter moments as well during the call. During this time, my uncle, who had taken retirement a few years back from the TE after serving an extension, passed away.
As a tribute to him, I found a deeper sense of purpose in working for this community, which I also call “My own community” now. After designing solutions that were a mix of digital and physical, we worked with an on-ground team who tested the ideas in person in Tea gardens around Dibrugarh.I also interacted with students studying at Assam Medical College to learn about their fears and aspirations while working for TB in Tea Gardens.
For those who choose to live away from their native, the entire experience can enable them to dig deeper into their community, a rare life experience, found in making new human connections.
