People kept visiting the village in search of labourers. But even though the pay was good, the villagers didn’t want to step out of the village to work. They had enough to live on. Besides, most of them were lazy. Some were addicted to opium and did only what was required to get by. Some of them worked a few hours as it fetched some silver. But they could not bear to think of toiling hard, cutting big trees, and clearing the jungles, just for a little extra money.

The riders were now crossing a shallow river. They were silent, buried deep in their thoughts, in the mystical silence of the jungle. The men had come from distant countries like China and Europe to change the future of this region and its quiet way of life.

The seeds for that change had first been sown by Robert Bruce who had discovered a treasure trove of phalap trees and had dreamt of becoming a great tea trader, terminating China’s monopoly in the tea trade. Bearing the dreams of his brother, Charles Alexander Bruce, now Superintendent of Tea Culture for the Assam Company – established by the East India Company especially for tea trade – was leading those riders.

A number of tea gardens had been set up in Assam, and the neighbouring Motok and Singpho regions, under Charles’ guidance. It had been a few years since the tea business had begun there.

Maniram Baruah was now the Chief Officer of the Assam Tea Company. People referred to him as Maniram Dewan and with his help, the company had set up tea gardens in various parts of Upper Assam.

At the behest of the king of Assam, Purandar Singha, the East India Company went to war with Burma. The Burmese were defeated and in 1826 a treaty was signed by both countries on the shores of the Yandabu river in Burma. As a result of that treaty, Assam came under the rule of the East India Company. Keeping the administration of Lower Assam in their hands, the Company handed over the administration of all of Upper Assam, from the Dhonsiri river (barring Sadiya) to the Motok countries, to the king.

Ten years went by with Charles trying to convert his brother’s dreams into reality. He was neither the owner of the tea gardens nor a trader of tea, but he nurtured the industry with his heart and soul. It was due to his dedicated efforts that the tea produced in Assam began to command a place in the world market. China’s monopoly slowly came to an end. It was no simple task, and the journey was fraught with obstacles. At one point, he nearly failed because the experts in Calcutta decided that the tall phalap trees could not possibly be tea! They decided that tea gardens in Assam should be forged out of seeds and saplings from China, and with the help of Chinese experts. Charles, on the other hand, was certain that good tea could be produced from the local trees. But since he was no expert, his words fell on deaf ears.