Ek Kali, Don Pane

The world's second most consumed beverage—the first, of course, being water. Humanity has been drinking tea for nearly 4,500 years, claiming vast stretches of land for its cultivation and even fighting wars over it. Set against the backdrop of a tea plantation, this novel tells the story of a struggle: the fight of labourers for freedom and for the right to their own identity and existence.

Craig Brodie, a white man who once worked as a labourer in his own country, arrives in India and becomes the owner of a tea plantation. Along with the plantation, he also becomes the master of hundreds of people forced to work as bonded labourers.

The narrative revolves around two central characters—James, Brodie's legitimate son, and George, his illegitimate son, whose existence is unknown even to Brodie himself. One represents the colonial-era 'white sahib', while the other represents the 'brown sahib' of independent India.

On one side are the oppressed labourers—Birju, Bhola, Savitri, Ganga, Champa and Maunimousi. On the other is Mrs. Brodie, also known as Jane, who understands their problems and strives to secure their rights.

Together, these characters bring the conflict within the tea plantation vividly to life. Through the unfolding narrative, the novel exposes the injustice, humiliation and immense hardships endured by the workers, while revealing the history of exploitation in tea cultivation.

This sensitive novel portrays the struggles of workers on India's tea plantations, in a country that produces 80 per cent of the tea grown across the world.