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T
he 149-year-old Bhooteachang T.E. is situated in
the Udalguri District of Assam, 125 kilometres
from Guwahati.The estate lies by the foothills of
Bhutan, very close to where the borders shared by
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bhutan converge, and is
just 24 kilometres from the pilgrimage centre, Bhairab
Kund, where the river Bhairab flows serenely through
unspoiled natural splendour.
It is believed that the ancient name for the area where the
estate is located was Khalingduar, named after one of the
six ‘duars’ or ‘passes’ in the Bhutan hills bordering the area.
It is mentioned in the travelogues of authors who had
passed through the ‘duar’ while exploring the Himalayan
kingdoms of Bhutan and Sikkim. The Bhutanese people
also used this pass to come to the Indian side in order to
trade. Some of them settled here, building their distinctive
homes on stilts, called ‘changs’. As the Bhutanese were
called ‘Bhutias’ by the local populace, the area where they
lived came to be known as Bhutiachang.
Macneil & Barry Limited were the pioneers who planted
tea at Bhutiachang in 1867. Although they retained the
name for the estate, they spelled it ‘Bhooteachang’.
In the beginning, the leaf was taken to Kalaigaon on
bullock carts for manufacturing at Singrimari T.E. from
where the finished product was brought to Tangla and
dispatched to Calcutta by rail.
July 2016 05
~ Sarita Dasgupta