Munnar Hill Station, Kerala

Tea Plantation near Munnar, Kerala

After spending time in the steamy lowlands of Kerala, the cool mountain air of the hill station of Munnar was a refreshing change. In the Late 1800's the British (or rather their subjects) laboriously cleared the mountains here of their thick native forests and replaced them with...well, tea.

Plantation Worker

A LOT of tea.

...and not a drop to drink

Actually, the largest tea plantation in the world. Almost all of the land here is now owned by the Indian mega-corporation, Tata. Since the tea trees are kept at bush size by constant harvesting of new leaves and a jolly good trim every five years, the mountains have the look of an enormous manicured English garden. And this garden goes on and on. Up one mountain and down the next, with occasional company towns for the workers.

The hills are alive... All that's missing is the Van Trapp family

The upside of Tata's property monopoly is that development here has been curbed, as there is virtually no land for sale - and the land that is for sale is extremely expensive.

The hunter has become the hunted!

In the colonial days, the tea harvesters earned one or two rupees for a day. Just enough to keep them alive. Now, however, the tea workers are compensated remarkably well. We were told that the workers now earn quite a comfortable wage (as much or more than a tour agency employee we met in Kollam). Additionally, the workers have unions and eight hours per day, six days a week. They are provided free housing, medical benefits and a couple weeks paid vacation; they also receive two blankets a year.

Woman at a Plantation Village

Plantation Workers on Lunch Break

One of the great pleasures of our trip to Munnar was meeting Mr. Joseph Iype and his charming wife Thankachi. Joseph is 79 and has lived in Munnar all of his life; Thankachi is 69 grew up elsewhere in Kerala. Now that Joseph is "retired" he runs a tourist information center and has started running Zina Cottages Guest House by renting out his extra rooms.

Thankachi Joseph and Joseph Iype holding a photo of their daughter

Joseph and Thankachi have been married for 54 years. As Thankachi herself says, she was married too young, just before her 15th birthday. For most women this would have meant the end of her education and the beginning of a life solely devoted to raising children. However, As Thankachi told us, "Joseph was too good of a husband, too good of a father, and too good of a friend." Joseph insisted that his wife be his intellectual equal, and paid for Thankachi to attend the best school possible, even though the school was in a different state. Thankachi would spend two weeks at school and then Joseph would take her home and help her with her studies for two weeks. During exam time, Joseph would go to her school to help her study. Eventually, Thankachi received a Bachelor's degree in English.

Together, they raised a son and a daughter. Though it was not easy economically, both were sent to the best schools, and both have become very successful. They are also extremely proud of their grandchildren, all of whom are University educated. One of their grandsons is an engineer, and at the time of our visit was in California receiving special training for his work.

So where did this family tradition of high education begin? Joseph's father was a supervisor of one of the tea plantations and earned a meager 3 rupees per day. Nonetheless, he made sure that all 10(!) of his children were well educated. Truly an inspiring family.