CHAI TIME - A Darjeeling Tea Planter's Journey from Makaibari to Rimpocha (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9783907328576)

This gripping memoir narrates the journey of Rajah Banerjee, a fourth-generation Darjeeling tea grower who became a tree planter after a riding accident. Rajah pioneered biodynamics, global tea organics, and tropical agriculture because of his calling, which changed how tea is grown in India and how it can impact the community. His ancestral tea estate, Makaibari, transformed from colonial, hierarchical management techniques into a premier hub for the holistic improvement of rural communities.

When the entire region, including the tea estates, closed down during the violent Gorkhaland uprising in the 1980s, these synergies were crucial in keeping Makaibari safe. That was the power of holistic, sustainable synergy. Rajah became a celebrity vagrant, when his 160-year-old ancestral home was destroyed by a terrible fire in 2017. This didn't discourage him from mentoring five abandoned Darjeeling hamlets.

All 17 Sustainable Development Goals have been met by the low-cost, self-funded, carbon-neutral, regenerative farming methods known as the Rimpocha programs.

This book can be read by entrepreneurs, tea-lovers, tea-planters, business school students, historians and those who love to read fascinating tales of real life about freshly brewed Darjeeling tea.