How many cups of tea can you drink in a day?
How passionate are you with tea?
You can have several cups of tea in a day, but can you spend all your life with tea?
Meet Mr. Tara Nath Sharma from Ilam, Nepal. Ilam is synonymous to tea here in Nepal. There are many amazing people out there, well-known for their dedication towards work – any sort of it. Mr. Sharma dedicated all his life to tea. Don’t misinterpret it as he is just a farmer who couldn’t leave his field. Besides being a tea farmer, he used to serve for Nepal Tea Development Corporation (NTDC) and later for Tea Board. He retired from the service and came back to the tea garden where he belonged.
Before the privatization of NTDC, it used to be the government-owned company which provided the largest number of employment in Nepal. Sharma was tasked to establish a tea estate, over a hundred hectare, at the place which is now famously known as Kanyam during 1970s when it used to be a cattle-grazing meadow. He and his team was successful in his mission as it is currently one of the most beautiful tea estate of Nepal.
People who come to take photos near the Kanyam Tea Estate barely knows Sharma; but he doesn’t care. His job was successfully completed long ago. He is happy to see people of all walks of life come to Kanyam and take photo with his achievement. It is just one of the work he did during his tenure at NTDC. His endeavors can be observed in Dhankuta, Terathum and other parts of Ilam. Besides involving in extending large tea estates, some people credit him for the promotion of tea among the small-holders.
After the establishment of National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) in 1993, the then Government of Nepal had offered the coveted post of Executive Director to him. He could have enjoyed the glory of being the first Executive Director of NTCDB. However, he gently rejected the offer stating that he didn’t want to move away from tea bush, as the Central Office of NTCDB was proposed at Kathmandu, the capital city. Rather, he was happy to lead the Regional Office, where he can breath the air that touches the tea bushes of pristine Ilam.
Sharma retired from the government job at the age of 58, after serving more than two decades at NTDC and 12 years at NTCDB. Having dedicated such a long time for the tea industry of the country, he came back to the tea garden at the backyard of his home. He still work there, even in his seventies.
There’s an adage popular in English – Once a soldier, always a soldier. Looking at him, it seems the adage can be related to tea as well. Once in Tea, Always in Tea.
