Zdjęcia

The bulk of tea industry in India is now confined to the North East and South. Kangra valley in North India at one time was known for its special flavour of tea. Sadly, the industry went on a decline soon after the Independence in 1947. Today, 60 years later, only a few plantations survive, and that too around Palampur vale in the foothills of the Dhauladhar range.
The reasons for the decline are diverse: lack of will and enterprise on the part of local owners, lack of planned support from the government, stiff competition and so on.

I took this picture of a tea garden near Palampur on a wet monsoon day. The valley across the garden is flush with paddy, the major crop of Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh. For tea growers, it is getting increasingly difficult to keep the white elephant alive.