Syhlet Tea Plantations
Growing up without television has left its impression on me. At an early age, I was told to "go to your room and read!" which I did in abundance. Among my favorite stories were those relating to plantations - indigo, tea, coffee - it was the sheer isolation that appealled to me, and in the stories I read, the very isolation that made people act in such peculiar ways. My family visited planations in the northerly part of Bangladesh usually around the cool weather time. Syhlet was our destination. Nestled in the picturesque Surma Valley between the Khasia and the Jaintia hills on the north, and the Tripura hills on the south, Syhlet breaks the eternal flatness that is Bangladesh with its vast terraced spread of tea gardens. Here was everything a child could possibly want - thick jungles, orange groves and the endless winding paths through the plantations to explore for snakes. Later I grew...
